IIT Bombay aims to help economically backward students after scrapping physical lectures

The nationwide lockdown due to the grappling situation of COVID-19 and the spike in the numbers in the last month has hampered most educational activities in the country. The coronavirus situation has made varsities take newer and better measures to curb the rise, one of which is shifting the academic lessons from face-to-face to online sessions. With more universities following the online route, physical lectures happening in the near future is still uncertain.

The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay has joined the bandwagon as well, however, it is the first institution that declared that all the lectures of its courses for the academic year will be completely online. The institute aims at helping the economically backward students through special measures. 

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IIT Bombay director's appeal 

IIT Bombay’s director Subhasis Chaudhuri revealed the administration’s decision to keep the classes online in a Facebook post for the next semester. The decision was made after keeping in mind the safety and the well being of all the people involves in the courses as per the post. He wrote in the post that students' health is the priority of the institution and it is necessary that authorities give closure to the students regarding the current semesters.

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According to the post, the semester for the academic year 2020-2021 is scheduled to begin in the month of July. The post also talked about monetary help for students belonging to the economically unstable or less privileged background. This is due to the unavailability of internet service or laptop systems at home. The university urged that anyone who can help can come ahead and offer donations. For the smooth functioning of the online classes, IIT Bombay requires almost ₹5 CR to help the economically backward students. The director made an appeal for donations to set-up the infrastructure for the needy students as per his Facebook post.

According to reports, IIT Bombay will be closed for any physical lectures for the first time in over six decades. IIT Bombay had to make the decision after the coronavirus numbers kept rising in the state. Maharashtra alone has over 4.56 lakh cases and Mumbai has become the worst-hit city in the country.

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