Some of the students said Thursday that Delhi University’s decision to resume offline academic activities from February 17 was a hasty decision and students should have been given more time to make their travel plans to the national capital.
Professor Rakesh Pandey of Delhi University has launched an online petition to Vice Chancellor Yogesh Singh urging him to ensure the switch from online to offline mode takes place after the Holi festival.
In a statement, he said students and parents have started panic calls to their teachers to express their difficulties and difficulties in meeting all the requirements to get offline education in such a short time.
“As landlords try to cash in on their panic, the solutions aren’t as simple as they seem. A signature campaign has been launched to know the problems, their scope and possible solutions, to which thousands of students responded positively within a few hours and the number is still growing,” he said.
Pandey, who teaches physics at Kirori Mal College, said university authorities and teachers should have some freedom to initially enforce offline education, but be asked to ensure a full switch to offline after Holi. festival, which is from March. 21, 2022.
He also suggested that colleges should be asked to finalize their hostel admissions, if any, as early as possible within two weeks. “First-year students should be asked to prepare for this switch from their second semester. No attendance requirements should be imposed on the students during their exams in the coming semester,” he said.
Another online petition to the Vice Chancellor of Delhi University said students must find shelter within three to four days. It also said senior students should be given the opportunity to virtually complete the rest of their semester.
“Due to the reopening of the University of Delhi at such short notice, several outstation students are very concerned about traveling to Delhi. There are several graduate and postgraduate students like me who are in their final year of studies at DU,” it said. The order to resume offline classes came on February 9.
“It ‘advises’ students to plan to reach Delhi in such a way that they can complete the mandatory three-day isolation period before registering for their lectures starting on February 17. must book their travel tickets and find accommodation within their budget as most students had left their PGs and rented flats,” read the petition.
Off-station students who are in their senior year should have the opportunity to virtually continue the remainder of their studies, which is just two months longer. The Students’ Federation of India, one of the organizations protesting to demand the resumption of offline classes, said it is clear that officials have “did not express an opinion” regarding DU’s regionally diverse student population, and that there are also no thought of how to deal with their worries.
The students who are in their first semester of RUG and PG would be adversely affected by the current notification, they said. “There is no clarity on the nature of their exams in the February 9 notification. The email sent by the university two days prior to the reopening notice suggests that the exams may be in online, open-book mode. However, the lack of an online OBE for freshmen in the February 9 report has caused stress and concern,” they said.
While the campuses should be open to college students of all years, the attendance of first-semester students should not be mandated for this semester, they said.
“In addition, the DU board must immediately announce the introduction of online OBE for first-year students and put an end to the confusion and chaos. Alternative mechanisms should be put in place for students who are currently unable to take offline classes,” the SFI statement said.
They also demanded that students be given sufficient time to come to Delhi and arrange accommodation for them. “As routes to Delhi from most states are busier than usual, this kind of expectation, without taking proper measures to address the problem of lack of trains, is a farce. SFI demands that the Ministry of Railways must start a special DU train on routes at least until the end of February, or add a special DU carriage to existing trains.
The SFI also demanded that a levy period be allowed during which tests, assignments etc. should not be given to the students. Amid ongoing protests from student outfits demanding resumption of offline classes for DU, the varsity issued an order Wednesday announcing the commencement of classes in physical mode for all undergraduate and postgraduate courses from Feb. 17.
