IIT-Guwahati PhD scholars can return from next week

GUWAHATI: IIT-Guwahati (IIT-G) will allow its students, who are currently residing in green zone areas, to return to the campus from next week.
To begin with, the IIT-G authority will allow the return of the seniormost students - mainly PhD research scholars. But considering the persisting Covid threat, the institute authority is not forcing anyone to return. Instead, it is sending emails to the students and asking them if they want to come back to campus.
All returning students will have to undergo mandatory quarantine inside the campus for 14 days, said Dr Parameswar Krishnan Iyer, dean of public relations, branding and ranking at IIT-G.
"In the first round, we have decided to bring back students from the Guwahati city region from where about 150 students are studying in IIT-G. In the first phase, all northeast students staying in green zones will be allowed to return," Iyer told TOI on Tuesday.
He said that IIT-G has completed the mapping of the students who have gone home in different parts of the country during the lockdown, so that the vulnerability of their areas to Covid-19 could be assessed. From BTech to the PhD level, about 6,000 students are enrolled in IIT-G.
"We have readied a full map which shows that more than 50 per cent of our students are not in green zones. Further, we need more space to quarantine all the returnees for 14 days. That's why we can't open the campus for all students at one go," Iyer added.
He said that IIT-G authority will keep the first batch of returning students in single rooms and they won't have to come to the dining hall for having meals. "During the quarantine period, they won't be able to go outside the campus," Iyer said.
Barring 30-35 international students and faculty members, about 99% of the IIT-G students returned home before the first phase lockdown was announced in March. According to insiders in the institute, many of the students are not yet willing to return to the campus immediately. But those students who need access to lab facilities on an urgent basis have decided to come back to campus.