Only two days after educational institutions reopened across the country, the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in Karachi suspended classes for two days when multiple Covid-19 cases emerged at the varsity.
Announcing the temporary suspension of classes at both its campuses on Wednesday, the IBA academic board held a meeting on Thursday and decided to introduce a 'flexible learning system,' shifting undergraduate classes back online.
Under this new plan, undergraduate students will have the option of coming to campus to utilise internet access for online classes. However, physical classes will only be held for graduate students.
IBA spokesperson Haris Siddiqui explained that graduate students were much fewer in number, due to which the decision had been made to continue their classes. He added that undergraduate students at IBA amount to just over 3,500, while the varsity has a total enrolment of over 5,000 students.
According to Wednesday's announcement, all classes were suspended for Thursday and Friday, with students and teachers not to be allowed to enter the premises of both campuses. However, the spokesperson said non-teaching faculty members would continue their duties as per routine.
Sources told The Express Tribune that the first case emerged in a hostel at IBA's Karachi University campus. The affected student had recently joined the university from Islamabad and had been taking classes along with other students.
Other sources revealed that the standard operation procedures (SOPs) provided by the government were not being followed at the institute, with the reopening of the cafeteria and canteen allowing large numbers of students to gather. They said that many students and teachers were seen crowding the elevators on both campuses, without wearing masks or following other SOPs.
Furthermore, sources said that due to malfunctioning in the air-conditioning system at the Garden campus amid the intense heat, several students and teachers were not wearing masks.
While Siddiqui did not verify the number of cases that have emerged at IBA, he said that with the assistance of district administration, they had managed to conduct hundreds of Covid-19 tests and the results were being awaited.
He further said the hostel student who had tested positive for the virus had been isolated in the hostel.
According to him, hostel students have been advised to stay at the hostel until the semester exams are held, since such exams will be taken physically.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 18th, 2020.
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