Schools shut in Noida, Greater Noida. Private varsities to go digital amid coronavirus outbreak

Universities have also started declaring holidays to ensure the safety of students from COVID-19. Amity University has declared that it will remain closed till March 31. The university is going to hold online classes for students to complete their remaining courses.

All the schools are going to remain closed in Gautam Budh Nagar to arrest the spreading of novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). The district magistrate has said that schools and few other education organisations are going to remain closed for a week to start with.

People seen wearing protective masks as a precautionary measure amid rising coronavirus outbreak(Yogendra Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Universities have also started declaring holidays to ensure the safety of students from COVID-19. Amity University has declared that it will remain closed till March 31. The university is going to hold online classes for students to complete their remaining courses.

“Taking serious view of the Global wide spread Coronavirus and in the interest of students, all face to face classroom activities at the campus are ‘called off’ with effect from tomorrow Saturday, 14 March, 2020 upto 31 March, 2020 as a precautionary measure. In view of the above, online classes will be scheduled from next week so that there is no academic loss to the Students,” said a spokes person from Amity University, sector 125.

The university is also going to cancel all the interviews of students as part of admission procedure. “We are going to do admissions only online now. We will have skype calls for interviews following the COVID-19 scare. Admission procedures are on and it is going to continue till July,” said Savita Mehta, spokesperson, Amity University.

Shiv Nadar University has also asked its students to stay away from the campus and classes will be conducted remotely. “All University students (undergraduate and postgraduate/doctoral) who are not on campus are being encouraged to stay away until March 31, and beyond if necessary. During this time, we will move all courses to online mode. This may happen through Blackboard, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or other means. Any assessment planned for this period will either be postponed or adapted to online mode. Instructors will send students course-specific instructions remotely,” said the Shiv Nadar University in a statement released to the media.

“For students who are already on campus, please note that no cases have been reported as of now and the administration is taking all necessary measures to handle any emergency. Do minimize your travel at this point to minimize the risk of infection and report in case you notice any symptoms related to the virus,” it added.

Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate said that it is waiting for the detailed order from the Uttar Pradesh Government to declare holidays at schools and other educational organisations.

“To start with, schools and other departments will remain close for week. We will decide on extending it as per the orders of the state government. We are taking all the possible precautionary measures in the district for COVID-19 and the situation is in control,” said BN Singh, district magistrate, Gautam Budh Nagar.

DM is expecting to receive the detailed order of the state government on keeping educational institutes closed by Friday evening.

Few students studying in a Greater Noida college created ruckus at the Government Institute of Medical Sciences on Wednesday night after they were denied to give their samples for a Coronavirus test. The officials had to call the police to control the situation and send those students back.