DU Colleges Set To Reopen From Today After 2 Years, Demand For Online Classes Among Outstation Students

Some students, especially the last-year students of graduation and post-graduation courses, are demanding hybrid or online classes

Delhi University Reopens For Offline Studies | Getty

New Delhi: It will be a first for many students who will attend the Delhi University (DU) colleges since they took admission as the university opens up offline on Thursday after a hiatus of almost two years.

Students are excited to return to the campus to “reclaim” the years lost due to the pandemic in March 2020. Most students feel that the online mode of study was not adequate enough to substitute the offline mode of education.

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Sharing the experience of going to college, Gajendra Mohan Thakur, a 26-year-old Campus Law Centre student told PTI, “I am excited to go back to the campus. The university was shut for around two years. It is a time to reclaim our lost years.”

“Offline classes also provide a better platform for student-teacher interaction and better learning,” said Kalyani Harbola, a first-year student.

Colleges Set To Welcome Students

The colleges have reopened the campus comes amid a decline in the number of Covid cases in the national capital. Earlier month student bodies held protests demanding the reopening of the campus.

Delhi colleges are all set to welcome back the students, several of whom would be first-year and second-year students who have only attended classes in the online mode.

Even colleges have taken appropriate measures to welcome the students on campus. Gyantosh Jha, the principal of the Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College said, “We got the campus sanitised on Wednesday and are ready to welcome the students. Many parents visited the college with their wards on Wednesday. The first-year and second-year students will be coming to the college for the first time.”

Blended Mode Of Education

Some colleges will be holding classes for the first-year students in hybrid format, while second and third-year students will have to attend classes in person.

On the blended mode of education for the first-year students, Jha said, “We will see the attendance on Thursday. If 50 percent of students or less turn up, we will go for a hybrid mode for the first-year students. We have spoken to the teachers about it.”

Some students, especially the last-year students of graduation and post-graduation courses, are demanding hybrid or online classes.

Some of the DU colleges are focused on offline classes only for senior batches.

 “We will have a blended or hybrid mode of education and the students will be provided academic support to ease stress,” Miranda House principal Bijayalaxmi Nanda told PTI.

In that scenario, Nanda said online study and resource materials will be provided to all the students. The Rajdhani College would have online classes for the first-year students. Officials of the Aryabhatta College said no student would be pressured to come for offline classes.

Some of the colleges are of the view as the university was shut for almost two years, preparing hostels takes time and hence, the students might have to wait to get hostel accommodation.

 A section of outstation students especially those in the final year have demanded that classes be held in a hybrid format.

As the exams are approaching, such students feel there is no point in arranging accommodation for just a couple of months. Infact, the outstation final-year students of the university have started a petition demanding not to be called back for just two months.

In a petition at change.org, over 40,000 people have already signed the demands of the dean of students’ welfare which is addressed to the vice-chancellor, the registrar, the proctor and, according to PTI.

(With PTI Inputs)