IIEST, Shibpur, and Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Belur, have decided to suspend on-campus academic activities in view of the deteriorating health scenario fuelled by omicron.
IIEST, Shibpur that planned to start BTech offline classes in the ensuing even semester from January, on Wednesday decided that classes till the mid semester — the first two months — will be held in online mode only because a section of students are unwilling to come following the latest surge of Covid cases.
The decision was taken following a meeting with the deans of the institute and the office bearers of the students’ senate. “We will review the situation in late February. But at this moment it won’t be advisable to hold classes in offline mode, given the worsening health scenario,” said Debabrata Mazumder, the dean of students’ affairs.
He said students who are facing connectivity woes can come to the campus to attend online classes from the WiFi-enabled hostels based on availability.
If the situation worsens, then the students who wish to come would have to vacate hostels, said an official.
The students’ senate carried out a survey seeking to know how many students wanted to come to the campus, given that there has been a renewed surge in Covid cases. Close to 40 per cent third and fourth-year students on an average were unwilling to come.
Harshvardhan Singh, the general secretary of the senate who attended Thursday’s meeting, said: “Under the circumstances online classes are the solitary option.”
Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Belur, that earlier decided to hold the end-semester exams on campus over February and March, has decided to switch to online mode following a recent advisory of the higher education department, said Swami Ekachittananda, the principal of the college.
Vice-principal Swami Mahaprajnananda said since their parent university — Calcutta University — has decided to hold online examinations, they too decided to alter the mode. CU cited Omicron as the reason.