After the state government directive the colleges in Maharashtra are set to re-open from February 15.However, the students will have to go through rotation basis as far as their class attendance in the college is concerned.While announcing the opening of colleges, Higher and Technical Education Minister of Maharashtra Uday Samant has stated that due to pandemic, the off-line classes will have 50 per cent attendance. At present, the schools are operating on 50% attendance rule wherein only half of the total strength of the students in a class come to the school. Suppose the intake of one class is 40 then 20 students will take the lessons offline while the remaining students will remain present on-line. Fifty per cent students would come to college on one day while the remaining students will attend classes from home. Next day, the second batch of 50% will come to college. Students will be given liberty of choosing the mode of attending classes.
But colleges have to take precaution that the limit of students attending classes in college should not exceed 50 per cent in number. Minister during the announcement of opening of colleges had made it clear that students would get relaxation from the 75 per cent attendance rule as no class was conducted in colleges due to the pandemic. One senior teacher on condition of anonymity said, “As Minister has given green signal for holding practicals, colleges have to conduct practicals. Attending practicals is mandatory for every student. Colleges will apply the 50% off-line attendance rule in case of practicals where every student will have to come to college. Minister had pointed out that colleges would have to take students into confidence while finalising the timetable.†There is one more issue that is being discussed among academicians regarding attendance of students. As per the rule, 50% students will attend the classes off-line while remaining will stay at home. The colleges will give the same lessons the next day to another batch of the students who as per the rotation would come to attend the classes. Curriculum of second and final years of graduation courses has been covered to some extent through virtual classes.
