In the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought the entire world to a standstill, the AISECT Group of Universities has started online classes for students across its five universities to ensure academic activities are not disrupted.

From 31^st March, the Rabindranath Tagore University (RNTU) in Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Dr. C.V. Raman University (CVRU) in Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh), CVRU in Vaishali (Bihar), AISECT University in Hazaribag (Jharkhand) and CVRU in Khandwa (Madhya Pradesh) have started providing lectures via digital mediums to their students. In order to ensure smooth functioning of the e-classes, fresh time tables have been issued by all the universities. The students and teachers are now connected through video conferencing apps and online classes are being conducted on a daily basis. Prior to initiating the digital classes, special online training sessions were held for the faculties to help them with technology adoption.

Talking about the importance of technology adoption for imparting education in the current times, Mr. Santosh Kumar Choubey, Chairman, AISECT Group of Universities, said, “While the nationwide lockdown is the need of the hour to save lives, it has led to a lot of challenges for the education sector. However, we are living in the digital era, which gives us the opportunity to impart education to our students anywhere and anytime. Therefore, with immediate effect, we plan to bring our students and teachers under one digital roof to ensure hassle free communication and teaching. Our Faculty has already been trained to conduct online classes and through this initiative, more than 3500 students will be benefitted across all our universities”.

On Day 1 of this initiative, CVRU Vaishali conducted 19 lectures, each of 40 minutes duration, for 720 students for courses such as B.Tech, BAC, B.Com, MBA and B.Sc. Topics like Machine Design, Corporate Accounting, Cell Biology and Research Methodology were covered in these lectures with the help of e-classes. AISECT University Hazaribag is conducting classes for courses such as BSc Agriculture, BBA, MBA, BSc Hons (Zoology), M.Com and MSc IT.

At CVRU Bilaspur, all the 32 departments are functioning online so that courses are completed within the academic calendar. Sessions are being held by Faculties from departments like Computer Science & Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Rural Technology, Commerce and Management, Law, Humanities, etc.

RNTU Bhopal will be hosting around 90 live video lectures for students in the first week of the initiative. These lectures will be held for students pursuing courses such as B.Sc Nursing, LLB, BBA, MBA, BE, B.Com, B.Ed, Civil Engineering, etc.

Apart from app-based video conferencing, study materials are also being provided to students through emails and WhatsApp. The videos of online classes will also be made available on YouTube and the respective University’s website for students who miss these classes or want to use it for future references.