Degree colleges to start academic year through ‘blended learning’

Preparing for the start of the new academic year in September, degree colleges aim to initiate blended learning methods through a combination of both online and offline lectures. College authorities claim the state government should provide clear guidelines on the reopening of physical colleges, highlighting issues such as number of students per batch, safety measures to be installed and methods to conduct forthcoming exams, sports and extracurricular activities. Similar to schools, degree colleges aim to shift to online education through digital classes in view of the lockdown extension due to increasing risks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Anushree Lokur, incharge principal of Ramnarain Ruia College, Dadar said, "Considering the pandemic situation, all of us have to be ready to take some content online. We will have to adopt a blended mode of learning by providing reference materials such as ebooks, presentations and digital notes to students. We can make it interactive by allowing students to read these materials first and then discuss it in the online class instead of a one way explanatory lecture."

Along with online lectures, some colleges are also preparing to conduct offline lectures where students can come to the college in batches. Tushar Desai, principal of DG Ruparel College, Matunga said, "We are making preparations for teachers to conduct physical lectures in the college wherein students can attend in batches. We cannot entirely depend on online lectures because it is difficult to get feedback from students whether they have understood the concepts. Also, there are bandwidth and technical problems, so adjusting to a complete online mode of education will take some time." Both teachers and students seek clarity from the state government on the reopening of physical colleges. A teacher of Wilson College, Charni Road, said, "The state government has not declared any guidelines on how many students should be called in one batch or how semester exams will be conducted in the forthcoming months. Also, we do not know if we have to physically attend college every day, as some college spaces have been turned into quarantine facilities." Amanita Rastogi, a student of Arts said, "I do not know how our lectures will be conducted when the academic year begins in September, because my course has a lot of practical work. I cannot learn everything via virtual classes." While Tezad Ansari, a management student, said, "We will miss out on a lot of on-ground activities like sports, events and social outreach programmes if colleges go completely online. We need to have a mix of both physical and virtual classes." On May 8, Uday Samant, higher and technical education minister of Maharashtra, had announced that the new academic year will begin from 1 September, 2020.