Colleges reopen in Kashmir after remaining shut for a year

Students walk inside a campus as colleges reopen since COVID pandemic in Srinagar on Monday. -Excelsior/Shakeel
Students walk inside a campus as colleges reopen since COVID pandemic in Srinagar on Monday. -Excelsior/Shakeel

Irfan Tramboo
SRINAGAR, Feb 15: The colleges across Kashmir valley today reopened after remaining shut for almost a year amid odd-even mechanism of attendance which was employed with strict adherence to the COVID-19 SOPs that have been notified by the Government.
In this regard, students were seen thronging to their respective colleges today in Srinagar with their face masks on and maintaining social distance in the classrooms.
The students were allowed to enter only after their temperature was taken with the help of infrared thermometers and those students without the facemasks were provided with the same by the college personnel at the entrances.

Click here to watch video

Notably, due to the lockdown that was imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all the educational institutions were closed by the Government, following which online classes were started which drew flak amid suspension of higher speed internet across J&K.
“Earlier there was the issue of Article 370, then happened the COVID-19, but today we are very happy that we are finally going to attend our classes. Though the online classes were held this is different,” said Amani, a student of the second semester at Srinagar’s Women’s College.
The students also said that while they were carrying on with their studies online, but those classes, were of no use in the absence of high-speed internet.
“The high-speed internet has been resumed just a few days ago, but for the larger part, we suffered. The online classes were of no use, now let’s hope that we regain what was lost, and hopefully, everything is going to be fine,” said Uzma, another student who was rushing towards her college in Srinagar.
The colleges that reopened today will remain functional in the odd-even manner in which for three days a week the students of even semester will attend the college, while for the rest of the days, the students of the odd semester will attend the college. The students of semester 2nd, 3rd and 6th attended their respective colleges today.
The students also said that they quite understood the need of shutting the educational institutions in the wake of the pandemic. However, at the same time, they said that they will have to work hard themselves as well to make some good of loss.
“It was important to shut the colleges due to pandemic, otherwise, it would have been destructive; I am happy that the offline studies have been started as the online classes were full of hassles. The arrangements by the colleges were thorough,” said Uzma who was eager to meet her friends.