KOCHI: As educational institutions prepare to reopen on Monday, there is excitement as well as apprehension about the new system. Some colleges will allow only half the total students on a day while others will let in only final-year students
College campuses across the state will welcome back students on Monday. Due to the pandemic outbreak, students have been attending online classes for the better part of the past one-and-a-half years. Though confusion remains, managements are making campuses safe with temperature checkpoints and hand sanitisers in required areas.
Managements are strict about keeping thermal scanners at the entrance and hand sanitisers at different locations to ensure maximum safety. Most of the colleges will allow only half of the student population on a day. The other half will attend online classes. Students will take turns to come to college.To reduce crowd, some colleges in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram will allow only final-year students to attend physical classes from Monday.
“Postgraduate students and sixth-semester BA students will be coming to the colleges from Monday — around 20 students in each class. We had allowed only two students to sit on a bench during examinations. A similar arrangement will be made for physical class sessions too. We have formed a separate committee to ensure safety protocol,” said Dr A K Sudharma, associate professor at Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Thiruvananthapuram campus.
Missing the campuses
Students, for a long time, have been requesting college managements and teachers to reopen campuses. As colleges are yet to send circulars regarding students arriving from containment zones and rural areas where public transport is not available, some students are a bit confused about returning to campuses. They are also concerned about wearing masks full time inside the campuses as well as hostels. Students, who have to travel far to reach colleges, fear they will have to continue the classes in online mode as it will be risky to stay in hostels.
Arya H, a second-semester MA (West Asian Studies) student on Karyavattom campus, Thiruvananthapuram, is a bit worried as she is not sure whether all hostel inmates have taken vaccine or not. “Hostels are open from October 1. However, no restriction has been announced at the hostel. The college said only students who have taken at least one dose of vaccine should be attending classes. There are 12 students in my class,” said Arya.
“It was difficult to wear a mask for three hours during the examination. Now, I have to wear it for the entire day,” said Elizabeth Saniya, a student of St Albert’s College in Kochi. She said the examinations, scheduled from October 25, add to the pressure. “Still, we are excited to rejoin our campus. For the last one year, we missed all programmes and celebrations inside the campus that make college life exciting,” said Elizabeth.