The Delhi University on Monday reopened college campuses for its staff members. Final-year students will be permitted to visit their respective campuses to access laboratories and libraries among other facilities.
However, theory classes will continue to be held in the online format.
In a notification on January 29, DU said: “It is notified that all colleges, centres and departments shall be functional and therefore all teaching staff must attend to their work place with effect from February 1. Only final-year students, in small batches, are allowed to visit their respective colleges...”
The students, who visited their respective college campuses after almost a year, said they were looking forward to returning to classrooms soon as online classes had proved to be difficult.
Priyanka, a political science student of Deshbandhu College, said: “It was very difficult to follow online classes. Every semester has new professors and all of them have their own methods of teaching. During online classes, most people choose to remain quiet...We really want the colleges to reopen soon for classes as well.” Zakir, another student of Deshbandhu college, said: “I came to college today to issue a few books from the library...There is a lot of excitement among my batchmates to finally be able to return to campus after almost a year.”
However, professors said the university should have prepared a proper SOP before announcing the reopening of campuses.
‘No proper SOP’
Tanvir Aeijaz, professor at Ramjas College, said: “It is definitely not a well thought decision. How can you reopen campuses without a proper SOP? Unfortunately, students are not considered as stakeholders in the entire process. While the intent is to start offline classes there should be some deliberations and consultation. There are so many students who are not in the city. The university should have given at least 10-15 days time to students before reopening.”
The Delhi University Teachers’ Association said teachers had to “struggle to find places to teach” as Internet was unavailable in several colleges. “No proper mechanism was put in place to ensure no disruption to the teaching-learning process before issuance of the order,” said the association.
