IIT-B announces early summer vacation amid coronavirus lockdown

The Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B), on Saturday, announced early summer vacation for students, amid the lockdown, owing to the coronavirus outbreak

The Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B), on Saturday, announced early summer vacation for students, amid the lockdown, owing to the coronavirus outbreak in the city. The summer vacation will start from April 1 and end on May 31, 2020.

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“Health and wellbeing of our students are of utmost importance. We will make sure that the career plans of all graduating students are least disturbed and the semester and academic calendars are least shifted,” said director Subhasis Chaudhuri.

Usually, summer vacations for students are between the first week of May. Between April and May, the institute holds the end semester exams, but this year, the examinations will be deferred owing to the lockdown.

On March 14, the institute suspended all its academic and research activities until March 29 as a preventive measure against the spread of the novel coronavirus. Three days later, the institute asked the students residing in hostels, to leave the campus and go home. Last Monday, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a three-week lockdown, classes were further suspended.

The institute has now decided to leverage the lockdown by converting it into the summer vacation, so that the academic calendar is not pushed further. Four buildings on campus have also been converted as quarantine facilities for housing asymptomatic flyers coming into the city from international locations.

Meanwhile, the institute’s efforts to deliver lectures online hasn’t borne fruit. “We worked on various issues related to distance mode of delivery of lectures for our students, including the possibility that some of the students may not have access to the internet. We have now asked students to get engaged to academics online,” said Chaudhuri.