Colleges ready with campus plans, wait for govt go-ahead - Most have already chalked out an elaborate plan for resuming classes on their campuses

Colleges can’t take a decision without a government or university notification. Most have already chalked out an elaborate plan for resuming classes on their campuses, and the heads said they would be allowed to bring students back even at a day’s notice. 

TNN | Nov 24, 2020, Kolkata: Only a week is left for first-semester undergraduate classes to begin in colleges across Bengal but the state government is yet to issue any clarification on the format of holding lectures. Though education minister Partha Chatterjee in early November had indicated that on-campus classes could reopen from next month, a date has not been announced. Even chief minister Mamata Banerjee has remained tight-lipped though she had said a decision was likely to be taken after Kali Puja.

Colleges can’t take a decision without a government or university notification. Most have already chalked out an elaborate plan for resuming classes on their campuses, and the heads said they would be allowed to bring students back even at a day’s notice. Institutes have lined up different plans, such as holding physical classes on alternate days, asking students of various faculties to attend classes on campus on separate days and continuing with online classes simultaneously with the face-to-face lectures.

“We have decided to hold classes in arts and science on alternate days. Another proposal is to allow 50% students to attend classes a day,” Lady Brabourne College principal Siuli Sarkar said. “I have also written to Bikash Bhavan, informing them about the safety measures we have taken for hostel.”

Shukla Hazra of East Kolkata Girls’ College said they were primarily waiting for a government order on resuming physical classes. “If the situation is under control, we will hold theory classes online but those, who have to attend practical classes and need access to the laboratory, will visit the campus. We plan to keep both online and offline modes of teaching available for students,” she said.

Tapan Poddar, principal of Vivekananda College, said. “We have some initial plans in place. Either student of three streams —humanities, commerce and science—will be asked to attend on-campus classes on separate days or the different semesters will be uniformly distributed,” he said, adding the institute would wait for a guideline from Calcutta University. Surendranath College principal Indranil Manna pointed out that going by initial discussions, around 50% students would be called to the campus every day. “We will continue the online mode of teaching as a support system for the others,” he added.