Allow offline classes, exams from January 2022: IIEST students

The senate that represents all students has written to the institute director in which they have mentioned that they want the campus to be reopened for at least BTech third-year and fourth-year students. 

Students of the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur, have written a letter to the institute director, requesting him to start offline classes and exams from January 2022. As per a report published in The Telegraph, the senate that represents all students on the campus said they wanted the campus to be reopened for at least BTech third-year and fourth-year students. “Students are expected to get fully vaccinated by the end of December,” the senate has written to the director. 

In the letter, the senate pointed out that students did not want to come to the campus now as their classes for the odd semester (July to December) on online platforms were almost over and they would write the exams shortly. 

An official of the institute said though the IIEST was under the Union Education Ministry, norms under the Disaster Mitigation Act entailed that the state government’s decision on reopening could be implemented as well, the report said. 

The letter read, “Students also want to attend the next semester in full offline mode (classes, exams as well as laboratories) from the beginning of the semester… (at least UG 3rd year and 4th year students). Students are also expected to get fully vaccinated by the end of December.” 

Harshvardhan Singh, the general secretary of the students’ union said they had suggested offline classes for the BTech third-year and fourth-year students, considering the accommodation problem. “In our hostels, four to five students stay in each room. But it won’t be proper to follow the practice amid Covid because maintaining physical distancing is a must. So if the institute starts with third and fourth-year students, physical distancing norms can be maintained,” he said. 

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