IIT Bombay goes online, to hold digital classes from next semester

Indian Institute of Technology has decided to go completely online next semester, it has further announced not to call students for face to face lectures in view of the ongoing pandemic.

As the cases of novel coronavirus are increasing across the country with each passing day, including Mumbai, the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) on Wednesday became the first major institute to scrap all face-to-face lectures for the remaining of 2020 academic session “so that there is no compromise on the safety and well-being of the students”.

IIT Bombay Director Professor Subhasis Chaudhuri posted a message on Facebook earlier in the morning today stating the decision was made “after a long deliberation”. “For IIT Bombay, students are the first priority. We took the first step in India in concretely deciding how we must bring a closure to the current semester to help our students,” he wrote.

“But given the current condition of the pandemic, how do we plan for the next semester for our students? Again, after a long deliberation in the Senate, we have decided today that the next semester will be run purely in the online mode so that there is no compromise on the safety and well-being of the students,” Chaudhuri added.

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It is worth noticing that the semester for undergraduate and post-graduate courses is scheduled to begin from next month. In long post, the IIT Bombay Director has also made an appeal for donation for students “from economically less privileged families”.

“A large section of our students come from economically less privileged families and would require a helping hand to equip them with the IT hardware (i.e. laptops and broadband connectivity ) to take these online classes,” the post read.

“We have estimated that we need about Rs 5 crores to help those needy students. We look forward to your overwhelming support to help these bright young minds to continue their learning without any further hindrances or delays.”

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