No chutti till lost time made up: NIT Srinagar

Hyderabad: Students of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Srinagar will have to forego their Sundays, second Saturdays and maybe half of their 3-month long winter vacation that begins from December to February as the University has officially announced to compensate the academic loss which occurred in the past few weeks.

The University would be working on holidays. Twenty days after the students were asked to vacate the premises—this came before the abrogation of article 370—the NIT Management for the first time, has communicated with the students through an email informing them about the academic compensation. Dean of Academic Affairs, NIT, Professor Kowsar Majid communicated, “We all know that our institute (referring to NIT) is going through a tough phase due to unavoidable circumstances in the Valley. In this tough time, we try to communicate our hard concern to one another but most of the time we fail to even communicate. We are receiving emails and calls from students who are enrolled or yet to be enrolled or are aspirants for admission in any other course. The management feels your anxiety and worry.”

Responding to a spate of queries, the professor has assured students that as soon as the official website is operational, the university will clear all queries. “Administration will take all steps to complete your (students) specified course work and will ensure timely completion of the semester. The time lost will be compensated by utilising all off days and vacations. We request all the students to be positive and hope that all the difficulties will be removed.”

The website of NIT-Srinagar is down, so is its Facebook page and Instagram account. Around 130 Telugu students have returned home after the institute asked them to vacate the premises. Asked if the students are willing to go back to the University given the reports of unrest, an NIT official Mr Ratna Sagar said, “None from Telangana have backed out, students are waiting for classes to resume.” Meanwhile, those who returned to the state are in touch with their friends in Jammu but not in Kashmir.