February 8, 2021.
TED NewsDesk, Aligarh: The Aligarh Muslim University authorities saw a protest on Sunday by the students demanding them to open the hostel facilities and resume offline classes once again. Concerning this, the students also sent the proctor a memorandum putting forward the urging them to reopen the university.
The students said that other central universities have, if not reopened, at least given a timeline of reopening the university. But AMU has not provided any information regarding the subject. According to a student, “In India except for educational institutes, everything else has been reopened. Neither government nor administration is giving us importance. We are the future of the nation and our education should be resumed.”
The students are asking for the reopening of hostels and classes for final year students especially since they need to use the library urgently.
On the subject, AMU authorities have commented that they are simply following the COVID-19 protocol issued by the government. According to one of the officials, “We have been following the guidelines of the government of India and that is why we have not reported any case on campus yet. Students are demanding reopening of hostels and offline classes for final year students.”
About the reopening of the hostel, the official further added that according to the government guidelines each students should be given single room for accommodation. Since AMU has almost 19 thousand students who reside in hostels, it is impossible to do so.
The official also commented on the resuming of online classes, saying that if classes were to open for final year students, the first year students will also ask for resuming of their classes, which will put social distancing norms useless and risk the safety of everyone.
Whether classes reopen in AMU remains to be seen, with COVID-19 cases on decline, many schools and colleges are being reopened. With certain precautionary measures and care, reopening of classes is possible.
Source: The Free Press Journal