Gujarat to begin first-year undergraduate courses from February 8

On January 11, the higher education department resumed classes for postgraduate, medical, and paramedical courses along with the final year of undergraduate courses, PhD, and MPhil.

The Gujarat government on Thursday, i.e. February 4, 2021, declared to reopen the first year of colleges from February 8 along with hostel accommodation for students. Earlier, the government announced to partially reopen schools and colleges. On January 11, the higher education department resumed classes for postgraduate, medical, and paramedical courses along with the final year of undergraduate courses, PhD, and MPhil. Talking about the re-opening of colleges for second-year courses, Principal Secretary Education Anju Sharma said that a decision on second-year courses will be taken after considering the feedback and experiences from final year and first-year students. Meanwhile, the colleges are directed to follow all the precautionary and standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the state education department for hostels and the reopening of colleges.

The SOPs states that students must be motivated to use virtual meeting software such as Google Meet and Microsoft Teams for group activities and staggered seating arrangements must be avoided. Gym and all kinds of sports activities are prohibited on the campus. A detailed SOP for hostels states that Samras hostels that were used as COVID Care Centres for asymptomatic patients but have been lying vacant for a long time with a decline in COVID cases across the state will accommodate not more than two students in a room.