For the higher education institutions, the Ministry emphasis that at one time, only half the student’s strength is on the campus.
All the institutions shall plan to start calling students once the lockdown is lifted on May 17 and stagger their arrival till October.
From admitting the outstation students back to the college routine in a staggered manner, compulsory testing and quarantine on arrival to minimizing the number of students attending class in a single day. These are various reopening strategies being considered by the govt. Schools and higher education institutions as they have already created the tentative academic calendar for the current year in the midst of a pandemic.
In a motion of what life could look like in residential schools for the most part of the year, the Navodaya Vidyalaya Sangathan (NVS) has approached the HRD Ministry this week seeking permission to call the senior students of Classes 10 and 12 in the campus over the next few months.
Higher education institutions have attained the ministry’s keen attention that at one time, only half the student’s strength is on the campus. Residential campuses could also be asked to follow the option of calling just half the students for one half of the semester and the remaining for the other half.
“We will ask opinions from the residential institutes like IITs to explore this option. The purpose of social distancing shall now be defeated if there is half the student strength attending classes, but as all of them are in hostels,” a statement by a senior HRD Ministry official,
On the other hand the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), which is now preparing school safety guidelines on the Ministry’s behalf, would likely recommend shortened weeks with minimum groups of students attending on different days.
Schools shall follow the guidelines whenever classroom learning resumes.
~ABDUL QADIR
