Sanjana Rajeev
16th November 2020
Staff and faculty preparing to reopen colleges for offline classes (Source: The Indian Express)
Several colleges and universities across Karnataka are all set to welcome students to the campus which has been closed for the past eight months, from November 17, 2020, with precautionary measures to be taken as per University Grant Commission (UGC) and the State Government guidelines.
Colleges have been frequently checking their faculty members as the first step towards the precautionary measures to be taken. Regarding the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), the government of Karnataka has made it mandatory for all students and teachers to procure a negative COVID-19 report.
Students have been provided with an option to choose between online and offline classes, with the need for parental consent for physical classes. The number of batches for the offline classes will be decided depending on the number of students opting for physical classes.
"As per SOP issued from Government of Karnataka, all teachers, students and non-teaching staff members of colleges and hostels have to produce a COVID-19 RT-PCR negative test report, which is done within 72 hours before the day of joining," it said. Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare as reported by The New Indian Express. He has passed an order that taking the test is mandatory, and has instructed health staff to collect the samples from teachers, students and non-teaching staff of both colleges and hostels, to avoid delays and to provide a ‘quick testing’ facility before the colleges open. The educational institutes will also be regularly tracked by the nearest Urban Primary Health Centres, and each institute will have a task force to ensure the procedures are being followed without hassle. Most colleges, including Karnataka State Law University (KSLU), are allowing only the final year students to attend college.
“As was decided in the meeting chaired by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on October 23rd, the classes will begin for graduate and postgraduate students from November 17. In this backdrop, post-matric hostels managed by the Social Welfare Department across the state will function from November 17th,” as reported by Times Now.
“We had to set up five task forces to ensure smooth functioning of the University. The task forces include student monitoring, faculty coordination and timely availability of necessary resources, including water,” said K.R. Venugopal, Vice-chancellor of Bangalore University.
(Sources: NDTV, The Deccan Chronicle, Times Now News) Edited by: Tanya Jain, Anjali Dinesh