Kolkata colleges focus on junior students after vaccine shield – Times of India

KOLKATA: Unlike previous two attempts to reopen campuses when colleges and universities gave priority to outgoing batches and those students with lab-based subjects for in-person classes, this time they are calling junior students from even first and second semesters for physical classes.
Many colleges have in fact decided to call students only from first two or three semesters and dates for others will be announced later which principals have said has been done for several reasons.
This time most students are fully or partially vaccinated, many have had delayed start due to delay in admissions in the last two pandemic years and they have less time to finish their curriculum. Also, education department has indicated that students from all batches can be called in a staggered manner and internal examinations of senior students.
At Seth Anandram Jaipuria College, classes of first semester students in all the courses started on Thursday. Classes of students in fourth and sixth semesters will start on February 8.
“We were prepared to reopen the college. As soon as we received the government order we shared the routine with the students. All safety norms are being complied, too,” said Asok Mukhopadhyay, principal of the college.
In North City College, too, offline classes for first semester students started on Thursday. Dates for other semesters will be announced soon.”The students have been provided with their time tables too and classes have started,” said an official of the college.
In Goenka College of Commerce and Business Administration, too classes for BCom and MCom first year started from Thursday.
Earlier, two attempts were made to reopen campuses before the second and the third waves in March and mid-November last year. But only students of the outgoing batches were prioritised. This time however junior batches have also been called to the campus.
According to principals this has been done after considering several factors.
“Many of these students had taken admission in 2020 but never ever stepped inside the campus. They have lost out on a lot of time because of delayed start to semesters as admission process started late. This is the reason we decided to call the junior batches too along with senior batches,” said the principal of a south Kolkata college.
“Most students have taken their vaccination including those in first and second semester so it is safe to call them to the campus,” said another principal.
Presidency professors said individual departments would inform students on offline classes.