Classes continue as univs, colleges give winter break a miss

Kolkata: Students and teachers at Jadavpur Universty, Presidency University and several colleges affiliated to Calcutta University have had to sacrifice their winter break to make up for lost time and to finish syllabus.
Before Covid times, college students used to enjoy a seven-day leave during Christmas and New Year. But the scene changed this year, what with campuses remaining shut for most of 2020 and 2021 owing to the pandemic and physical classes resuming as recently as November 16.Authorities at several institutes felt they could not afford the winter break, and accordingly, drafted a roster. JU and Presidency are also continuing with their normal routine of a combined online-offline classes. Partha Pratim Ray, physics professor at JU, said, “We never have scheduled vacation from December 25 to 31. But during this time, many departments have semester break. But this time, classes are going on according to normal routine.”
Teachers at several CU-affiliated colleges, like Lady Brabourne College, Maulana Azad and Surendranath, have set up class timings, after consultation with their students. Lady Brabourne College has permitted a few departments, like botany and microbiology, to conduct offline practical classes during the holiday. At the same time, other departments have been holding theory classes online. Lady Brabourne principal Siuli Sarkar said, “Teachers had requested to hold practical classes during the winter break and we allowed them to do so after confirming that students were also ready to attend classes.”
Syllabus of semesters III and V have been completed in many CU colleges as the university has declared that online exams will be held from mid-January. For those students, the classes are mainly being held to clarify doubts. Surendranath and Maulana Azad colleges have also started internal assessments. “A few departments are holding internal assessments as we need to complete all the internal tests by January 7. Online classes are also going on for activity-based lessons, to clear doubts to fill the learning gap,” said Surendranath principal Indranil Kar. Teachers of Maulana Azad College and Bhawanipur Education Society are holding online classes.