February 4, 2021
TED NewsDesk, Maharashtra: After a series of deliberations, the Maharashtra government gave its consent to reopen schools on Wednesday. Mr Uday Samant, Higher and Technical Education Minister, announced the colleges would function physically from February 15. However, the colleges would not run with 100 per cent strength and only 50 per cent of students can enter the premises at a time.
The administration also decided to strike off some strict rules to comply with the current COVID situation. As a result, 75% attendance is not a mandatory to be able to write exams.
“All colleges will have to adhere to the health guidelines and the standard operating procedures (SOPs). As far as conducting examinations are concerned, the universities will have to decide on whether to go for online or offline or to keep both the options open,” the Minister said at a press conference.
Talking about the university/college hostels, the Minister informed that they might not reopen hostels in a go since many of them are functioning as quarantine centres.
“We held a video conference on February 1 with all the vice-chancellors to know their opinions about reopening of colleges and universities. It was directed to formulate SOPs for curriculum, examination management, and hostels etc.,” he said.
“Electric and safety audits of all the hostels should be carried out before reopening them for students,” the Minister added.
He also said the government needed to seek opinions from local civic bodies before disclosing the reopening dates.
Keeping in mind the earlier issue regarding the commencement of University exams amid lockdown where Mr Samant had a face-off with the State Governor Mr Bhagat Singh Koshyari, the state discussed the matter with BMC, VCs of various colleges, collectors before making a move.
After several months of lockdown and online classes, the colleges will finally begin in the offline mode. The college/university authorities and students need to take proper safety measures to avoid the spread of novel Coronavirus.
Source: The Hindu