University of Mumbai (MU) officials have released a fresh circular on late Sunday which says that all affiliated colleges, except for those in Mumbai City and its suburbs, can resume in-person classes from February 16.
This circular comes only two days after MU’s initial notification to postpone the reopening of colleges until February 22. The reversal comes after MU reportedly received confirmation letters from the collectors of Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Thane rural, and other districts that have colleges affiliated to MU. The University of Mumbai has approximately 800 affiliated colleges across Mumbai, Palghar, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, and Thane.
A MU spokesperson said, “For colleges in Mumbai city and suburbs, we’ll wait for official word from the local civic authorities before taking a call on reopening of institutes. However, we received official intimation from collectors of respective districts and have therefore given colleges in those districts confirmation to reopen.”
Also read - Mumbai: Colleges Yet To Receive Approval From Civic Authorities For Phased Reopening
State Minister of Higher And Technical Education, Uday Samant had said this month that colleges can reopen with not more than 50 per cent of the students in attendance at any given time.
MU followed up on this decision by issuing a circular requiring affiliated colleges to receive requisite permissions from the local collectors for the phased reopening. The circular also listed out the COVID-19 safety guidelines recommended by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
These plans received a setback last week when Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials requested that the reopening of colleges in the city be postponed to Feb 22. The civic body said that it will need the time to learn whether the recent resumption of local train services will lead to a spike in COVID-19 cases. With this in mind, MU has asked its affiliated colleges within Mumbai and its suburbs to halt the reopening until further instructions.
Read - Confusion Ensues Regarding Resuming Classes In Mumbai Colleges
Colleges in Mumbai say that the ensuing confusion with regard to the reopening has caused some last-minute change in plans given that several institutions were bracing to reopen campuses starting Monday, Feb 15.
“We are spending a lot of money to carry out sanitisation of the entire campus. Now that the reopening date has been postponed, we’ll have to redo this process next weekend and then continue the same at regular intervals,” a principal of a suburban college said under anonymity.
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