Education Ministry seeks vaccination status of students, staff in central universities: Report

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Education sought a tentative timeline from central universities on achieving 100% vaccination of students and staff on the day the country achieved the 1 billion vaccine dose landmark, as per a Hindustan Times report.

This is the first time that the union government has sought details on the data of students vaccinated from its 43 central universities, the report said.

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In July, the universities were asked to submit details of the vaccination status of their teaching and non-teaching staff.

Since several universities including Delhi University (DU), Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), have started reopening campuses in a phased manner, the union ministry has sought for details, the report said.

According to the report, the ministry sent a communication to all central universities on Thursday, October 21, in which the department of higher education asked them to provide the status of vaccination among students, and teaching and non-teaching staff.

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The ministry also asked for a date “by when the 100% vaccination is expected to be done” in the case of students and staff members, the report said.

The education ministry also asked Central Universities whether they have resumed physical classes. “If still online, (provide) date by when the central university proposes to start physically,” the communication added, as per the report.

Once the universities respond to the message from the ministry, it will have the exact number of (central) university students who have been vaccinated, the report said.

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Officials at several central universities told Hindustan Times they already have some data on vaccination of the staff, but not of students.

Delhi University’s Dean of Colleges, Balram Pani said that the university will now ask all its colleges to collect data from students using Google forms, according to the report.