‘Reduce physical gathering’ UI resolves to virtual classes as COVID-19 cases rise

The management of the University of Ibadan has begun preparations to begin online and physical teaching and learning for the remaining part of the ongoing second semester of the 2020/2021 academic session.

The Registrar of the university, Olubunmi Faluyi, said this in a statement on Monday to announce the plan of the institution to reduce physical gathering in order to curb the spread of COVID-19 on the campus and the University College Hospital, Ibadan.

The university said more cases and deaths related to COVID-19 were also being recorded nationwide and because of this the university would do everything to stop its spread, especially on the campus.

The university also observed with dismay that COVID-19 protocols were not fully complied with on the campus.

The statement read, “This is to inform the university community that management has requested the faculties to identify the courses to be taught online and those to be taught physically en route to the commencement of the blended mode of teaching and learning for the remaining part of the second semester of the 2020/2021 session.

“The Emergency Remote Teaching Committee (ERTC), in its proposal to the Committee of Provosts and Deans (CoPD), in a meeting, held on the 11th August, 2021, had noted and recommended as follows:

“More cases of Covid-19 are being announced nationwide. These call for caution and proactive actions which should take into consideration, in the main, the review of the mode of teaching and learning in the second semester and, as a consequence, provide a safe way to undertake pedagogical activities on Nigerian university campuses;

“With the daily rising cases of the Delta variant of Covid-19, and with several cases within the main and the College of Medicine/UCH campuses, the ERTC considered a proposal of blended teaching for the second-semester lectures in the university.

“The blended learning model should be officially decided in terms either of availability of sections of the student population for online or physical encounters or the categorization of courses as online or physical which neutralizes choice of location or keeps all students, in principle, in physical presence within and/or around the campus;

“The ERTC platforms and tools (LMS, zoom, youtube, gsuite accounts, telegram fora, solution clinics) should be maintained for use by students and staff in all cases;

“Google meet which is practically free should, in addition, be encouraged for lectures since all academics have access to Gmail accounts.”

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