IITS GO ONLINE
IIT, Bombay, and Delhi have decided to hold online classes for the entirety of the next semester due to Covid-19.
NEWDELHI/MUMBAI: Two of India’s most-premier educational institutions – Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) -Delhi and IIT-Bombay – said on Thursday that all classes for the next semester will conducted completely online in view of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
IIT-Delhi director V Ramgopal Rao said the institute will follow the recommendations made by a sub-committee on the minimum common strategy to be followed by IITs. “We do not have a choice this year. We will follow the sub committee’s report, which recommends online mode to conduct classes for the upcoming semester,” he said.
According to the sub-committee’s report — which HT has reviewed — submitted to the IIT council’s standing committee on June 15, classes for the first semester of the 2020-21 academic year will be conducted online for all courses.
Rao said IIT-Delhi will allow students facing difficulties in attending online classes to return to the campus. “These students will also take online classes from their hostels,” the report added.
The situation will be reviewed again in October 2020, officials said. Subhasis Chaudhuri, director of IIT-Bombay, said the institute’s senate decided to conduct online classes only for the autumn semester. “Online classes could entail classes in all possible virtual forms. The modality for each lecture will be decided by the course instructor,” said Chaudhuri.
The institute has been shut since March 14 and an early summer vacation was announced from April 1 to May 31. However, owing to continuing lockdown, classes haven’t resumed yet.
IIT-Bombay was shut since March 14 and an early summer vacation was announced from April 1 to May 31. However, owing to the continuing lockdown, classes haven’t resumed yet.
Classes for spring semester of 2020 were concluded prior to the shutdown, exams were pending. On May 17, the administration announced a scheme to do away with spring semester exams and promote students based on their scores in the previous semester.
With the autumn semester set to begin soon, the institute administration is making all possible efforts to equip students for online classes. IIT-Delhi will allow PhD students, who require experimental research facilities and others who need other institute resources, to return if they wish, after July 20.