Summary
An online petition to the vice-chancellor, started by a varsity professor, urged resumption of offline classes after the festival of Holi
Another petition said that students were worried as most of them had vacated their rented accommodation in the national capital
A section of students have said that the Delhi University's decision to resume offline academic activities from February 17 was a hurried one and that outstation students should have been given more time to make their travel plans to the national capital and arrange for accommodation in Delhi.
Rakesh Pandey, a professor in Delhi University (DU), has started an online petition to vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh urging him to ensure that the switch from online to offline mode is done after the festival of Holi, likely to be celebrated on March 17.
In a statement, Pandey said that students and parents have started making panic calls to their teachers expressing their problems and difficulties in meeting all the requirements to attend offline teaching in such a short time.
"With landlords trying to cash in on their panic, the solutions are not as easy as they might appear to be. A signature campaign was started to know the problems, their dimensions and their possible solutions to which thousands of students responded within a few hours and the numbers are still growing," he said.
Pandey, who teaches Physics at the Kirori Mal College, said college authorities and teachers should be allowed to exercise some liberty in enforcing the offline teaching initially.
Another online petition to the Delhi University vice-chancellor said that students will have to find accommodation within a span of three-four days. It also said that final year students should be given the option to complete the remainder of their semester virtually.
"Owing to the reopening of Delhi University on such short notice, several outstation students are worried about travelling to Delhi. There are several graduate and postgraduate students like me who're in the final year of their studies at DU," it read.
The order to resume offline classes came on February 9. It advises students to plan to reach Delhi in such a manner that they can complete the mandatory isolation period of three days before reporting for their college lectures starting February 17.
“This gives outstation students just three-four days, during which they have to book their travel tickets and find accommodation within their budget, as most students had vacated their PGs and rented flats," read the petition.
Last updated on 11 Feb 2022
