Universities in the state reopened with an average attendance of 85% and for colleges the average attendance was 78% on the first day.
Colleges in West Bengal have opened doors to students but will stagger the reopening and hold classes in batches.
Much like the schools in the state, the colleges and universities in West Bengal would be opening their doors to students in a phased manner.
Universities in the state reopened with an average attendance of 85% and for colleges the average attendance was 78% on the first day, according to the West Bengal education department.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology or MAKAUT has allowed only final-year students on campus for now. “The final-year students and researchers need to attend classes the most. We will bring back the rest of the batches in phases after reviewing the current situation. For now, we have decided to conduct both online and offline exams. We want to ensure that the answer scripts are evaluated quickly. To make the process contactless, we have decided to scan the answer scripts and send them to the examiners for evaluation,” said, Saikat Mitra, the vice-chancellor of MAKAUT.
Jadavpur University, Calcutta University, and Scottish Church College have decided not to allow freshers on campus for now. Both Jadavpur University and Presidency University have left it to individual departments to come up with their own rosters in keeping with social distancing norms.
Many colleges have decided not to conduct daily classes for all students. Lady Brabourne College, for instance, will call students on alternate days for three days every week. Bethune College and Scottish Church College, too, will follow a similar pattern.
Students of Asutosh College, Bangabasi College, Surendranath College and Basanti Devi College will be on campus twice a week. Bangabasi College will only allow honours students to attend physical classes for now.
Dinabandu Andrews College will call students to the campus on alternate days. “To begin with, we are allowing only odd-semester students on campus. Students of the science stream and the humanities and commerce streams will attend classes on alternate days,” said Somnath Mukherjee, the principal of Dinabandu Andrews College.
Colleges are also stressing on vaccination. A double vaccine certificate is compulsory for attending offline classes at Asutosh College. At Scottish Church college, only students with at least one dose of the vaccine can attend classes.