The recently admitted first-year students of the University of Hyderabad have asked the administration to reopen the varsity and begin offline classes for students who wish to come back. They have also asked the administration to extend the option of online classes to students who are uncomfortable about stepping out.
"The latter (attending online classes) requires devices with cameras, a distraction-free environment and proper lighting, which many students from less privileged backgrounds cannot adhere to back home," reads a statement by the students. "The increasing number of assignments/ term papers to keep students academically occupied has become the new normal while deliberately turning a blind eye to structural inequalities, unironically, such disparities as shall be further deepened by the said online mode of knowledge impartation and evaluation," it says.
Deshdeep Dhankhar, a student of MA Political Science says that until now, no fresher have been allotted hostels. He adds that despite numerous efforts, they are yet to hear back from the university administration. "When it comes to Political Science and Social Science, most of the learning happens through interaction. Here, we are only exposed to monotonous lectures. Exchange of ideas do not happen here," he says. He adds that his classmates who attended the recorded versions of the lectures were marked absent and were failed initially.
"If the Supreme Court's verdict of "life must go on" is applicable to exams like NEET and NET, one wonders how students are supposed to continue their academics when physical access to classes, teachers and academic resources has been withheld indefinitely," reads the statement.
We have sent an email to the university, seeking their comment on the issue. This copy will be updated once they respond.
