Virudhunagar
Final year students came with enthusiasm to the two Arts and Science Colleges in the district that reopened on Monday after eight months.
More than 75% students turned up at Madurai Kamaraj University Constituent College at Sattur and Government Arts and Science College in Sivakasi.
“With the semester exams only a week away, the students have turned up in large numbers to clear all their doubts,” said Principal of Government Arts and Science College, Sivakasi, N. Gandhimathi.
The college that has 12 undergraduate courses has final year students in 10 courses and five post-graduate courses. “We have started the classroom teaching for all the 10 final year UG courses and five final year PG courses. For first and second year students, the online classes are continuing,” she said.
Principal of the MKU Constituent College M. Muthukumar said that final year students of all five UG courses had shown eagerness to attend the classes on the college premises.
Stating that the standard operating procedures announced by the government was being followed, he said that the students were using masks. Their body temperature was checked and sanitiser was given before they were allowed into the classrooms.
As against five students usually sitting in a bench, only three students are allowed now. “Wherever, the student strength is higher, we have made them to sit in two classrooms,” Mr. Muthukumar said.
In Sivakasi college, the library and auditorium were used as classrooms to maintain social distancing.
“It was good to meet all our friends after a long time,” said S. Bharati, a final year B.Com student. She said that though online classes were useful during the lockdown period, understanding commerce sums was a problem for many,” she said.
Online classes were not that much interactive as classroom room learning. For B. Saritha, a Tamil student, there was too much domestic distraction in attending online classes. “At times, my I lost my concentration on classes as I had to take up domestic chores,” she said.
Besides, both the students felt that they could share their feelings with their friends only when they meet them in person.
Not only students, but teachers were also equally eager to meet the students. “One of our teacher walked straight into our classroom to meet us even before the working hours,” said R. Mathankumar, a Mathematics student.
A few students had struggled for months to get a mobile phone to attend online classes, he said. Similarly, network issues also often cropped up. “There are only a few more months left in our college life. We hope to catch up with some of the best moments of our life in this period,” he said.
The students complained that the TNSTC buses were not accepting the old bus passes. “The conductor said that he did not get any instruction to accept the passes,” Mathankumar said.
