‘Exams of students round the corner’, will have to evolve strategy accordingly’, Dir NIT Rakesh Sehgal
Ishtiyaq Ahmad
Srinagar, May 13 (KINS): A crucial meeting will be held at the campus of National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar to discuss whether the institute that continues to remain open despite clear-cut directions from the J&K administration in the wake of Covid-19 spread has to be closed or kept open till exams of students are conducted.
Though J&K administration has ordered the closure of all the educational institutions in Kashmir including Universities, Colleges, and Schools in the wake of Coronavirus scare. The deadly virus has so far claimed over 4500 lives and affected 1.5 lakh people across the globe. In J&K a tight screening is being conducted on the Srinagar-Jammu highway and also at the Srinagar and Jammu airports respectively.
Sources said that despite J&K administration’s order for closure of all educational institutions across the J&K UT, NIT is open and students are attending to their regular classes. An official at the NIT confirmed that the institute where hundreds of students of various parts of India study is open and there are no directions to close the institute from the authorities concerned.
Talking to Kashmir Indepth, Director NIT Rakesh Sehgal also confirmed that the Institute has not been shut due to many reasons which include that exams of students are round the corner and they don’t want to create inconvenience for the students by sending them home and then again asking them to come back to attend exams. “Keeping in view the directive of the J&K administration in view of Coronavirus scare, we have convened a high-level meeting at the campus on Monday (March 16) to take a final call whether to close the institute or to keep it open,” he told Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS) over the phone from New Delhi.
When Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) officials were contacted about the NIT being kept on despite Mayor Junaid Mattoo and J&K administration’s clear cut directions, they said that NIT comes under the control of New Delhi. “We have learned that students are going to appear in exams in the coming weeks and there was no point in closing the institute. We will still get in touch with the authorities of NIT and find out what best can be done in the interest of students,” the official said.
In Kashmir, no positive case of Coronavirus has been found so far, while as there are three positive cases in Ladakh and one in Jammu. People across Kashmir are taking precautions to keep the Coronavirus at a bay. (KINS)
