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MANIPAL: Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) leadership has asserted that no student is being forced to come back to the campus for examination or other academic purposes. The whole ‘come back to campus drive’ from November 17 is being strictly handled as per the standard operating procedure of the government and students have been given various options to pursue their courses due to the prevailing pandemic.
Lt Gen (Dr) M D Venkatesh, vice-chancellor, MAHE told the media on Tuesday that UGC has issued guidelines on how campuses should be in the pandemic scenario. “There is also the SoP that the ministry of home affairs has issued on activities on campuses in unlock guidelines,” Dr Venkatesh said. “We are asking the final year UG and PG students to return in a staggered manner so that their labs can be conducted,” he explained.
The guidelines have been communicated to parents and students and only those who are interested in coming to the campus have been asked to do so. Social distancing norms as mandated in the guidelines will be strictly enforced in the hostels and food courts, he said. MAHE may also utilise holidays to make up for lost academic time, he said. Online classes are being conducted for students of various streams, Dr Venkatesh added.
The response gains significance given that a section of students of Manipal Institute of Technology ran a counter social media campaign, alleging the Institute was forcing students to come to campuses for their exams. Incidentally, MAHE had uploaded a ‘welcome back to campus’ video on YouTube explaining steps taken to ensure student’s safety. A section of students parts of the same video to counter MAHE’s assertion.
Dr H S Ballal, pro-chancellor, MAHE said the institution has also taken the issue of a fake mail that was circulated, purportedly from the office of chief minister ‘directing’ MAHE not to rush students back on to the campus. “The superintendent of police N Vishnuvardhana is seized of the issue and the jurisdictional Manipal police station too has taken our complaint on this fake email seriously and are investigating the matter,” Dr Ballal said.
Source From : Times Of India
