IIT Kharagpur has decided to call all students to the campus but has left it to the departments to decide when they want to start in-person classes.
An IIT official said since they were in the middle of a semester and calling all students might take some time, they were not making it mandatory for the departments to start offline classes immediately.
If some departments think they are ready to start offline classes now, they are free to do so, he said.
“Some departments including computer science engineering and electrical engineering are exploring the possibility of starting offline classes during the ongoing semester itself,” the official said.
The process of recalling students suffered a jolt in January as the campus had to be shut down following a sharp spike in Covid cases during the omicron-fuelled third wave. Of the 15,000-odd students enrolled at the tech school, around 6,000 arrived on the campus till December.
An IIT Kharagpur official said they were calling students to the campus in order of seniority so offline classes could be started at the earliest.
“Since the students are being called in phases, it will take us a while to get all students back on the campus. Unless all students are back, there is no point in starting offline classes. So we have left it to the departments to decide when they want to start in-person classes,” he said.
“Some departments might decide to start in-person classes once the new semester starts in July.”
The exams of the ongoing semester are scheduled for April. Students get a break after the exams are over.
Some institutions, including IIEST Shibpur, have decided to switch to offline classes in the middle of the semester following a prod from the Union education ministry.
The ministry had on February 24 written to all NITs and the IIEST asking them to resume “complete offline academic activities” at the earliest in accordance with instructions from the state disaster management authorities.
NIT Durgapur will start offline classes in phases from March 21.
An IIT Kharagpur official said they dealt with a far larger number of students than an NIT or the IIEST and hence, they needed more time to arrange for the return of all students to the campus.
IISER’s senate met on Thursday and decided that offline classes will start on March 21.
“Students wrote the mid-semester exams over digital platforms last month. They have a semester break till March 18. The students have been asked to come to the campus during this period,” said the dean of students at IISER, Balaram Mukhopadhyay
The institute in Kalyani was working on a plan to give students at the undergraduate level the option of coming to the campus from February.
The plan had to be shelved following a spike in cases and the state government’s order to suspend offline classes.