Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT) is inspiring technical colleges affiliated to it to start new technical courses to gear up for new situations that have emerged during the pandemic.

These include online-teaching-learning processes and telemedicine as people would continue to use them.

“We must remember that Covid situation is not over. We have to be ready as no one knows when the pandemic will suddenly erupt again. Students who can’t attend physical classes will attend them online. So, offline and online methods would prevail. That is why we are asking our colleges to introduce new courses,” said Saikat Maitra, the vice-chancellor of MAKAUT, at a national seminar on National Education Policy 2020 organised by Haldia Institute of Technology and Global Institute of Science and Technology on Monday.

K.K. Agarwal, chairman, National Board of Accreditation, was the chief guest and a keynote speaker.

In the seminar, the VC also emphasised on how the demand of online medicine, online shopping and telemedicine increased during the pandemic and people had become dependent on those platforms.

“We have seen when Covid broke out in a big way, a medical crisis was created all over the country. If telemedicine technology can be developed, the medical system can extend the benefits of sophisticated treatment to remote areas,” he said.