Colleges resume physical classes in Maharashtra

Colleges and universities across Maharashtra on Wednesday resumed in-person or “offline” classes, which had been stopped for over one-and-a-half years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The past 19 months left visually impaired Siraj Rane, 20, from Dnyansadhna College, Thane, confined to his home, attending online classes. On Wednesday, as soon as Rane entered the college premises, he called for his friends.

Colleges and universities across Maharashtra on Wednesday resumed in-person or “offline” classes, which had been stopped for over one-and-a-half years due to the coronavirus pandemic. (SATISH BATE/HT)

“Although I attended online classes regularly, I could only hear the teachers’ lectures. But when I come to college, I can also discuss the topics and lectures with my friends. Meeting my classmates and teachers in person helps me understand better, compared to just hearing their voices from my laptop,” said Rane, a third-year BA student.

Colleges and universities across Maharashtra on Wednesday resumed in-person or “offline” classes, which had been stopped for over one-and-a-half years due to the coronavirus pandemic. Like Rane, the handful of students who turned up in colleges across the city were excited to be able to meet their classmates and also attend lectures in person. Colleges across Mumbai saw an around 15% turnout of students each. Although some colleges in rural parts of the state had reopened earlier, the state government had given a go- ahead to all governing authorities to resume physical classes from Wednesday onwards. The Mumbai University and the civic body released SOP ahead of reopening and asked colleges to strictly follow Covid-19 protocols.

Those who are fully vaccinated were allowed to attend college and travel by local train. Joel Fernandes, a student of St Xaviers College, travelled by local train from Ghatkopar till his college on Wednesday, after almost two years. “It is now that I feel things are getting back to normalcy. It seemed ages since I followed my routine of taking the train and reaching college. Even walking towards the institute from CST railway station felt surreal,” said an elated Fernandes, a post-graduate student of Mass Communication.

“Excitement and nervousness is at its peak today. After 19 months, we are out of our pyjamas and got an opportunity to dress well and attend classes. During online classes, we had to keep the video off so there was no dress code. But we need to dress well to come to college. I specifically went shopping to buy tops in the latest trend,” said Srushti Donde, 20, student of Ruia college.

Teachers were happy to get to offline sessions as students were less responsive in online lectures. “We were anxious with all the Covid protocols in place and to ensure that everything is implemented well, but were also excited at the same time. The chatter and laughter is back in the college corridors and we could also have a very enthusiastic and interactive lecture, unlike online classrooms,” said Runa Shajeev, head of department for English, Dnyansadhna College, Thane.

Colleges ensured all Covid protocols were in place and a hybrid set-up of teaching was prepared for students. “Thermal scanning and hand washing as well as sanitisation facilities are made available at entry points for all staff, students and visitors. Posters about social distancing norms and other hygiene practices to be followed are displayed at prominent places in the campus. Moreover, classrooms and laboratories are well equipped with online and offline modes of teaching,” said Gajanan Wader, principal, Pillai College of Arts Commerce and Science, Panvel.

Hardly a handful of students attended college on Wednesday

Most colleges had preferred to call post-graduate or practical batch for the first day and plan to include more students gradually. Krutika Desai, principal, Mithibai College, said, “We had around 10% students from post-graduation who attended college on the first day. We conducted all examinations online. we started with them first and are expecting a better response post Diwali.”

“It was not different for our students as some used to visit for the last two weeks to solve doubts. All our teachers are fully vaccinated; students from the first year who had film making courses or practicals had requested if they could visit college for extra help. As some of them were below 18 years of age we allowed them to visit, maintaining protocols. It was almost the same crowd who attended college on Wednesday, so it was pretty much like every day for us,” said Anju Kapoor, principal of Usha Pravin Gandhi college, Vile Parle.

With hardly a week before Diwali vacations begin and portions for the second year and third-year students completed, not many students were eager to attend college. This was also one of the reasons that most colleges reopened only for post-graduate and research-related courses on Wednesday. All colleges are expecting a better turnout post Diwali vacations as the new term will begin and more students will be fully vaccinated till then.

Most campuses bore a deserted look despite the first day of reopening, “Exams for our undergraduate students are currently on and since the exams were planned in the online mode, we didn’t want to disturb the schedule,” said Rajendra Shinde, principal of St Xavier’s College. He added that their UG students will start attending physical classes only post exams and their Diwali break. “The post graduate batches were called to start attending physical lectures, but very few showed up on day one,” he added.

Similarly at KC College in Churchgate, only those students who have practical exams were invited to college while the rest of the students appeared for their exams online.

Several residential colleges, including the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) had started bringing their students back on campus in a phased manner and in September this year, the institute announced that their mid-semester exams were being conducted in the hybrid mode — those on campus took offline exams while the rest appeared for exams online.

“We now have only two weeks of instructional classes left, therefore our classes will continue online until the end of semester. Post Diwali break, we will be conducting exams in the hybrid mode,” said Prof Subhashis Chaudhuri, director, IIT-Bombay.