Colleges come calling: Students excited to revisit college
Weeks before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a general and very stringent lockdown shutting the entire country down on March 25, educational institutions had already been closed as a preventive measure to curb the spread of novel coronavirus that had started ravaging parts of the world.
Since then, schools, colleges and universities all across the country have been forced to remain shut and adopt online classes, with highly questionable efficiency, as various data point to a severe loss in quality of teaching.
Thus, on Thursday, after the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) finally allowed colleges in the national capital to reopen, most of the students were thrilled to be back on the campus.
For many, even those studying in their second and third year, this was the first time they had entered the college premises for the first time like their freshmen counterparts.
A hint of excitement and happiness was evident in the air as friends and classmates could meet each other after a prolonged gap or even for the first time since they joined the college. And various parts of the campus were again throbbing with activity and buzz, after almost two-years of deadly silence. The empty cafeterias in the college with little to no businesses during the pandemic were filled with din and noise of students looking to buy snacks and beverages.
“Initially when we got to know that the colleges are opening, I was honestly apathetic about it not having to been able to go to the college for the past two years as it killed my excitement. However, today when I took a look at the campus for the first time, meeting with friends, it all turned out to be a great experience,” Madiha, a second year student of English Honours at Lady Shri Ram (LSR) College, in south Delhi tells Media India Group.
“Honestly, I did not want the colleges to start because I have become too used to staying at home and having that lifestyle adapted to Covid-19. I guess we have to get back to that normal life. I am anxious about the fact that, if any of us get infected, what will happen? What if I get infected when I have an examination in class? There is a lot of confusion and there is no clarity around those situations where you can’t really control your health,” another student of English Honours at the same college tells Media India Group.
Not just the students, even the parents seem relieved and content to see the colleges reopen and their wards getting back to in-person education. “The decision of opening the college in physical mode is good as online education is just a support system. The students can now get the much-needed interaction with other students and colleagues and get exposure, which is not possible in online mode. We all support this decision,” Bhupeshwar Giri, a parent who came to drop his child at the LSR College, tells Media India Group.
