Academic session in varsities to start from Dec 1

Kolkata: The academic session in colleges and universities in the state is likely to commence from December 1. This was decided at a virtual meeting chaired by state Education minister Partha Chatterjee with the Vice-Chancellors across the state in the wake of University Grants Commission's (UGC) latest academic calendar that stated that the session for freshers in colleges and universities would begin from

November 1.

"We have arrived at a consensus that it will be very difficult to begin new academic session in Bengal for both graduate as well as post graduate level before December as both October and November are festival months. We will take the approval from the Chief Minister and will inform the University Grants Commission (UGC) our decision in this regard," said Chatterjee.

Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Bhai Phonta, Jagadhatri Puja and Chaath Puja etc are scheduled in the next two months in Bengal. A festival for the Muslim community is also scheduled in November.

"We cannot ask people not to observe festivals. So it will be difficult to start academic session in the month of November. Moreover, the institutions need to be sanitised properly before starting the academic calendar," said a senior official of the department.

Chatterjee reiterated that the colleges and universities are already prepared for holding classes in online mode and will also do the needful to bridge the digital divide in case of students who will be unable to attend classes online.

The modalities for holding classes whether online or offline will be decided based on the guidelines of the government.

Chatterjee said that the Vice-chancellors have informed him that results for final semester examinations of both undergraduate and post graduate will be declared by October 31.

The admission in post graduation is expected to be complete in the month of November.

Sources said that a section of Vice-Chancellors wanted undergraduate classes to begin from November 2 in online mode as per UGC guidelines for classes and social distancing measures. However, another section wanted both the session to start from December.