Maharashtra Higher and Technical Education Minister, Uday Samant said on Sunday that the State Government is likely going to begin offline lectures in universities and colleges across Maharashtra. He gave out the information after meeting with Maharashtra Governor, Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
Shortly after, Samant also announced a meeting on Monday with vice-chancellors of universities to discuss the matter. It’s worth pointing out that Governor Koshyari also happens to be the vice-chancellor of all universities in the state.
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“I have convened a meeting with all vice-chancellors on Monday. It is in the backdrop of the demand they made [to restart colleges] with the Governor. The chief minister will be given the report of the meeting tomorrow [Monday] itself. One thing is certain that it is now time to reopen colleges and we are taking the steps in this regard,” Samant said after his meeting with the Governor.
Late last week, Koshyari had arranged a meeting with all the vice-chancellors so as to fill up vacant posts, review the annual audit, and also discuss the preparations by the universities to resume physical classes.
The vice-chancellors present at the meeting reportedly asked for immediate resumption of classes without further delay. The Governor concurred and added that allowing schools to resume physical learning while restricting universities from doing the same is contradictory in nature.
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“I came to know through newspapers about reopening of Class 5 to 8 in schools across the state, hence not allowing physical classes at colleges and universities looks contradictory. Universities have already started their academic year and their online lectures are also going on. Since the Covid-19 pandemic has come under control, the universities should consider resuming physical classes at colleges. They can conduct classes in shifts,” Governor Koshyari said during the meeting last week.
So far, the government has only allowed the resumption of physical learning for students between Class 5 and Class 12 in batches, though Mumbai is yet to take this step. The Governor added that universities should refer to the guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for the resumption of colleges.
State officials said that when the decision to resume colleges is formally announced, the department will issue its Standard Operating Procedure or SOP for the students, teaching faculty, as well as other staff.
An official quoted by The Hindustan Times said that municipal authorities or district officials in a particular region can make the final call on reopening colleges for physical learning while taking the COVID-19 situation into account.
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