Delhi varsity plans for re-entry of final-year students

NEW DELHI: Delhi University is working on framing standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the phased return of final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students with officials also hinting that the next semester may be taught offline.

DU’s official spokesperson Balaram Pani, principal of Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Sciences, said college principals and university officials are working on SOPs, which are expected to be issued in a couple of weeks. “We are discussing the modalities. Outstation students are a concern as they may require hostels, and we are currently figuring out how that can be facilitated.

We are also planning to arrange for some sort of testing facilities for incoming students to ensure the health and safety of our stakeholders is not at risk. If the [Covid-19] situation is better by April-May, we can begin the next semester in physical mode.”

Colleges and universities in the national capital have been closed since March 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and classes had moved completely online. After research and finalyear postgraduate students of Science courses were allowed to return to laboratories in small numbers in November, finalyear UG students had been demanding a phased re-entry of Science students because they were losing their credit points due to no practical lessons.

On Thursday, DU announced that after consultation with college and department representatives, the varsity “will slowly and carefully start allowing only final year students” to return to campus for “lab work and practical classes” in small groups.

The announcement stands to affect Humanities, Commerce students also, as both require a certain degree of lab work. DU dean of students (DSW) Rajeev Gupta said the university will initiate the phased entry from February.

Generally, final-year exams for DU students are held in April-May. Principals across colleges said ensuring physical distancing among UG students will be a major challenge. Manoj Khanna, principal of Ramjas College, said, “It will be challenging to ensure social distancing among students who will be getting together after a difficult year.