The University of Hyderabad will resume classes online, starting from August 20. The university had suspended classes since March 15, due to the coronavirus pandemic. A task force that was set up to chalk out a roadmap for commencing academic activities has recommended that the semester be resumed with online classes.
Around 2,000 postgraduate students will attend classes online from August 20. The task force, headed by Vinod Pavarala, former Dean of the Sarojini Naidu School of Arts & Communication, made the decision based on projections on COVID-19 spread and assessment of public health risks involved in holding face-to-face classes on the campus, a release from the university said.
Taking into account the difficulties that some students may face with regard to connectivity when attending online classes, the task force has recommended a Digital Access Grant (DAG) to “students from deprived backgrounds.” The existing scholarship of Rs 1,000 for boarding will be repurposed as the DAG, the university’s statement said.
The Vice-Chancellor of the university has also announced plans to support the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) infrastructure at the department or individual faculty-level to enable effective online teaching.
Since the suspension of classes in March, the university has completed the evaluation process of final semester students who have now graduated. Based on the recommendations of the task force, the university had also initiated a process to allow phased return of research scholars from its Science schools.
At first, online day-scholars living in Hyderabad who were in advance stages of conducting experiments in the university’s ‘wet’ labs, and those scholars who were involved in projects with tight deadlines, were asked to return.
MPhil and PhD students have been advised to continue to work from home as far as possible.
It was earlier announced that the task force will remain functional till December 31, and was also given the responsibility to monitor the implementation of the decisions taken by the university on these issues.