Thin attendance as classes reopen for final-year UG students at Jamia Millia

NEW DELHI: The first day of the resumption of physical classes for final-year undergraduate courses in Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) was marked by low attendance with most outstation students yet to return to the city. The physical classes resumed on Tuesday for final-year students of around 60 undergraduate courses at the central university.

According to the JMI authorities, around 20 to 25 per cent of students attended the physical classes on the first day. The authorities said that tepid response to reopening might be due to upcoming festival holidays. "Nearly 20 to 25 per cent of students came on the first day of the resumption of the classes. This might be a result of the upcoming long weekend due to the Holi festival," JMI spokesperson Ahmed Azeem said.

The students who attended the classes are mostly locals. Azeem said the outstation students are yet to return to the city. He said the university is expecting the attendance to increase from Monday. "We are expecting the outstation students to return to the university from the next week." Students were excited to return to colleges but the low attendance percentage took them by surprise. "I am excited to return to college. But the attendance was quite low.

My class has the strength of 60 students but less than 25 students came," Mohd Akram, a third-year Arabic student, said. Another student Amjad was elated to sit in the class after a long gap. "We are happy to return to the university. After a gap of two years, we sit in the classes instead of attending online classes," he said. Following an improvement in the COVID-19 situation, the JMI last month had issued a notification, saying the university will reopen in a phased manner. It had said while the physical classes for final-year postgraduate students will resume from March 2, physical classes for final-year undergraduate students will resume from mid-March. Three dry canteens at the university were also opened on March 2 with the permission of the registrar.

The university has asked all its staff and students to strictly follow the COVID-19 protocol issued by the Union government during their stay on the campus. The university has mandated a negative RT-PCR report along with a valid ID card for those coming for offline classes. ID cards and negative RT-PCR reports were thoroughly checked at the gates before allowing students to enter the campus, the JMI spokesperson said. "We maintained proper social distancing, and documents were checked properly," he added.