Colleges, universities reluctant to reopen

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, November 10

Though the state government had given its nod on November 5 to reopen colleges and universities outside the containment zones from November 16, the authorities concerned were reluctant to take a call in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

While some universities had allowed post-graduate and PhD scholars to attend institutes, college managements were not keen on calling undergraduates.

Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT) had reopened for MTech and research scholars, but has yet not taken any decision on holding regular classes for BTech students. Students returning to the campus were being screened for the virus.

Dr LK Awasthi, Director, NIT, said, “We have already conducted 700 tests of students. We have also opened our hostels for students and are following all precautions.”

Lovely Professional University, which has over 25,000 students enrolled, has not taken any call so far. “We do not want to reopen the campus in haste. The biggest challenge before us is whether students are ready to rejoin and are their parents willing to send them. Once students rejoin, we also have to open hostels, which itself will be a challenge. We need at least a week’s time to review the situation. Whenever we reopen the campus, we will follow all protocols,” said Aman Mittal, Additional Director, Public Relations (LPU).

Managements of private colleges also shared the similar concern. Dr Atima Sharma Dwivedi, Principal, Kanya Maha Vidyalaya, said, “After the government allowed research scholars and post-graduate students to visit laboratories in mid-October, some of our students started coming. However, we are not prepared to call undergraduate students. Once we call students, we will have to open hostels where they will be using common facilities, including washrooms and mess.”

“Day scholars will use public transport and may become Covid-19 carriers. Holding online and offline classes will be doubly taxing on teachers, which we cannot afford. As of now, we are not reopening our campuses for BTech students,” said Dr Dwivedi.

The college principals said they were also wary of the fact that second wave of the Covid-19 was expected around November end. They said they do not want such a situation wherein colleges had to be shut again.

They added that as regular Classes for IX to XII in schools were not getting good response, they were not sure if a similar experiment could work for college students.

A possible way out…

While some universities had allowed post-graduate and PhD scholars to attend institutes, college managements were not keen on calling undergraduates. Most colleges have devised a plan to call in a few students on daily basis for their clearing doubts. Aseem Bhardwaj, a BBA-I student, said, “We have been attending online classes since August. Our teachers have allowed us to visit them after taking prior appointment. Whenever we have a doubt related to any topic, we send a message to our teachers who call us to the college. This way, we feel safe and get all the help.”

Authoritiespeak

• “We have already conducted 700 tests of students. We have also opened our hostels for students and are following all precautions.” Dr LK Awasthi, Director, NIT
• “We do not want to reopen the campus in haste. The biggest challenge before us is whether students are ready to rejoin and are their parents willing to send them. Once students rejoin, we also have to open hostels, which itself will be a challenge. We need at least a week’s time to review the situation. Whenever we reopen the campus, we will follow all protocols.” Aman Mittal, Additional Director, Public Relations (LPU)
• “After the government allowed research scholars and post-graduate students to visit laboratories in mid-October, some of our students started coming. However, we are not prepared to call undergraduate students. Once we call students, we will have to open hostels where they will be using common facilities, including washrooms and mess.” Dr Atima Sharma Dwivedi, Principal, Kanya Maha Vidyalaya