AMIDST a global pandemic, university authorities have sent emails to students according to which the ongoing semester would be conducted in a hybrid manner; a mixture of online tutorials and on-campus classes.

Under this programme, the material for all the courses would be available online on the Learning Management System (LMS) and the attendance would be marked based on the students’ engagement on the LMS. However, certain faculty members do not upload weekly course material online. Rather, they are forcing students to show up physically on the campus. In the case of students failing to do so, either their class participation marks are deducted or their attendance is not marked.

In addition, the students willing to attend on-campus classes are made to sign an undertaking to the effect that the institution would not be held responsible for any liability in case a student contracts Covid-19.

Even the SOPs laid out are not being followed as certain faculty members and students take off their masks upon entering the classroom. Moreover, some of them fail to maintain social distancing rules. The university and provincial education authorities need to take notice of the matter.

Abdullah Bin Hamza
Karachi

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2020