The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) has asked students to vacate hostels with immediate effect following an order by the state education department.
A notice to vacate the hostels was issued by Debasis Sengupta, the institute’s dean of students, on January 4, a day after the education department ordered closure.
The students of undergraduate (BStat), masters (MStat) level and research scholars have been asked to leave for home.
Though the institute is not a residential institute, about 500-odd students, coming from states outside Bengal and abroad, are provided accommodation facilities.
“Cases are being reported among students. So, while the infected students are quarantined, we have asked others to leave for home. Residents with exceptional needs, such as outstation candidates, have been asked to write to the respective wardens of the hostels, specifying reasons and names/ number of emergency contacts in home and Calcutta, if they want to stay,” he said.
“The appeals may be accepted or rejected depending on the ground situation and resources available,” says the notice by the dean.
A section of students come from cities like Mumbai, Delhi and they are the ones who are making appeals for staying back as the Covid situation in these two states is equally worrying, said an ISI official.
The state government has informed the Centre that flights would be allowed from Delhi and Mumbai only thrice a week — Mondays and Fridays — from January 5 instead of daily operations because of the high number of Covid cases in those two cities. An official said the Bengal government’s order on closure of the hostel says adequate arrangements as per the medical protocol will be made by the respective institution for the “foreign/other students who are not able to leave the campus due to distance/otherwise”.
Of the 500-odd accommodations, less than 250 rooms were occupied as the institute was calling students in smaller numbers after the state government had allowed resumption of offline classes from November 16.
“About 100-odd students have been appealed to the institute for staying back,” said an ISI official.
Another official said they had a lone foreign student who was pursuing a programme specific to foreign students, online from home.
The institute was holding classes in hybrid mode that allows some students to attend the lectures in person, while they were live-streamed to others, from mid November.
Online classes were also being held.
Students who were encountering unstable networks were called to the campus so they could attend classes under hybrid mode or online classes from the WiFi-enabled hostels. “After the Bengal’s government order on January 2, physical classes and examinations have been suspended until further order,” said an official.