148 UoH PG students to be allowed back on campus
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad has approved the task force recommendation to permit 148 final semester students of the Science Schools and SN School to return
By Newsmeter Network Published on 5 Jan 2021 1:26 PM GMT
Hyderabad: The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad has approved the task force recommendation to permit 148 final semester students of the Science Schools and SN School to return to the campus for completion of laboratory/practice courses that have either been left incomplete from the last semester or have been postponed to the final semester. The list of students has been identified by the respective academic units.
"The task force, headed by Prof Vinod Pavarala, has been carefully monitoring the current state of the prevalence of Covid-19 (including the new variant), the potential roll-out of vaccination, and the unlock guidelines being issued from time to time by the Government of India and the Government of Telangana," said Appa Rao Podile, VC, UoH.
The VC added that taking into consideration the risk of an outbreak of pandemic on the campus (on the lines of IIT-Madras), the university's limited facilities for quarantine/isolation of students, and the UGC guidelines on hostel accommodation, the task force has planned for a gradual/phased return of students to the campus. The university has already enabled the return of over 320 research scholars (MPhil and PhD) across various schools to enable them to carry out experimental work as well as timely submission of their theses. A full semester was also completed successfully online for the ongoing batch of Masters students and the first semester classes were also conducted online.
In this latest phase announced on Tuesday, the task force considered the requirements of academic units that have laboratory/practice components that need to be completed before students graduate in June 2021, and have prioritised the return of 148 students. This is the beginning of a gradual process that will continue through the next couple of months.
The VC has requested the faculty, staff and students in the social sciences, economics, humanities, and management schools to view this as a process, whereby all are compelled to prioritise the immediate needs of some students over others. "It is not that university administration does not understand the enormous difficulties that students across disciplines are facing with online classes. It is widely recognised that in the Indian context, there is no satisfactory substitute for classroom teaching and that virtual classes are only a last resort. UoH has tried to ease some of the problems by facilitating remote access to digital library resources and putting in place a digital access grant for needy students," said the VC.
For now, all theory classes, including for those who are being permitted to return to the campus for practical inputs, will continue online.
