DU reopening: Calls for online classes among final-year UG, PG students grow louder
Highlights
- DU is set to reopen and resume offline classes from tomorrow (February 17)
- The decision to hold some classes in the hybrid format has caused distress among outstation students
- Students are now scrambling to make travelling and accommodation arrangements
With several colleges of the Delhi University set to hold first-year classes in hybrid format, a section of students from the second and third year too have demanded the classes be held in hybrid format. DU is set to reopen and resume offline classes from tomorrow (February 17). The decision to hold only some classes in the hybrid format has caused distress among outstation students who are scrambling to make travelling and accommodation arrangements.
Now, outstation final-year undergraduate and post-graduate students of the Delhi University have started a petition stating they should not be called back for just two months.
Addressed to the vice-chancellor, registrar, proctor and dean of students welfare, the petition has already been signed by over 40,000 people.
"Several outstation students are worried about travelling to Delhi. But our voices are drowning amid all the excitement. There are several graduate and post-graduate students like me who are in the final year of their studies at DU," read the petition.
"Outstation students who are in their final year should have the option to continue...virtually," it said and added that the mandatory isolation of three days meant outstation students would have just three-four days to plan the travel and reach Delhi.
Meanwhile, college principals have said there are no plans to hold online classes for final-year students. The examinations will be held in offline mode as well.
Which DU colleges will hold offline classes?
- Miranda House has said that it will be holding classes for the first-year students in hybrid format, while second and third year students will have to attend in person
- Rajdhani College will be holding only online classes for first-year students
- Aryabhatta College principal Manoj Sinha said there will not be any pressure on students to attend classes, and that they are trying to ensure that students can be provided recorded lectures online.
- Hansraj College has plans to offer hybrid mode of studies to first-year students
Delhi University colleges were closed in March 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The university had given a go-ahead to the resumption of practical sessions in February last year, but after the emergence of the second wave, classes were suspended in March.
In September, the university allowed final-year under-graduate and post-graduate students to return to the campus but attendance was thin.
(With inputs from PTI)
