STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Gauhati University has decided to cancel the winter vacation and reduce the number of summer-vacation days to compensate for the academic losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Towards this end, the GU authorities on Thursday convened a meeting to modify the university's Academic Calendar for the year 2020-2021. The meeting was presided over by the Vice Chancellor of GU Prof. Pratap Jyoti Handique. Senior faculties and representatives of the Assam College Teachers' Association (ACTA) and the Gauhati University Teachers' Association (GUTA) attended the meeting. The president and assistant secretary (Academic) of ACTA, Biswajit Bhuyan and Dr Anupam Dutta respectively represented the college teachers in the meeting.
The meeting decided to cancel the winter vacation in the current session (2020-2021) and to give, instead, a winter recess of eight days (including the Magh Bihu holidays) from January 10 to 17, 2021.
It was also decided to reduce the summer vacation by 10 days. So in the current academic session (2020-2021), the summer vacation will start on July 11 and end on July 31, 2021.
"If we do not reduce the number of holidays in the current session, we will not be able to cope up with academic losses caused by the pandemic. We have appealed to colleges affiliated to GU to cooperate with the university in modifying the present Academic Calendar," said a senior GU official.
"We have given our consent and support to the decision of the GU authorities to decrease the number summer-vacation days to make up for the academic loss during the pandemic situation in the greater interest of the student community. The modified Academic Calendar will be notified by the University shortly. We make a humble appeal to all our members (college teachers) to stand by the decision of the University in the academic interest of our students," said an office bearer of the ACTA.