Mumbai: About 1,500 PhD and postgraduate students are back in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay’s Powai Campus as the institute is in the process of restoring regular classes.
The outbreak of COVID-19 in IIT Madras campus though has kept the Mumbai counterpart on tenterhooks. Even as IIT Bombay is contemplating bringing back the students to the campus in a phased manner, physical classes in this semester are unlikely, according to an institute official.
“We have started to slowly reopen the campus and about 1,500 students are already here,” said IIT Bombay Director Subhasis Chaudhuri.
Those who returned to the campus are mostly PhD scholars and final-year Masters students, whose research projects are dependent on laboratory access. “We have also brought in around 150 undergraduate students, who did not have the means to attend online classes,” head of the reboot committee and associate dean, academics, Prita Pant was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
Meanwhile, IIT Mumbai is treading a cautious path following the outbreak of COVID-19 in IIT Madras. “Students have been asked to come to labs only when it is urgent. All faculty and mentors are maintaining a roster to make sure students take turns in the labs. Guidelines have been issued to both students and faculty on social distancing measures,” Pant told the national daily.
“The canteens in the hostels operate in shifts to allow restricted number of students at once and tables have been installed with flexi-glass partitions. We are being very strict in implementing social distancing rules,” she added.
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