After Diwali break, students make their way to classrooms

The otherwise quiet corridors of city colleges witnessed a fresh change on Monday morning as students from various batches made their way back to classrooms after a Diwali break

The otherwise quiet corridors of city colleges witnessed a fresh change on Monday morning as students from various batches made their way back to classrooms. While officially colleges reopened for undergraduate and postgraduate students on October 20 this year, most colleges witnessed a better turnout on Monday, a day after the Diwali holidays ended.

While officially colleges reopened for undergraduate and postgraduate students on October 20 this year, most colleges witnessed a better turnout on Monday, a day after the Diwali holidays ended. (Praful Gangurde/ HT)

A handful of colleges, including some autonomous institutes, however, have decided to push the reopening of the regular class by another few days, in order to give teachers who are currently busily proctoring the ongoing online exams, some break.

“We were quite surprised to see 15-16 students in almost every classroom on Monday morning. Most students who attended college were fully vaccinated, and travelled either by train or were those who stay close to the institute,” said Anju Kapoor, principal of UPG College, Vile Parle. She added that along with students from the city, many outstation students also attended a physical class on Monday. “Those who had gone back to their hometowns in different states during the lockdown have also started making their way back to the city. They surprised us by showing up for a class today,” she added.

Hemant Chitte, principal, Dnyansadhna College, Thane, said, “We are currently following the same model as we did before the Diwali vacations began. Except for the third-year batch, who is currently busy preparing for their end of semester exams, the others (those vaccinated) are attending physical lectures on a regular basis following the hybrid model.”

Hybrid model a challenge for teachers

As per the last notification shared by the state government as well as the University of Mumbai, colleges have to continue classes in the hybrid mode—which means while the physical class is on for fully vaccinated students, teachers will also continue online classes for those are yet to get immunised. While on paper this decision sounds easy, teachers are finding the task extremely difficult.

Many teachers on Monday struggled to maintain a balance between online and offline batches. “The network got a little sketchy because many classes were on at the same time in the college, straining the network connection. I spent more time reconnecting the online class instead of teaching and because of this, students physically present in the classroom were getting frustrated and distracted. We need a solution to this hybrid mode teaching method,” said a senior teacher from a south Mumbai college.

Colleges are also worried that hybrid teaching will not be possible for all classes, especially in the self-financed courses where a large number of teachers are visiting faculty. “We cannot force visiting faculty to conduct physical classes, so there will be days when students will be sitting in the classroom but attending a lecture conducted by visiting faculty online,” said another college principal of condition of anonymity.

In the second week of October, minister for state higher and technical education Uday Samant announced the reopening of degree colleges only for fully vaccinated students starting October 20. In a statement made on October 13, Samant suggested that colleges should implement the physical reopening of campuses in a phased manner and should continue online classes for those students who are not yet fully vaccinated.

Most colleges, on October 20, the first day of college reopening, wore a deserted look. While undergraduate students were busy with online exams, postgraduate students could not attend lectures, either because they were not fully vaccinated or because they were attending lectures from different cities and states in the country.

While colleges were busy conducting exams for second-year students before Diwali vacation, final year UG exams are scheduled to take place from November 15 to mid-December. “My teachers are already busy with online proctoring and cannot manage classes at the same time. We have therefore suggested starting classes in the hybrid mode starting November 22,” said Marie Fernandes, principal of St Andrew’s College, Bandra.

“In the hybrid model, teachers have to simultaneously pay attention to students online and offline, this is not only a distraction for students but becomes quite hectic for the teachers as well. We, therefore, plan to adopt either of the two patterns soon, instead of the hybrid model. Taking into consideration the current situation and change in rules, we hope to start classes completely in offline mode soon,” said Suchitra Naik, Principal, KG Joshi of Arts and N G Bedekar of Commerce College, Thane.

Several city colleges managed to conduct vaccination drives for their staff and students in the last few weeks and many hope to see a larger number of fully vaccinated students attending college in the near future. “We conducted a vaccination camp just before Diwali vacations on campus for staff and students due for their second dose. Those who had not taken their first dose also got vaccinated in this same drive and we are encouraging others to get immunised soon too,” added Naik.