At DU, Friday. Colleges expect higher turnout once outstation students arrive on campus. Praveen Khanna After a bustling first day, Delhi University (DU) colleges Friday saw fewer students on campus on the second day of reopening. However, principals said they expected the numbers to increase again Monday after the weekend ends.
On Thursday, principals of top DU colleges had said they were taken by surprise by the number of students who chose to turn up for offline classes on the first day of reopening. Many principals said many more students had arrived than they expected, with lawns and corridors in some colleges packed chock-a-block. In several top colleges, the attendance was more than 60%.
“Yesterday, there were around 70-80% students who had come to college. There were students today too but not as many as yesterday. Many students had come yesterday with their parents just to see the college and available facilities. They informally conveyed that they would be joining classes only from Monday,” said Ramjas College principal Manoj Khanna.
At SGTB Khalsa College Thursday, principal Jaswinder Singh had said nearly 90% of students had attended the first day of re-opening. On Friday, he said the picture was slightly different. “There was not as much enthusiasm as yesterday but there were still quite a lot of students. Classes were held as per schedule and students attended them. But on Thursday, we saw that they were everywhere — in the corridors, lawn, gates. Today they had not occupied these spaces as much,” he said.
Kamala Nehru College principal Kalpana Bhakuni said the first day’s “euphoria” seemed to have settled down. “I think many outstation students are yet to reach here, so it’s possible that Monday will be another high. Many of them had intimated that they will be able to reach Delhi only by the end of this week and so it’s very likely that the numbers will swell again on Monday,” she said.
Miranda House principal Bijayalaxmi Nanda said students were continuing to come to college but they were apprehensive. “We are having classes round the clock so I’m seeing students in all these classes. We are trying to maintain Covid protocols. One grievance that we have heard quite a bit is the high living cost. So through our alumni, and other means, we are trying to figure out ways to help students who need financial assistance,” she said.
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