Psychological issues key concern as DU colleges open

New Delhi, February 22

Many Delhi University colleges are holding classes on open grounds and also in batches to ensure physical distancing as a majority of the students have started attending physical lectures after the varsity reopened following a two-year Covid-enforced hiatus.

The colleges are also providing regular counselling to students who are facing psychological issues to help them adjust to the new environment.

The Delhi University reopened last Thursday and the students are turning up in good numbers. The colleges are expecting more students to arrive in the coming days.

However, the return of a large number of students poses problems in ensuring adherence to the Covid protocols. Moreover, cases of physiological issues have risen among students, according to college principals.

With this, the colleges are scrambling to ensure that quality education is provided to the students and at the same time their health is not compromised.

“We are trying to follow all Covid protocols. As students are coming in large numbers, it is difficult to maintain social distancing. There is also a problem of overcrowding. Social distancing is impossible but we have strict compliance of wearing of masks and other protocols,” Hindu College Principal Anju Shrivastava told PTI.

As colleges are opening after a two-year lull, Shrivastava is of the view that it will take time for things to settle down.

“We still have students coming up. It will take time to open completely and we are working on that. We hope that we get settled very soon. We need to prioritise everything — from classes to the cafeteria to the hostel. All the things are to be taken into consideration,” she noted.

Meanwhile, Ramjas College principal Manoj Khanna noted that the anxiety level is very high among students.

“Suddenly psychological issues among students have risen. The anxiety level in students is very high among students. We refer them to counsellors,” he said.

He asserted that it is quite difficult to maintain social distancing inside the campus.

“Our infrastructure facilities are not such that we can adjust all students so we are taking classes in batches. We cannot put students in isolation. Though we try to maintain social distancing in classes but students meet up outside and it is very difficult to force them to maintain social distancing,” he added.

The colleges have said they are ensuring that proper counselling is provided to the students.

Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College principal Jaswinder Singh informed said, “We have trained counsellors. We are providing counselling to students. The counsellor comes twice every week. But if there are urgent cases, we provide telephone details of the counsellor to the students”.

To avoid overcrowding, some teachers are also taking classes on open grounds. “We have given the liberty to sit outside to hold classes in open. Several teachers are taking classes in open,” said the Hindu college principal.

Miranda House principal Bijayalaxmi Nanda said the priority is to provide students a complete college experience keeping in mind that their health is not affected.

“We are suggesting that the college have open ground as the transmission is less when they are in the open. We are ensuring they go outside and in classroom when are asking them open doors and windows. We are seeing to it that they are wearing masks,” she said, The principal also informed that the college is starting a new welfare scheme for this year to provide monetary support to students facing financial hardships.

“We are also working on providing student support to students like providing them living expenses. By next week, we are creating a list of students who required welfare support and will be providing it to them as living expense in the city may have gone up,” she said.

“Apart from the scholarship this is the new thing, we are starting, which will be available only for this year. Under this, the monetary support will be given to students in need. Depending on the need, some amount will be provided to the students during this period as welfare support,” she added.