Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh to start next semester online from 27 July; three classes of an hour each to be held per day

The Punjab Engineering College (PEC), Chandigarh has decided to commence the next semester via online mode by the last week of July. The information was tweeted by Director of PEC Dheeraj Sanghi who said, “We at PEC, Chandigarh will have the next semester online.” According to a report by Hindustan Times, PEC has decided to start online classes for the next semester from 27 July. During the semester, Saturdays will be working days and three classes of one hour each will be held every day. [caption id=“attachment_8430811” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Representational image. Wikimedia Commons[/caption] PEC has decided that examinations for the next semester will be held physically on 4 November if the situation allows, following which the remaining exams will be held in December after a three-week gap. A report by NDTV mentions that the Senate gave its nod for online teaching for the next semester on 16 June after consulting with all faculty members in a virtual meeting and discussions with the heads of department. Prof Sanghi in his blog said that from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, PEC has been figuring out the way forward. He said that the college had felt that opening the campus with all 3,300 students would not be possible till November, and hence it must plan for an online semester. “Since our faculty members will be delivering online education for the first time, we wanted to make sure that they have enough time to learn new techniques and conduct the course at the same time”, he added. As per a report by Careers360, PEC teachers will hold classes either through lectures or live streaming. For recorded lectures, there would be a separate live session for doubt clearing. The report mentions that PEC has decided to offer fewer courses during the semester than what it usually offers. Courses with less number of students enrolling in them will likely be offered using “online - external model” in which only exams will be conducted by PEC and students will be allowed to register for the course on SWAYAM, Coursera, edX and Harappa.