The State government has granted permission to medical and dental colleges and other academic institutions in the health and medical sector to resume classes on campus.
Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Science (RGUHS) on Friday announced that colleges will be asked to reopen on Monday. However, only students, teaching and non-teaching staff who have taken at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine will be permitted to attend offline classes.
Colleges have been closed since March during the onset of the second wave of COVID-19. While they were allowed to hold online classes, students faced the same problem that they did last year during the lockdown. They pointed out that online classes were not effective as they were unable to grasp concepts without practical exposure.
In an order issued on Friday, N. Manjunath Prasad, Principal Secretary, Revenue Department said that medical, dental, nursing and allied health care institutions can reopen with immediate effect. The order also stated that colleges and other institutions should strictly follow COVID-19-appropriate behaviour and follow SOP and guidelines issued by the concerned department.
Jayakar Shetty, Vice Chancellor, RGUHS, said that most students have taken both doses and were ready to return to colleges. “We will be issuing the order on Saturday and will also list out detailed SOP that institutions have to follow. We will ask colleges to tweak their infrastructure to ensure physical distancing among students,” he said.
Any person violating these measures will be liable to be penalised under relevant sections of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, and the Indian Penal Code, stated the order.
