Kolkata: State Education minister Partha Chatterjee will hold a virtual meeting on Sunday with the vice-chancellors of state universities following the latest academic calendar of the University Grants Commission (UGC) according to which the session for freshers in colleges and universities would begin from November 1.
"We will discuss in detail what steps can be taken adhering to the guidelines of the Centre and the state related to Covid safety measures to start the academic calendar under the new normal. The aspects of both online as well as offline classes will come up for discussion," said a senior official of the state Higher Education department.
Classes in physical mode will be a big challenge as there is not clear picture as to when the local train services will start. "At least 40 percent of our students avail of local trains to reach the university. So if services do not start by November then the idea of physical classes may prove to be a
far cry," pointed out a vice-chancellor of a university in Kolkata.
Another university vicechancellor from a western district said that if physical classes begin there should be a fool proof mechanism in place to ensure that common people do not blame it upon a particular institution if the virus spread among the students .
Colleges and universities across the state are closed since the third week of March amidst the Covid pandemic situation and the final semester examinations for both undergraduate and post graduate will be held in online mode in between October 1 and 18.
The Haryana government has allowed its colleges and universities to open from September 26 on a trial basis.
In order to compensate for the loss of academic time, the UGC has asked colleges to teach six days a week, without any summer or winter break, for the next two academic sessions.