Calcutta University has asked affiliated colleges to hold all undergraduate classes online from April 22 to May 5 due to the elections.
The university’s inspector of colleges, Diptendu Chatterjee, on Tuesday sent a circular to all the colleges, asking the heads of the institutions to take necessary steps to hold online classes.
A CU official said that although Calcutta and the two contiguous districts — Howrah and Hooghly — that have CU-affiliated colleges will not vote on April 23, the online classes have been advised from April 22.
“Many students studying in the affiliated colleges have already gone back to their homes in the districts in north Bengal and the East and West Midnapore to cast their
votes in the first phase election. They cannot attend classes physically. Therefore, online classes have been advised from April 22,” the official said.
The official said since the four-year undergraduate programme introduced under the National Education Policy (NEP) is exhaustive, they want classes to be held virtually so the syllabus can be completed on time.
A large number of colleges in Calcutta and the two neighbouring districts will be turned into polling booths for the second-phase polls scheduled for April 29.
“The central force will be stationed in large numbers in these colleges from April 25. So classes can not be held on campus. Many of the colleges have been turned into counting centres. Considering all these, online classes will be held till May 5,” said a CU official.
Siuli Sarkar, the principal of Lady Brabourne College, said: “The necessary steps have been taken to hold online classes till May 5.”
An early deployment of
the central forces in CU-affiliated colleges forced the university to defer the third-semester undergraduate examinations (theory papers), which were supposed to be held from April 14 to April 27.
The exams will be held after May 5.