New session starts virtually, freshers in Patna miss college campus

Hundreds of first-year college students, who have got admission into college via virtual mode, are missing the vibrant campus life as city-colleges resorted to online admission amid Covid-19 pandemic.

Majority of first-year students rued that pandemic and closure of educational institutions snatched the charm of entering college life as they missed usual stuffs like fresher’s party, physical tour to college and face-to-face interaction with their classmates.

Patna Women’s College (PWC) has commenced online classes for all courses from November 2 while course-wise orientation programme will continue till November 7.

A first-year student of vocational course Aakriti said, “Though online orientation made us familiar with the rules and regulation, I missed the physical classroom and fresher’s party. I have interacted with my classmates during online classes but I don’t have any friend as we all are attending online classes from our houses.”

Similarly, St Xavier’s College of Management and Technology also commenced online classes from October.

Abhishek Raj, a student of BCom, said, “I am missing normal classes. For me, college life is incomplete without a fresher’s party, canteen gossip and extracurricular activities. Though, I am attending online class but usual peer interaction is missing.”

Another fresher Anjali who has taken admission in a private college said, “I bought casual dresses for going to college but online class has dampened the spirit.”

Dharmendra, a snack seller outside the PWC premise said, “Closure of college has caused huge loss to me. Before pandemic, I used to sell at least 500 plates daily. The footfall is low these days as students are not coming to college.”

Meanwhile, Patna University (PU) which had scheduled beginning of new academic session from November 5 has postponed till further notice.

On Wednesday, PU’s vice-chancellor Girish Kumar Choudhary, said, “Due to pandemic and state elections, admission process is still not complete. We will commence the classes soon after completion of admission process.”