Published | Deccan Herald
Amid efforts to break the chain of novel coronavirus infection with enforcement of lock down in a number of cities, the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry has asked all higher education institutions to give work-from-home permission to faculty members and all other staff upto March 31.
In an advisory to universities and colleges, the ministry has also asked the heads of these institutions to let the students, “particularly foreign students,” who have not yet gone back to their home, continue to stay in their hostels.
HRD ministry secretary Amit Khare also reached out to the States and Union territory administrations, requesting the respective chief secretaries in a letter to consider issuing “similar guidelines” for the educational institutions under their control.
Meanwhile, HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank instructed the Navodaya Vidyalayas, the central government run residential schools, to make their hostels where no student are staying available to the respective district administration.
“Assessing the current situation, I have advised commissioner, Navodaya Vidyalaya, to make their hostels, where no students are staying, available for the respective District Administrations, aiding them to fight Covid-19,” the HRD minister tweeted on Monday.
While working from home, as per the HRD ministry’s directive to higher education institutions for taking preventive measures to achieve social distancing, the faculty members will have to utilize this period for various academic activities
The Ministry has also suggested the institutions to engage their faculty members in preparation of “innovative projects” for the implementation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet programme, ‘Ek Baharat, Shrestha Bharat,’ for national integration.
Delhi University teachers had been demanding for work-from-home permission as many of the colleges under the central varsity had sought them to be present on duty in the campus even though all classes were suspended upto March 31 in wave of Covid-19 spread in the country.