KUNDAN RAJPUT
NASHIK :
Due to the lockdown in Maharashtra and other parts of the country, schools and colleges are closed and the academic year is most probably to be started from September. While in the country like Philippines, on the other hand, even though the colleges are closed, the curriculum of all the faculties is running smoothly through the online app.
Students from Nashik studying MBBS course in the Philippines say that lectures, theories and practicals are being conducted regularly and their exams are also being held online. The lockdown has no effect on their academic year, they said.
Students Darshan Khairnar and Mohit Pawar from Nashik are both completing their MBBS course at Our Lady of Fatima University, College of Medicine, in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. This place also has a large number of students from Maharashtra. In the Philippines, too, the scourge of Covid-19 has begun and the number of positive cases has reached 13,000. On this backdrop, the local government has declared a nationwide lockdown since March 10. As a result, the students from Maharashtra have also got stuck there.
They say the lockdown is strictly being enforced across the Philippines, including the capital Manila. Essential service shops are open from 5 am to 8 pm. Citizens are given an online pass by the police to get out of the house. Only one person in the house is allowed to go out. It is prohibited to step out of the house from 8 pm to 5 am except for urgent reasons.
Preventive measures like social distancing use of protective mask is being followed strictly the lockdown there has also been extended step by step 2 September 4. We are a group of 4 to 5 students living in an apartment where mess service is bring provided.
On May 10, the students returned to Mumbai Airport on a special flight. From there they were brought to Nashik and have been quarantined. There is no break in the curriculum of students studying in the Philippines. An online course for students of the Our Lady of Fatima University has started. Although Darshan and Mohit are quarantined in Nashik, they attend lectures through the canvas app. They also complete practical and other theories through the app.
Parents Group
There is a group of parents of the students from Maharashtra studying in the Philippines. The members of the group had sought help from the Indian embassy to bring back the stranded students. The embassy had also helped all of these students.
We returned home by a special flight arranged by the Government of India. Although we are now quarantined, through the app we are completing lectures, theoreticals and practicals. The Indian Embassy helped us a lot.
– Darshan Khairnar, Student (the Philippines)
