After conducting the SSLC exam, the pending II PU exams, and the Common Entrance Test (CET), the State government has now announced that degree colleges will reopen on October 1. The academic year, however, will commence from September 1 through online classes.
Deputy Chief Minister and Higher Education Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan said here on Wednesday that the government was awaiting Central guidelines regarding the resumption of offline classes.
He also said that once the academic year began, final-year exams would be scheduled for all undergraduate, diploma and engineering students, and the backlog exams would also be conducted.
“In accordance with the current UGC guidelines, we have already made comprehensive preparations for starting classes. The State government will follow any additional directions from the Central government as they come,” he tweeted.
Mr. Ashwath Narayan also said that those opposing the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), scheduled to be held on September 13, had “vested interests” and that the State would coordinate with the Centre for conducting the NEET successfully.
‘Consult stakeholders’
The announcement has been met with mixed reactions. Sithara H.M., district president, All-India Democratic Students’ Organisation, said that such decisions should be taken only after consulting various stakeholders, including students, parents and teachers, apart from health experts.
“They just announce such important decisions in haste and create panic among students and parents. It is unfortunate that they are thinking of reopening colleges in October when the State is reporting over 5,000 to 6,000 new COVID-19 cases per day,” she said.
Another student urged the government to request the UGC to defer exams for final year students. “At least for the sake of public good amid a pandemic, such issues should be decentralised and be based on a State-to-State basis,” the student said.
However, Bangalore University Vice-Chancellor K.R. Venugopal said that preparations were already on for conducting exams for terminal semesters students. “As a continuation of that, we will also begin preparations for the resumption of offline classes,” he said, and added that that was ample of time for them to prepare.
He also said that the COVID Care Centres that have been established at the campus would be withdrawn or shifted from the campus within a day or two. “We have requested the government in this regard so that we have time to sanitise it and keep it ready before students start coming,” he added.
