Students turn up excited as college open in Kashmir
Students turn up excited as college open in Kashmir
Odd - even formula with COVID SOPs in place : Dir College
Srinagar, Feb 16 , 2021 :
Colleges across Kashmir witnessed good attendance of both the students and the staff today which opened today after 11 months following the outbreak of COVID-19 in March-2020.
The students donning uniforms expressed excitement over the resumption of physical academic activities.
Jammu and Kashmir Director Colleges, M Y Peerzada said in most of the Colleges, classes for even semesters were being conducted currently.
“ On the first day of reopening of colleges, there was a good attendance of students in all colleges of Kashmir valley.
We have received good feedback from all students regarding the resumption of physical academic activities,” Peerzada said.
The colleges had reopened on 1 March last year before they were shut due to an outbreak of COVID-19.
Peerzada said that in most of the Colleges all Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) were being followed in all establishments.
College Principals said they witnessed good attendance of students on the first day.
The principal of Amar Singh College Srinagar Professor Bashir Ahmad Rather said students and the staff observed the recommended COVID-19 SOPs and were excited.
“ We have placed thermal screening and hand sanitizers in the college to avoid getting infected, ” he said.
The principal of SP College, Khurshid Ahmad Khan, who also holds charge of the principal post at Government Women's College Srinagar said that they have devised a good mechanism so that no student suffers from any academic losses or has fear of getting infected.
He also said that both Colleges witnessed a good footfall of students.
“ On an average, we are allowing a maximum of fifty percent of students to be present in the colleges to observe the COVID-19 SOPs and the social distancing,” Khan said.
He said, “ The students have been segregated in odd and even roll numbers.
To maintain the norms of COVID-19, we are allowing only 50 percent students a day via odd-even formula.”
Many students who spoke to Media looked joyous over the resumption of the physical classes and hoped that the academic activities function normally in this academic year.
“ Online classes were a good experiment but students couldn’t grasp the lectures properly due to the slow internet,” Sabreen, a college student said.
She said staying at home continuously for nearly a year has severely disturbed the mental balance of the students.
“ Attending classes physically not only helps in understanding lectures properly but also eases out our mental anxiety, ” Sabreen said.
Meanwhile, another student Nadeem Iqbal said that he was patiently waiting for colleges to reopen so that he can meet his college friends and also attend the classes.
Pertinently, in the academic year 2020, less than 10 percent of regular educational activities were held in Colleges and Schools of Kashmir Valley due to COVID-19 outbreak in March.
Following the closure of educational institutes, the government directed virtual classes to compensate the academic losses by delivering onscreen classes online or by telecasting video lectures via different cable network channels.
However, due to the low-speed internet, the students here in Jammu and Kashmir faced many hardships in attending online classes and fetching study material.
In the academic year 2019 also, less than 50 percent of educational activities were held in Colleges following the abrogation of Article-370.
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