E-Paper
Final year law students demand blended teaching mode
PUNE While most colleges have resumed normal teaching on campus after the state education department allowed colleges and universities to resume offline classes, some final-year students at ILS law college have demanded continuation of both offline and online classes as they cannot afford to return to Pune for a couple of months
PUNE While most colleges have resumed normal teaching on campus after the state education department allowed colleges and universities to resume offline classes, some final-year students at ILS law college have demanded continuation of both offline and online classes as they cannot afford to return to Pune for a couple of months. The said students have written a letter to state technical and higher education minister Uday Samant to instruct colleges to take the summer semester classes in offline and online or blended mode.
Karan Naiknaware, a final-year student from ILS law college, Pune, said, “In the last two years during the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a major impact on students both financially and in terms of loss of family members. There are students who have lost their father, mother or both parents in the pandemic. As colleges have begun offline lectures, we are not able to return to Pune, stay in college hostels and attend lectures. Many of us are working somewhere to support our families financially so our demand is to make online classes available to students.”
As per the letter submitted by these students to Samant on March 18, semester exams were delayed this year and teaching of the syllabus for the summer semester started only from January 2022. Till now, more than 50% of the syllabus has been completed while the rest of it will be completed within the next couple of months. So for a short period of time, students who have returned to their villages or hometowns and those who are working will not be able to come back to attend offline lectures. Also students from rural areas are not in a position to pay college hostel fees that are around Rs60,000 and above for only two months. So, college hostel fees too are not affordable for a large number of students and the education department must find a solution to this.
About the issue, one of the senior officials from ILS law college, said on condition of anonymity, “We have started offline lectures as per the guidelines issued by the state government and online lectures were a temporary thing during the pandemic. Now, students need to once again turn towards offline classes and examinations, and we are ready to help them in all possible ways. Regarding the hostel fees, we are open to discussion with these students and finding a solution to it.”
