Coronavirus impact: IIT Kanpur, IIM Lucknow defer flagship events

All schools and colleges in Uttar Pradesh will remain shut till March 22

Amid the coronavirus scare, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) and Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-L) have either cancelled or deferred their flagship events slated to be held in March.

While, IIM-L postponed its 34th convocation ceremony scheduled for the evening of March 21 following the health advisories by the central government and the World Health Organisation (WHO), the IIT-K has cancelled its annual technical and entrepreneurial fiesta ‘Techkriti 2020’, slated to kick off from March 19.

According to the IIT-K communique, the Institute was in constant touch with the district epidemiologist as well as the state health department regarding the coronavirus situation, and that precautionary measures were put in place for protection against the virus without disturbing the academics on campus.

‘Techkriti’ is listed among the most prestigious fests hosted by the country’s top rung engineering and management schools. While, ‘Techkriti 2020’ has been cancelled, the attendance of the post graduate (PG) students until April 15 has been made optional.

Besides, all residents have been advised to avoid international travel until April 15 even as all outreach activities on the campus have suspended until that date.

On Wednesday, the IIM-L had announced that the decision to postpone the convocation was taken in the national interest of containing the spread of the coronavirus in the country. “However, we will be closely monitoring the situation and depending on how it unfolds the new date shall be announced,” the IIM-L communique had mentioned.

IIM-L had invited Boston Consulting Group (BCG) India chairman Janmejaya Sinha as the chief guest and to deliver the convocation address.

Recently, IIM Bangalore and IIM Indore had also announced to defer their convocation functions listed for March 20 and March 25 respectively.

In fact, some other reputed educational and research institutions in Uttar Pradesh have also heeded the health department advisories and postponed their respective events. For example, Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University, Lucknow has postponed its convocation scheduled for next month in the interest of public safety.

Meanwhile, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU) has postponed two important events even as the Lucknow University (LU) has also decided to defer its centenary walk slated later this month.

Meanwhile, the state government today announced to shut all schools till March 22 in wake of the coronavirus contagion. However, the examinations of various academic boards would not be disturbed.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said further decision would be taken after the next review meeting on March 20.

“The state government is taking all the necessary steps and we have so far trained 4,100 doctors and medical staff to tackle coronavirus, while 820 beds in the isolation wards across the 75 districts have been created in the district hospitals and medical colleges, both public and private,” he said here.