MU’S colleges reopen amid Covid, confusion
While clarity on online lectures came around 4pm on Monday, varsity yet to respond to queries on staff attendance
MUMBAI: Several city colleges affiliated to the University of Mumbai (MU) reopened amid confusion on Monday. While colleges depended on an old MU circular stating that the academic year 2021-22 will begin on June 14 (Monday), a fresh circular confirming this and the fact that colleges will continue lectures online only came around 4pm on Monday, hours after colleges had already opened for the new year.
“The university had released an academic calendar for the 2020-21 academic year towards the end of 2020 and in that it was clarified that the next academic year will commence from June 14. However, no one gave us any clarity on whether to conduct lectures online or not. We started assuming that lectures will be held virtually,” said Marie Fernandes, principal of St Andrew’s College, Bandra.
By Monday afternoon, the university released a circular signed by the registrar, addressed to all affiliated colleges.
“Lectures of undergraduate and postgraduate, except for first year (first part) will begin on the online platform after the completion of admissions process,” stated the circular.
While clarity on online lectures has now come through, MU is yet to respond to queries about teacher and staff attendance in colleges.
“We didn’t get any information in the previous circular. So we contacted the university officials and were told that MU itself is working on the 50%-attendance rule for the time being. So we have decided to follow the same rule and call the staff on a rotational basis,” said Anju
Kapoor, principal of UPG College, Vile Parle.
HT had previously reported how colleges were preparing for the 2021-22 academic year in advance, even though the varsity gave very little clarity on the reopening.
From purchasing new online software to conducting lectures smoothly, to hiring new service providers and conducting exams online without errors, colleges wanted to be better prepared for the new year.
“However, starting classes without the final go-ahead from the university is never a good idea. So we decided to hold off the commencement of lectures unless we heard from the authorities. Now that the circular has come through, we will reopen at the earliest,” said the principal of another suburban college on the condition of anonymity.
Mixed reactions on online practical sessions
For the past one year, students from across Mu-affiliated colleges have been stuck to their computer screens for lectures. While everyone got used to the routine, many students found practical sessions difficult to understand through the online mode.
“We would see several experiments being conducted on the screen, but unless one participates in a laboratory and understands the experiment, it’s very difficult to get the concept. Thankfully, our final-exam practicals were based on oral exams and not physical exams, so we could pass them,” said a thirdyear student of BSC (chemistry).
She added that the college, on request from several students, had agreed to hold offline practical sessions in college in March, but had to call them off after Mumbai started recording an increasing numbers of Covid-19 cases.
“Hopefully, this semester we will have a mix of online and offline classes because as third-year students we will need to be better prepared for the final exams,” she added.
While most colleges depended entirely on conducting practical sessions online, some tried creative ways to allow better involvement of students.
“As soon as our term practical sessions started, our department created a separate Google Classroom where practical material were posted either in PPT or doc forms, which were then explained during the lecture,” said Chitra Lahoti, a third-year student from the microbiology department of KC College, Churchgate.
She added that the college made videos for every experiment such as protocol, precautions and results, and also managed to conduct practical sessions for some experiments.
Final-year exams, along with the practical sessions, were also conducted online last academic year.
“Two students were examined by one professor at a time. For each practical experiment, the problem statements were displayed on the screen and we were supposed to solve it at that moment and answer them. Our journal work was asked to be displayed on screen as well. Additionally, some set of multiple choice questions (MCQS) were also asked as part of the exam,” added Lahoti.
This year, colleges are hoping for a hybrid teaching module to ensure that students do not miss out on important sessions.
“Our hospitality students have been suffering from the past one year. But this year, we hope to make changes to include more physical sessions, with safety precautions in place, of course,” said Fernandes.