In a major relief for college students who have been struggling to attend online classes due to lack of internet access, among other challenges, the Tamil Nadu government has announced free data cards. On Sunday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced that the state government will issue free data cards, which have 2GB per day capacity, to college students.
In a statement, Edappadi Palaniswami said that in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the colleges are holding online classes for students. In order to enable the students to attend the online classes, the government has decided to give free data cards with a usage capacity of 2GB per day between January to April.
The Tamil Nadu CM said the data cards will be issued to about 9.69 lakh students studying in the government and aided arts and science colleges, polytechnic colleges, engineering colleges and students receiving scholarships in private colleges. These data cards will be issued by the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd. (Elcot), a state government undertaking.
Although colleges reopened for final year undergraduate and postgraduate students, many still prefer online classes due to the fear of contracting the virus. In the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for institutions ahead of its reopening in early December, the state government had said that only 50% of the total students can be present on campus at any given time. It said that the institutions should make provisions to allow students to attend classes online. “If some students opt not to attend classes and prefer to study online while staying at home, Institutions are to provide online study material and access to e-resources to such students for teaching-learning,” the Tamil Nadu government said in the SOP.
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras campus became a COVID-19 cluster in mid-December 2020 as more than 100 persons, including students and staff, had tested positive for coronavirus. While about 66 were students, five were staff members. Students alleged that from overcrowded eating spaces to not isolating students with symptoms, the IIT-Madras authorities ignored all protocol when the campus was reopened after the partial lifting of lockdown was announced. A few days later, six hostel students of Anna University’s College of Engineering in Guindy, too, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.
Currently, with more than 100 cases, two luxury hotels in Chennai — ITC Grand Chola and Hotel Leela Palace — are the two COVID-19 clusters in the city.
(With input from IANS)