WHO officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic on 11 March 2020. This led State Governments and the Government of India to take strict actions against the spread of this pandemic across the country. In view of this all the schools, universities, and coaching institutes in many states of the country including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka have been closed till further notice.
An official countrywide lockdown was imposed on India till 3 May 2020, in view of the increasing COVID-19 cases in the country. More than 300 million students are missing their routine classroom studies worldwide as the authorities are asking people to refrain from participating in social gatherings of any kind. However, educators have taken critical steps to make sure that students do not face any loss on academic fronts.
Most of the schools and institutes have started conducting online classes for students. This has turned out as the most appropriate and prudent solution to make sure that the syllabus is timely completed and examinations could be conducted on time.
According to the notification released by Delhi University authorities, the university remains closed till 3 May 2020, and the online teaching-learning process is to be continued. Similarly, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh have also published a notification stating university closure uptil 3 May 2020. All the academic events are also postponed due to COVID-19 outbreak.
Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh is also following the government guidelines and is closed till 3 May. Vice-Chancellor of the university has asked to continue the learning and teaching process from home through alternative means, such as various online teaching platforms, PPTs, course materials, and notes in PDF format.
Visva Bharati University in Santiniketan, West Bengal has suspended classes until further notice from MHRD/UGC. Jawaharlal Nehru University Delhi is also following the nationwide lockdown till 3 May 2020 strictly and releasing circulars from time to time to keep a check on unruly activities by people coming from outside the campus.
Amity University Noida Campus, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, started online classes from 17 March 2020 proactively in view of the safety of students. The campus is also following the guidelines of nationwide lockdown. Other campuses of Amity University in Gurgaon and Lucknow are also following the similar directives of conducting online classes.
So, as of now most higher education institutes of India that is all the Central universities, State universities, Deemed universities, Private universities, Indian Institutes of Information Technology, Indian Institutes of Technology, National Institutes of Technology, All India Institutes of Medical Sciences, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, Indian Institutes of Management and other autonomous institutes are following the nationwide lockdown and most of them are providing online classes to keep the students up to date with the syllabuses well.
Sensing the seriousness of the situation in the country, all universities and schools across the nation are taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety of the students and the staff. They are acting under the strict guidelines and directions of the Central Government to help the nation successfully combat the pandemic.
