Mumbai law college students demand fully offline classes

Many students of Government Law College (GLC), Mumbai, have expressed concern over teachers holding online and offline classes simultaneously fearing that it might have an adverse impact on their learning. Some students, who reached the college’s Churchgate campus on Wednesday, said they were not satisfied with the idea of “hybrid classrooms”, as some call them, and they along with faculty members will write to the administration to start fully offline classes.

Their examination is scheduled to be held offline as announced by the University of Mumbai. “The university has already issued an order to all affiliated colleges to start offline classes. But since there was no such communication from the college for many days, some of us visited the campus only to know that the professors were taking online lectures from classes,” said a second-year student.

Many of his friends who required hostel accommodation were also waiting for an official announcement from the college on holding fully offline classes so that they could apply for the same, he added. A faculty members, requesting anonymity, said, “Since there is no plan for a hybrid model of learning, we cannot offer the same lecture in both formats – offline as well as online. From Monday, we are seeing such students coming to the college only to return home to join classes online.”

When contacted, GLC principal Asmita Vaidya said, “We have started offline classes also. Those students who can attend physically are coming to the college while others are attending online.”