Mangaluru: Barring some private colleges, students were a no-show on day one of colleges reopening on Tuesday. Those colleges in which students attended classes, said that there were few students in attendance.
Following government guidelines, the colleges in the coastal district had classes on Tuesday. The colleges reopened after a gao of nearly eight months.
At SDM College in MG Road, management had prepared to welcome students, but none of the students showed up. “Out of more than 450 final year students, a few dozen students had agreed to attend classes on campus, and we had made arrangements for the same. However, none of them visited the campus,” said a member of the management.
Only two girl students had come to attend classes on campus at Besant Women’s College. “As the numbers were not encouraging, two students had to return home,” said the college staff.
St Aloysius College received a good number of final year students, especially from the science stream. Praveen Martis, principal of the college, told TOI that many students have attended classes on campus on day one. “The numbers are more than our expectations. Some of them even travelled from Kasaragod. Most of them have returned to campus voluntarily, after getting consent from parents as well as Covid-19 negative test reports. On the other hand, online classes will continue for those who are unable to attend regular classes,” he said. The college has decided to conduct classes in two shifts—morning and noon. The classrooms used during the morning session will not be used for the noon classes.
Meanwhile, the district health department has observed that an increased number of students, lecturers and non-teaching staff are visiting the health centre for the RT-PCR test. District health officer Ramachandra Bairy said that there is a surge in the number of students coming to health centres. The test results will be issued within three days, he said. “We are expecting more footfalls for testing at health centres in a day or two,” he added.
Poor attendance in Udupi
Udupi: Government first grade colleges in Udupi saw relatively thin attendance, on a day the government permitted reopening of colleges. In all, 1,136 final-year students, including 985 undergraduates and 151 postgraduates came on campus to attend classes. No students came to Government First Grade College Koteshwara, and one student came to attend class at Government First Grade College, Muniyalu. Government First Grade College, Ajjarakadu had the maximum attendence at 485 students, said principal, Government First Grade College and Centre for PG Studies, Thenkanidiyoor.