Udupi district administration steps in to resolve MIT squabble

MANIPAL: The Udupi district administration has stepped in to broker a truce between students and parents on the one hand and Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) on the row over following Covid-19 guidelines on campus.
The intervention comes in the wake of a string of allegations made by students and their parents on social media, accusing MAHE of flouting ministry of home affairs (MHA) unlock guidelines. They claim the institution is endangering their lives, an accusation MAHE has vehemently denied.
Yogesh Malik, a parent, told TOI that Manipal Institute of Technology, a constituent unit of MAHE, is forcing students to choose between their health and career.The basis for Malik’s accusation is the college’s decision to keep 3,500 students on campus.
“This is highly unsafe,” Malik said. “We have all seen what happened at IITMadras and they had only about 700 students on campus.”
Malik claimed hostel rooms at MAHE are shared; there is lack of proper social distancing in the mess and lack of 14-day quarantine for (incoming) students. “Only yesterday [December 17], we were told 13 students tested positive when they returned to campus. This information was revealed only after pressure was put on MAHE. We fear the college could be hiding more cases,” he said.
‘Can’t fudge test results’
While rubbishing this claim, Udupi district deputy commissioner G Jagadeesha said he has asked the district Covid-19 nodal officer and another doctor to verify facts on the campus.
“It is not possible for anyone to hide cases,” Jagadeesha said. “Once a Covid-19 test kit is opened, it has to be entered in the ICMR portal. The result of the test also has to be registered.”
On Thursday, MAHE, in an official statement, said 4,398 students were tested on MIT campus between November 18 and December 17 and 14 students tested positive. Of these, 13 were students who tested positive on the day they arrived. Jagadeesha said the positivity rate of 0.003 is negligible to be a cause for concern.
A section of parents and students are striving to use the IIT-Madras outbreak as a means to get MAHE authorities to defer examinations that are scheduled to begin at MIT from December 21.
Meanwhile, MIT has set up a task force across departments to address concerns to pupils and provide required medical assistance, if needed.