DU set to reopen today, split between students grows on online class option

New Delhi: As Delhi University prepares to reopen for exclusively physical classes from today (Thursday), the divide between excited freshers and sophomores — waiting for their first glimpse of the sprawling campus — and outstation students, mostly seniors, is growing with a large number of final-year students of graduation and post-graduation courses demanding hybrid or online classes.

While first-years and second-years are sick of not having met their batchmates and are eager to start physical classes with colleges too excited to receive them, outstation seniors say that as exams approach, there is no point in making accommodation arrangements for just a couple of months.

A significant hiccup for many students pouring back into the Capital has been the lack of hostel rooms being allotted and nearby PG accommodation charges shooting up.

The outstation final-year students of the university have started a petition, stating that they should not be called back for just two months.

Addressed to the vice-chancellor, the registrar, the proctor and the dean of students' welfare, the petition has been started on change.org and over 40,000 people have already signed it.

Tanya Pandey (25), a final-year Campus Law Centre student and one of the signatories to the petition, said, "The students should not be called back for just two months. Since the examinations are approaching and we are almost at the end of the semester and mid-semester breaks are also round the corner, there is no point in making new arrangements for accommodation and travelling to Delhi just for a couple of months."

But at the same time, Gajendra Mohan Thakur, a 26-year-old Campus Law Centre student could not contain his excitement to return to campus. "The online mode of study was not efficient enough to substitute the offline mode of education. 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.

DU colleges were closed in March 2020 in the wake of the pandemic. The reopening of the campus comes amid a decline in the number of Covid cases in the national capital. Student bodies held protests earlier this

month, demanding the reopening of the campus, following which the varsity decided

to reopen.

But the DDMA notification for reopening higher education institutes has specified that they hold exclusively physical classes while providing the option of hybrid classes for schools.

While the varsity has not yet decided on whether they want to continue hybrid classes, some college heads have said that they will consider the attendance on Thursday and then take a call on whether they can keep online classes on and are preparing accordingly.