Students from interior parts of Maharashtra unable to attend offline classes in colleges

Six hostels run by Mumbai University have never reopened since those were closed with the announcement of lockdown.

The ICCR president said a portal for UTIKS is ready and it is likely to be launched on April 2. File.

Colleges in Mumbai restarted offline classes earlier this month but several students from the interior parts of the state, who come here to study are unable to attend physical classes as the state is yet to come up with a policy on how hostels can function.

Mahesh Jagtap from Bhawanwadi in Beed secured admission to the Mumbai University’s Theatre Arts course this year. Offline lectures have already started earlier this month, but he has to attend them in online mode. With the lack of a hostel facility, there is no other way for him to ensure accommodation in the city. “My course includes practical work and group activities, which I am completely missing because I have to attend it online,” said Jagtap, adding how the hostel facility is the only affordable way of accommodation for him as his parents are labourers.

Jagtap is just one example of several such students, who are missing out on academics because even as offline classes have begun, the lack of hostel policy has forced them to stay away from Mumbai.

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Ishwar Narode Patil from Shimlegaon near Aurangabad, who is a final-year law student at the Government Law College eagerly wishes for hostels to start as only the final semester of his course is remaining now.

“I took admission in 2019 and was allotted a hostel room. Soon after the lockdown started hostels were shut and we have been attending online lectures since then. Due to the internet and electricity issues in my region, online learning is not a justified option for me. Now that the offline classes have been allowed, we all should get to come back to the hostel,” said Patil.

Six hostels run by Mumbai University have never reopened since those were closed with the announcement of lockdown. Hostels run by the Social Welfare Department have abruptly stopped the admission process.

After a series of requests from students and organisations working for students coming from marginalised backgrounds, the Social Welfare Department began the process of registration for hostel accommodation in their six hostels across Mumbai. But after the first list of allotments was declared in December; the process stopped with the declaration of a recent lockdown.

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“The process never resumed. Even though I was allotted a room, I was not allowed to come to the hostel. Finally, I am here to claim my room. But due to procedural delays, there is no proper canteen or mess facility here making it more difficult to survive,” told Dikha Ahire, who hails from Nashik and is a resident of Worli Girls hostel run by the Social Welfare Department.

Three more allotment lists are pending.

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