Delhi University To Reopen From Tomorrow For Final Year Students
The Delhi University will be reopening tomorrow for the final-year students after months of online classes due to COVID-19 pandemic. The DU students who are in their final year of respective courses and will be soon appearing for the final semester examinations have been allowed to attend the physical classes with the COVID-19 precautions. DU issued a letter allowing the students to attend the practical and laboratory sessions in smaller batches. Further, staggered entry will be allowed in public places including library, washrooms and common rooms.
The decision was taken after a meeting with the heads of the departments of the university and principals of colleges. The colleges will be reopening with 100 percent staff strength.
DU issues guidelines for reopening colleges
All the colleges holding physical classes will have to abide by the COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS) including wearing of masks, using hand sanitisers which will be also available inside the campuses and maintain social distancing at all times to avoid any spread of infections. Further, the colleges will also have to follow all the UGC guidelines.
Each section-in-charge or unit head have been asked to plan the timings of lectures in a way that there is no crowding at any time. Separate entry-and-exit gates will also have to be marked to ensure minimum possible contact among the students and staff members.
"Accordingly, the staff may be called to discharge the duties in the slot of 09.00 am to 05.30 pm and 09.30 am to 06.00 pm," DU said.
Delhi University had closed down in March along with the nationwide lockdown as part of the COVID-19 curbs. Soon after the colleges began the online classes for their students. UGC also launched special online courses on its SWAYAM platform called Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS) that allowed the students to study extra courses apart from their curriculum.
Delhi University will also be holding its 97th convocation ceremony on February 27 in hybrid mode. The University had been holding online admissions to various courses throughout the year 2020. Earlier a fake DU reopening notice was circulated online which was later refuted by the Press Information Bureau.
Other central universities including the Jawaharlal Nehru University and Indira Gandhi National Open University had also announced reopening dates for few students.