Colleges to welcome freshers today with online classes

KOLKATA: A day before online classes start for the first semester, principals in several colleges held meetings with their teachers to review the arrangements and ensure that teachers connect with every student in some form even if they stay in the interiors with average net connectivity and smart devices.
Professors must ensure they conduct online classes regularly instead of just mailing study material and notes to the students and look out for students who are unable to join the classes, principals have told the teachers.
The routine and syllabus have already been mailed to the students and also posted on the website of the colleges.
On-campus classes were suspended in March when the total lockdown started due to the pandemic. Since then online teaching has become the norm as the government has decided not to reopen colleges and universities for the fear of the spread of the virus. Admissions to the undergraduate and post-graduate courses, too, were conducted online.
“We are starting online classes from December 16 according to the instruction of the higher education department. We held several meetings with the professors to explain the entire process. Online groups have been formed for every class which will be used to conduct the sessions,” said Asok Mukhopadhyay, principal of Seth Anandaram Jaipuria College.
In some colleges, the teachers will regularly mail the study material and notes and hold online classes at least twice a week for that subject for discussions and clearing doubts.
“Conducting frequent online classes and of long duration will lead to lack of concentration among the students. So, we have decided that for the first two weeks the teachers will mail them all the materials and hold two online classes for them to clear their doubts and discuss various topics,” said a principal of a north Kolkata college.
Several colleges like Goenka College of Commerce and Business Administration and J D Birla Institute have already started online classes. “Our teachers are holding regular online classes. There is also a mechanism to mail the study material and notes to the students,” said Debasish Banerjee, principal of Goenka College.
Some colleges have decided to help the students who don’t have efficient smart devices to join online classes. Teachers have been requested to look out for such students and inform the principals. “Many students don’t have a decent smartphone or laptop. In many homes there are more than one student who might need the device for online classes. We are going to make a list of such students and try to help them in some ways,” said the principal of a north Kolkata college.