Maharani students take exam in PPE, test negative hours later

Covid suspected students at Maharani Cluster University appeared for annual exams wearing PPE kits. Later, the BBMP reported to the university that all four students tested negative for Covid-19

Covid suspected students at Maharani Cluster University appeared for annual exams wearing PPE kits. Later, the BBMP reported to the university that all four students tested negative for Covid-19

Covid positive students after wrote an exam drop the answer sheets in a plastic cover at the Maharani College in Bengaluru on Friday. Photo by Janardhan BK

Schools, colleges and community hostels are turning out to be new Covid clusters in Bengaluru. A day after an MBA student from Maharani Cluster University, who was living at a community hostel in Malleswaram, tested positive for Covid-19, the university authorities asked students at the university hostel to vacate the premises.

In the meantime, in a big relief to the university, four students who took an examination on Friday wearing PPE kits tested negative for Covid-19. The university had made separate arrangements for the four girls to take the exams. They were ferried to the exam centre in an ambulance. “BBMP officials reported to us that these girls’ reports have come back negative,” said Prof Gomathi Devi L, Vice-Chancellor, Maharani Cluster University.

She clarified that the university campus had not been sealed by the BBMP. "The BBMP hasn’t told us anything about sealing the university. In fact, we had exams for final-year students. We have been closed since Friday for study holidays," Prof Devi said.

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Keeping in mind the lack of space to follow social distancing, the university asked its hostel students from neighbouring districts to vacate the premises as the university shut for study holidays. The examinations are scheduled for the first week of April.

Students can come back later for the exams. “We are having exams for the final-year courses. So, we have asked other students to vacate the hostel until the exams start and go back to their hometowns. They can return for the examination in April,” the vice-chancellor told DH.

A senior official at the university said that only four students could be accommodated in a room and that students from other states had been asked to stayed back.