CHENNAI: All set to reopen from September 1, colleges are busy churning up ideas that can help their students make up for lost learning time.Since 2020, students have been attending classes through online mode and have hardly visited their colleges and interacted with their teachers physically.
When they step into the campuses again, apart from being excited, they will have several doubts related to subjects as well.
To help students, colleges are taking several measures. At Ethiraj College for Women, teachers will be staying one hour extra on the campus only to clear students’ doubts.
“Second-year students had studied their entire first year in online mode only. To strengthen their foundation and to clear their doubts, teachers will be helping the students. We have also allocated a special class on Saturday during which students can get their doubts cleared,” said S Kothai, principal of Ethiraj College.
Another major problem is that since last year students have not been able to attend practical classes. Hence, many colleges have decided to complete practical classes on a war footing.
“Threat of a third wave is looming large and we don’t know when the situation will become worse and colleges will be closed again. On a priority basis, we have decided to conduct practical classes for lab-oriented courses and finish it off so that students will have some relief,” said principal of Guru Nanak College, MG Ragunathan.
University of Madras also has similar plans. For postgraduate and other courses, practical classes will be held regularly as students have not been exposed to lab sessions for over an year, said Vice-Chancellor S Gowri.
“I will convene a meeting of all heads of the departments on Tuesday and discuss with them how effectively we can conduct practical classes,” added the V-C.