The students’ senate of IIEST Shibpur has shared a list of 142 students with the authorities demanding that they be called back to the campus.
These students are not in a position to attend placement interviews or classes because of connectivity problems and frequent power outages at home.
The senate had last week carried out a survey to identify students handicapped by resource constraints.
The students at the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) have been attending online classes since March 2020 as a precaution against Covid-19.
Of the 142 students, 88 are in BTech final year and 54 are pursuing MTech, said Harshbardhan Singh, the general secretary of the students’ senate.
“Names of those who are in the BTech final year have been included as their placement prospects are getting severely hampered owing to the connectivity issues. They must be recalled to the campus,” Singh told Metro.
Gourav Mandal, a fourth-year electrical engineering student, who stays in Katwa in East Burdwan district, spoke of frequent power outages at his place.
“I have installed a WiFi device at home. But the frequent power cuts were posing a challenge. There were occasions when I was giving online interviews and there were power cuts. Recruiters don’t allot further slots at times,” said Mandal.
“Amid the outage, you cannot charge your phone as well. At least we won’t face such hassles on the campus.”
Sayan Kumar Maity, a student of computer science and engineering, who stays in Surajpur district of Chhattisgarh, too complained of frequent power outages.
“The place where I live witnesses frequent power cuts. Whenever it rains, the power is snapped. The Internet also becomes unstable. Luckily, the company where I had interned, considered the issues. So for attending interviews and classes the students must be recalled to the campus,” he said.
A member of the students' senate said they had also sought the recall of the MTech students so they could attend classes using the connectivity facility of the campus and access laboratories.
“We have forwarded the list to the president of the students' senate and he sent the list to the dean of students' welfare, Debabrata Majumder. As many as 500 students of IIT Kharagpur who were unable to attend online classes because of resource constraints have been recalled following a survey by the institute in consultation with their students’ body. IIEST must act as well,” said Singh.
Majumder declined comment.
Another official said they were working on a plan to recall all the students of the institute in batches from November.