IIEST, other NITs told to resume offline
The Union Ministry of Education wrote to IIEST, Shibpur and all NITs on February 24 asking them to resume complete academic offline activities at the earliest in accordance with instructions from the state disaster management authorities. Debabrata Mazumdar, the dean of students at IIEST, said offline classes at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels will start from March 21. Following the notice, officials of the IIEST, Shibpur, held a meeting. “Classes will resume in the offline mode after the completion of mid-semester exams. Students will be asked to report to campus within March 21,” said an official.
Fee waiver for unaided private schools to end
A number of schools in Kolkata have communicated to the parents that they would have to pay up enhanced fees from April, while a few others will soon take a call on the fees they will charge in the new academic session. While most of the schools have hiked their fees, a few haven’t done so far. But parents will still end up paying more because the 20 per cent waiver on the fees that the high court had ordered because of the pandemic would lapse this month. The high court had last week said the waiver it had ordered for 149 unaided-private schools to offer to the parents would not apply from March. The high court had in October 2020 ordered the schools, to waive tuition fees between April 2020 and a month after the resumption of offline classes.
State wants bus stand at heritage zone redesigned
The state has requested the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC), the implementing agency of the East-West Metro project, to come up with a design for rebuilding the BBD Bagh bus stand in keeping with the zone’s heritage status. “We have requested the KMRC to come up with a design that is in sync with the heritage status of the zone where Writers’ Buildings is located,” said Transport Minister Firhad Hakim, adding, “We are not looking at a new building. But the design of the bus stand should blend with the heritage structures here.”
Iran to participate in 45th city book fair
Iran will participate in the Kolkata Book Fair for the first time, the Publishers and Booksellers’ Guild has said. Iran will be part of a contingent of publishers from 20 other countries at the 45th edition of the Book Fair scheduled to be held from February 28 to March 13. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is scheduled to inaugurate the annual event at Central Park in Salt Lake. The fair could not be held last year because of the pandemic. Among the guests will be K M Khalid, Bangladesh’s minister for cultural affairs and Bangladeshi author Selina Hossain. Bangladesh is the fair’s ‘theme country’ this year.