University of Hyderabad to reopen campus for 2000 more students: COVID test, 3-day isolation mandatory

The University of Hyderabad has decided to reopen the campus for an additional 2000 students but has mandatorily asked students to produce a COVID negative report and self-isolate for the first few days. UoH’s Teachers Association recently issued a statement demanding that students from marginalised communities be allowed back on campus immediately after the suicide of a student allegedly due to being marked absent for online classes. 

The University said that a task force headed by Vinod Parvala had recommended that students of all terminal semester postgraduate students be permitted to return to campus to complete their respective programmes and graduate in June. “All PhD students, except those who joined in 2020-21, can come back to resume their research work on campus. For now, all Master’s students who joined the University in 2020 will continue to have online classes. The return will be entirely voluntary and the University will continue teaching-learning activities online for those who wish to remain at their homes,” a statement from the University said.

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The task force has also mandated that all the students returning in the latest phase should produce a COVID-negative report from an RT-PCR test, sign an undertaking and spend a minimum of three days in isolation at a campus facility. The students returning from Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat have been directed to self-isolate for seven days since the positive rates in these states have been rising over the last few weeks. “Depending on class sizes, all academic units have been advised to prepare for physical classes as well as instruction in the blended mode (combination of offline and online), following all the COVID-related protocols,” the University said. 

The University had already reopened for 1300 students who are research scholars and final semester students in the sciences and practical disciplines such as performing arts and fine arts to return to the campus and occupy the hostels as well. “As one of the first universities in the country to have a dedicated team to prepare a roadmap for resumption of academic activities amidst a global pandemic, the University has already facilitated senior research scholars to complete their thesis submissions, commenced online teaching since August, reopened its main library and provided remote access to digital resources to all students and faculty, put in place a digital access grant to address problems of digital divide, and kickstarted laboratory sessions for Science students,” the administration's statement read.