Colleges reopen in Kerala after over a year with Covid protocol in place

Colleges and other higher education institutions in Kerala on Monday welcomed students to campuses after a gap of one-and-a-half years, with COVID-19 protocol in place.

Classes for the final year degree and postgraduate students began today while rest of the classes are slated to begin from October 18.

Strictly adhering to COVID-19 health protocol, students were checked for their temperature and given hand sanitisers at the entrance of the colleges.

Authorities ensured that students who reached colleges had received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine.

Higher Education Minister R Bindu visited the Government College for Women at Vazhuthacaud in Thiruvananthapuram to interact with students.

"We have sanitised all the classrooms with the help of voluntary organisations and student and youth organisations," she told the media.

The minister said in colleges where classrooms are small, steps are being taken to divide the students into two batches and conduct classes accordingly.

When asked about the continuation of online classes, Bindu said "we cannot stop the online classes in today's scenario". She said society was slowly moving into a "blended mode" of education.

"Direct classes have their own advantages. Online classes lack proper interaction from students and teachers may not be able to get proper feedback from the students. But we cannot avoid or keep away from digital education. It's becoming the new normal," she added.

The minister said the government will arrange counselling for students in colleges to create awareness about gender justice and equality.

"When a girl says 'No', one must have the mental maturity to accept it. Our boys must be able to attain that level of mental maturity," she said referring to the recent murder of a 21-year-old girl by her estranged boyfriend at Pala.

It was a mixed bag of feelings for students and teachers on their first day of college after a long gap.

The fact is that more than regular classes, there will be a series of examinations in the days to come as there is a huge backlog to be cleared prior to the commencement of the next semester.

The third, fourth and fifth semester examinations of UG classes have to be conducted prior to commencing the sixth semester of all UG classes.

College authorities are busy with the UG admission process and gearing up to receive the first and the second-year students from October 18. University authorities are neck deep in scheduling the pending examinations.

No matter the backlog of examinations, the students are happy to be back on the campus.

"The classes are on and we are back in action. But, there are long pending exams. It will be an examination spree from this month end as we need to finish the third, fourth and fifth semester examination before commencing the sixth semester classes," Sr. Sheeba Andrews, Vice Principal of Providence Women's College, Kozhikode told PTI.

Alka, a fifth semester B A Psychology student of the college, said she and her friends were thrilled and excited to meet each other again in the college.

The offline classes in St Josephs' college, Devagiri, at Kozhikode will resume only tomorrow as an examination, which was earlier postponed, was held in the campus on Monday.

The final year degree students of the college are anxiously awaiting their junior batches, who will make it to the college from October 18.

"We have not met our juniors. The mask and COVID protocols will limit the scope of interactions. However, we are thrilled to get back to our campus," Harsha and Parvathy, fifth semester B Com students of the college, said.

A few were of the opinion that the reopening of colleges would be a testing time for them as they used to enjoy the freedom of attending online classes in a relaxed mood at home.