Even as the government passed an order, declaring holiday for kindergarten and primary school students across the State from Monday until the end of the month in view of the COVID-19 epidemic, colleges too began declaring holiday in order to make sure students were safe.
SRM Institute of Science and Technology and VIT, Vellore have declared summer vacation for their students. While SRMIST has closed the Institute up to March 31 and a detailed circular will be up on the institute’s website on Monday afternoon, VIT has advanced its summer vacation.
VIT students received a circular from the University registrar on Sunday that in view of the threat from COVID-19 the institute was closing for summer holidays from Monday till May 31. Classes will resume from June 1. Semester classes will continue from June 1 to 20. There will be no summer semesters for this academic year (2019-20).
The institute has rescheduled its arrear exams that were to be held in May. The exams will now be held in June and July. It has also provided a detailed timeline for students of various branches. Final-year students will be allowed to register for fresh courses from July 13 to August 14. This opportunity will be offered to timed-out students also.
While urging students to vacate the hostels at the earliest following the due procedure for obtaining leave, the Institute has permitted foreign and NRI students who wished to stay back to remain on the campus. They would be subjected to weekly medical check up, the circular has said. “Students will not be permitted to move out of the campus as long as they plan to stay back in the hostel,” an official said.
On Sunday, the National Institute of Technology in Tiruchi and the Central University of Tamil Nadu in Tiruvarur declared holidays and suspended classes until March 31.
