JU starts academic activities online

Kolkata: Academic activities at Jadavpur University by using digital platform in Arts and Science faculty kicked off from Monday.

The decision to begin online classes was finalised at the meeting of the Joint Faculty Council of Science and Arts held on August 19. The academic activities in Engineering faculty will also start soon.

"We are presently providing a digital platform to the teachers for upload, wherever feasible, lecture notes or study materials for starting intermediate semester classes in no contact mode. The study materials will be sharing files based on upload download pattern through power point presentation, word or pdf format so that students can easily access the same," said Chiranjib Bhattacharjee, Pro Vice-Chancellor, JU. In case, a student has no smartphone/desktop or laptop he/she can download the file with the help of friends or from any cyber café. The university has decided not to use real time online mechanisms like zoom or google meet or similar platform at the current juncture.

The university has already kicked off the process of arranging funds for providing necessary infrastructure to the students of the varsity to bridge the digital divide. The varsity had already approached the state government, Chambers of Commerce and the Alumni Association to try and raise funds for purchase of handheld devices and provide necessary data connectivity for these deprived students. Vice-Chancellor Suranjan Das has recently appealed to all his faculty colleagues to make some contribution, preferably one day's salary for providing smartphones or similar devices to the students who are at the receiving end.

"There is no alternative to physical classes. But in the current Covid pandemic situation it is impossible to do so. Academic activities will keep the students engaged and will prevent depression creeping into their minds," said Partha Pratim Ray, General Secretary of Jadavpur University Teachers' Association.