KOLKATA: Authorities in several colleges and universities have scheduled meetings on Tuesday with senior professors and administrative staff to discuss the reopening procedure and start the preparations. Students were excited sharing the news of reopening with their friends and classmates on social media.
Students, teachers and college and university authorities were relieved when chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced that campuses will reopen from February 3, almost a month after the government had suspended in-person classes due to the third wave of Covid-19.
At St Xavier’s College, principal Father Dominic Savio has convened a meeting to discuss the modalities of reopening. “It is a very good move by the government and we are ready to reopen and welcome our students. Since our students come from different parts of the country, we need to give them time to prepare and relocate to Kolkata, so we will reopen in a staggered manner. The details will be discussed in a meeting on Tuesday,” said Father Savio.
Most other colleges and universities, too, have decided to reopen in a staggered manner. “We will have a meeting soon with all the stakeholders and discuss on how to reopen providing priority to different student groups,” said an official of Presidency University.
Authorities will have to ensure that all Covid safety guidelines are followed on the campus. There must be provision for some sort of assistance on the campus if a health emergency arises. Jadavpur University has a health centre on the campus where doctors are present on rotational basis. Before reopening in November last year, Scottish Church College had formed a Covid cell where teachers and health professionals were available to answer queries of the students. “We already have the resources to follow all safety rules. We will work out the finer details in the next few days before reopening,” said Subhasis Dutta, principal of Maulana Azad College.
Campuses have been shut since March 2020 since the outbreak of the pandemic. Attempts were made twice to resume in-person teaching but authorities had to shut down again due to the second wave in early 2021 and third wave in January. Several students’ and teachers’ organisations had urged the government to review its decision and reopen in a staggered manner
The student community in the city was excited after the reopening announcement on Monday. “I will be visiting my campus for the first time as and when my batch is called to the college for classes. I took admission in 2020 and it has been almost two years since we have been dependent on online classes. We must be careful and follow all safety norms so that the cases do not surge any more,” said Debdeep Bhattacharya, a student of Goenka College of Commerce and Business Administration.
