Though degree colleges have reopened, hostels of various UG and PG colleges and that of several Universities are still shut keeping students away from the campus. Amidst reports of poor turnout of students to colleges following reopening of colleges from November 17 in the state after a gap of nearly seven months, the reason for it seems to be the closure of hostels.Though many final year students are wishing to return back to campus and attend the regular offline classes, they are not in position to be back to their colleges as the majority of hostels across the old-Mysuru region are still not opened.
The University of Mysore (UoM) which has the maximum number of undergraduate and postgraduate students in the region majority of whom come from rural areas of Chamarajanagar, Mandya and Hassan are still in no mood to return as majority of hostels of the varsity are still shut and the hostel admission process for final year students is still ongoing."We are still accepting the application from the final year students to the hostel admission and the last date is on November 21, following which we would verify the application and announce the selection list on November 25. The admission process will continue till December 1st," said an official of University of Mysore.
While this is the case in the century-old University of Mysore, the other prominent college - Maharani's college in the city is no exception as they have not yet opened the hostels for the students and says they would take a decision on it soon."There are at least 1,000+ students wishing to take admission to hostel and it is impossible to accommodate all of them giving single rooms for each of them amidst the COVID-19 situation as per the government guidelines, so we would take a call on this soon based on students' footfall for next few days," said a professor at Maharani's science college.This situation has pushed many students who were hopeful of returning back to campus to continue to opt for online classes.
Several students with consent from their parents are even trying to get admitted at several PG (Paying Guest) accommodations in the city but many who were running PG services are still not reopened citing they were unable to run them adhering to the COVID norms."It is really tough to travel in public transport every day until the COVID situation turns normal, so I have opted to continue online classes,-" said Hairsh, a final year BA student from Gundlupet.Meanwhile, the members of All India Democratic Students Organisation has demanded the authorities to reopen hostels in full fledged to facilitate students.Akash Kumar B N, District President of AIDSO said, -" The students are at the receiving end due to closure of hostels and when we ask them officials ask us to make alternate arrangements. We condemn the decision of the government over reopening the colleges even before hostels were reopened in full fledged manner
