GNDU issues guidelines for reopening of colleges

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 13

Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) will reopen to classroom studies very soon as per the instructions and guidelines of the Punjab Government for reopening of universities and colleges post the Covid-19 lockdown.

Vice-Chancellor Jaspal Singh Sandhu informed that according to the guidelines issued by the state government, institutes of higher education in the state could reopen on November 16 onwards. Informing about the same, the Vice-Chancellor also presided over the meeting of the Syndicate that was held here on Friday.

Rahul Bhandari, Secretary, Higher Education, Government of Punjab, Prof Ved Prakash, former chairman, UGC, and Prof Mohammad Miyan, former vice-chancellor of Central University of Odisha, Koraput, and Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, and former member of the UGC registered their presence online to discuss issues related to the university.

Professor Sandhu said as per the guidelines, the departments for the physical presence of students for classes in the university would be re-started in a phased manner. In the first phase, students of the final year would only be called for attending classes of sciences, engineering and technology, physical planning and architecture and other departments where hands-on training is the essential part of the curriculum, followed by the departments of management, commerce and computer science.

Similarly, the second and third phases of re-opening will be implemented while following precautions and guidelines. To begin with, only the students of final year will be called for the mentioned courses to attend physical classes. GNDU has also issued instructions to various affiliated and constituent colleges and heads of departments regarding the reopening.

Professor Sandhu also informed the Syndicate that this year there was a rise in admissions from 10 to 15 per cent despite the process being carried out completely online. He said the compulsory ID courses of EVS, Drug Abuse: Problem, Management & Prevention and Human Rights and Constitutional duties were to be taught at the UG/FYIC level only from next academic session (2021-2022).

According to the SOPs released, blended mode of education will be followed in higher education and all staff/ teachers would have to be tested for Covid-19 using the RT-PCR method. Classroom teaching time would be reduced by 10 minutes and a similar safe method must be adopted by the institute while allotting hostels to students with only one student per room allowed.