MANGALURU: Many outstation
students in
Dakshina Kannada district are avoiding
hostels and other places of shared accommodation over
Covid-19 concerns. They are renting flats instead, so they can have greater control over their living environment.
Medical,
paramedical and
postgraduate students are driving this shift from hostels, where crowding and poor hygiene have always been a serious concern, to
rental housing.
A medical student said that many girls were leaving hostels. “Usually, medical students move to rented facilities after the final year. But this time, many second and third-year students are renting homes. The trend picked up after some hostelites, who had rejoined college, tested positive for coronavirus,” the student added.
Another student, who recently moved to a fully furnished apartment with two others, said that outstation candidates were sticking around only because of annual
examinations.
But it seems affordable rental housing is in short supply. Carol Fernandes, a first-year postgraduate student, settled for a PG after she could not find an apartment within her budget in
Mangaluru. “I checked out many places, but the rent was too high,” she said.
A few medical college hostels have reported several Covid-19 cases among their outstation students. The colleges had created quarantine facilities for those testing positive.
The head of a premier medical college said that students were avoiding hostels, but infection fears were not the only reason: “Hostels introduced several restrictions in the wake of the pandemic. Students find it difficult to comply with all rules, so they are moving out.”