With attendance for physical classes for final year degree students improving over the past one month, the Department of Higher Education wants to begin classes for intermediate semesters as well.
Sources in the Department of Higher Education said that on an average, around 65% of the final year students under the Department of Technical Education, and 40% to 45% final year students in degree colleges were attending classes. Colleges had reopened on November 17 after a span of eight months.
While regular physical classes were being held for final year students, students in intermediate semesters were having online classes and students were visiting the college to get their doubts clarified from their lecturers. Around 10% to 15 % of the students had opted to attend these contact classes.
A senior official in the department said they would write to the Central government to get permission to conduct classes. “We are waiting for directions from the University Grants Commission to start classes,” the official added. However, they said that they may have to do this phase-wise to be prepared for a second wave of COVID-19 infections in Karnataka.
College principals and lecturers feel that making COVID-19 test mandatory before attending classes and conducting regular testing on college premises from time to time has helped prevent spread of the infection on campuses.
T.D. Kemparaju, Vice-Chancellor of Bengaluru North University, said the attendance of final year students in science courses was the highest with an average of 80% of the students attending the classes, while it was 65% for commerce students and 60% for arts.
“We have told colleges to conduct more practical classes as soon as possible. In case there is a second wave or the mutated coronavirus strain that is spreading in the U.K. reaches the State, we may have to shift back to online classes. While we can conduct online classes for theory portions, we cannot do that for practical classes,” he said.
Students and student organisations too want a short crash course for this academic year. “Although online classes are held regularly, the classes are not effective and we are not able to understand and grasp the core concepts,” said Srilekha S., a final year student from a degree college in Bengaluru.