Day 2: College attendance lower than first day in Bengaluru

Belying hopes that student attendance at degree colleges would improve gradually, fewer pupils turned up on Wednesday than had on Tuesday, the first day of offline classes this academic year. Authorities, however, still hope that more students would turn up from next week onwards.

Most colleges and universities in the city reported less than 10% attendance as a vast majority of students continued to opt for online classes. Government colleges saw single-digit attendance. The principal of a private degree said student attendance would not improve until for another week.

In a sign of the desperate times, a few colleges, including some private engineering colleges, allowed students to attend classes without Covid negative reports, in clear violation of government rules. “In my college, nobody asked for a Covid negative test report or message. We have been attending classes since the first day,” said a student at an engineering college in South Bengaluru.

There were also instances of students keen to attend college being refused consent letters by their parents. “I really wanted to attend classes with my friends. The online classes are not much of a help but my parents refused to give me the consent letter,” a student said. The student had a Covid negative report but the college refused to let him in without the parents’ consent.

An autonomous college affiliated to Bengaluru Central College had to cancel the classes on Wednesday and sanitise the campus after a few members of the staff and students tested positive for Covid-19.