Coronavirus: IIT-Kanpur suspends classes, exams, tech fest till March 29
Coronavirus scare: All students who have gone home and are planning to return to the campus in the next few days are advised not to return until March 29.
The Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K), has decided to suspend all classes and exams till March 29 (Sunday) in view of coronavirus scare, which has now been declared a pandemic.
“All students who have gone home and are planning to return to the campus in the next few days are advised not to return until March 29. The situation will be reviewed periodically and necessary updates will be provided to all, said Dr Abhay Karandikar, director, IIT-K.
He said, “Those students who have already returned to the campus are strongly advised to visit the Health Centre directly. The campus residents returning from vacation are also strongly advised to contact the Health Centre.”
The students, who are back, are advised to stay on the campus and avoid any travel outside the campus until further instruction, director said in a statement.
The scare of coronavirus has also forced the IIT-K administration to cancel Techkriti-20, a prestigious four-day annual technical festival of students.
The festival was to start from March 19.
According to the organisers over 5,000 students from about 130 institutes of the country and abroad were to take part at the Techkriti-20. The prize money for this year was of Rs 42 lakh to be given to the winners of different events.
Over a dozen events were planned for the Techkriti-20 and several eminent speakers from abroad and from with the country were to interact with the students during the festival period.
Among the most important speakers were the director of Sarabhai Space Centre S Somnath, Noble prize winner US scientist Dr Jhon C Mather, Magsaysay award winner Dr Rajendra Singh ,Animation expert from US PT Mishel Padamshri Dr Vikas Sinha noted physicist and Padamshri Dr M S Raghunath a noted Mathematician and several other senior executives of prestigious Indian companies.
Deputy Director of the IIT-K Professor Manindra Agarwal said the festival has been deferred till April 15.
Besides, faculty members and students had been advised to suspend their journey to abroad and holding seminars and workshops the IIT-K sources said.
Principal of the GSVM Medical College Dr Arti Lalchandani said the three-day conference of the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Society of India (FOGSI) has been cancelled after getting the directives from the union government. The conference was to be held from March 20 to March 22.
The district administration has proposed to cancel the conventional Holi Milan program on the Holi Mela Day on March 15. It has released an advisory to police personals that they should keep a strict watch over the people having cough and cold.
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