Mumbai colleges to hold extra classes after Ganeshotsav to cover up pending syllabus

With the upcoming five-day break for Ganesh festival, colleges feel teachers will have very little time to focus on academics this semester.

Fearing loss of time to complete pending syllabus, many city colleges are planning to hold extra lectures on Sundays in September. With the upcoming five-day break for Ganesh festival, and the on-going assessment mess, colleges feel teachers will have very little time to focus on academics this semester.

Picture for representation

“We can’t cut down the Ganpati holidays as they have been scheduled to the academic calendar by the university form the beginning of the year. Our only choice is to conduct extra lectures after Ganpati holidays to make up for lost time,” said Anju Kapoor, principal of UPG College, Vile Parle. She added that many of their students are not from Mumbai and have already booked tickets to visit their hometown between August 25 and August 29. “We can’t conduct extra lectures now, so the plan is to wait until the break is over and then conduct lectures if needed,” she added.

Following orders by the governor and chancellor of all state universities, Ch Vidyasagar Rao in the first week of July, MU had called for a one-week break for all degree college students so that teachers can focus on assessment work. B.Com students were given a break of almost nine days as maximum answer booklets pending for evaluation were from the commerce faculty.

On Tuesday evening, a meeting between university officials was called for to discuss the need for a five-day break for Ganpati festival. However, no official statement has been released by the university about change in the schedule. “As of now, the five-day break remains, just as it was mentioned in the academic calendar released at the start of the academic year. Changes, if any, will be communicated to colleges on Thursday,” said Leeladhar Bansod, public relations officer, MU.