Punjab University to continue online classes

LAHORE :Punjab University has finalised a policy regarding online classes of the students in the prevailing situation.

According to details in this regard, an online meeting of deans and heads of departments presided over by Vice-Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad was held on Thursday.

PU spokesman Khurram Shahzad said as per HEC guidelines and on the recommendations made by deans of faculties and heads of departments, the PU administration made several decisions to minimise the time loss of the students. He added the online classes were mandatory and would be continued as per time-table issued by the relevant institute, centre or department. The spokesman said as per decision, the students would be provided with the syllabi of the subjects and relevant online books on top priority basis. He said course materials and recorded lectures would be mailed/emailed/uploaded through the relevant software to maximise the learning outcome of the students. He said the decision about assessment/examination (Mid/Final or Comprehensive exam) of theoretical subjects would be decided at an appropriate time when the situation got normalised.

However, Khurram Shahzad said, the assignments with maximum 30 percent weightage could be given to the students during online classes. He clarified that lab work/practical sessions with relevant module along with its exam would also be conducted when the situation got normalised. He said genuine issues of those students who were unable to attend online classes, at all, would be offered on campus compensatory classes/summer camp or additional credits during the regular semester, when the situation normalised and PU would not charge any tuition fee for this. He said all teachers, including visiting faculty, would keep record of students’ attendance. He said the Deans/HoDs would ensure the regularity of the online classes. He said summer vacation would be announced as per university schedule.

online training: Punjab University’s Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAGS) has organised an online kitchen gardening training programme in order to promote healthy activities for the people at home in the prevailing situation.

In this regard, IAGS Director Prof Dr Saleem Haider, faculty members, including Moazzam Anis, Dr Mubeen Sarwar, Dr Shafiq and MPhil scholar Arsalan gave hands-on training for growing organic food at home to a large number of participants who were connected through social networking software.

On this occasion, PU Vice-Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad said it was necessary to engage people at home during lockdown in positive activities so that they could keep themselves mentally and physically healthy. He said kitchen gardening was a good hobby as well as a good source of obtaining vegetables which were free of chemicals and other pollutants. He said organic vegetables strengthened and enhanced the immune system in our body which was also necessary to fight coronavirus.

PU VC said kitchen gardening could provide a business opportunity to many people at small scale.

Prof Saleem Haider said that the people could grow summer vegetables at very low cost and limited resources at home and it was the right time. He said people could grow summer vegetables at the balcony, rooftop, lawn, courtyard etc where sunlight was available. He said due to lack of awareness, people did not focus on kitchen gardening; however, in the prevailing situation, it was one of the best activities to utilise time at home and get benefit from nature.

Dr Mobeen Sarwar, Dr Shafiq, Moazzam Anees and Arsalan trained the people how to grow bottle gourd, bitter gourd, sponge gourd, okra, tomato, green chili, sweet pepper, mint, tinda gourd, cucumber and brinjal at home. They also guided the people how to get and make necessary items. The recorded programmes of kitchen gardening training sessions would be available on PU’s official social media channels from Saturday (tomorrow) so that people could take advantage of it anytime, anywhere.