Mumbai: During the rise in coronavirus cases all over the country, the IIT, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay has gone on to become the first major institute to scrap all face-to-face lectures for the rest of the year “so that there is no compromise on the safety and well-being of the students”. In a Facebook Post last night Subhasis Chaudhuri, IIT Bombay Director said the decision was made “after a long deliberation”.

“For IIT Bombay, students are the priority. We took the first step in India in concretely deciding how we must bring a closure to the current semester to help our students,” Professor Chaudhuri wrote in the Facebook post.

“But given the current condition of the pandemic, how do we plan for the next semester for our students? Again, after a long deliberation in the Senate, we have decided today that the next semester will be run purely in the online mode so that there is no compromise on the safety and well-being of the students,” Professor Chaudhuri further said.

The semester for undergraduate and post-graduate courses is scheduled to start in July. The Facebook post also had the appeal for donations for students “from economically less privileged families”.

“A large section of our students come from economically less privileged families and would require a helping hand to equip them with the IT hardware (i.e. laptops and broadband connectivity ) to take these online classes,” the Facebook post read.

“We do not want a single student to miss out on the learning experience for the lack of money. “We have estimated that we need about Rs 5 crores to help those needy students. We look forward to your overwhelming support to help these bright young minds to continue their learning without any further hindrances or delays,” Mr. Chaudhuri wrote, appealing for contributions.

Subsequently, heads of different departments sent emails to all students enquiring who all do not have access to a personal computer or laptop and internet connection.

This is the first time in the institute’s 62-year history that a new academic year will start with no students on campus. 

Across India, the coronavirus tally has crossed 4.74 lakh cases. With 1.42 lakh cases, Maharashtra is the worst-hit and Mumbai alone has logged nearly 70,000 cases so far.