Tabassum Maisha Mona:

Covid-19 pandemic is an unpredictable situation which has disrupted our whole education system. University students lost their regular pace of study, especially public university students who are caught in session jam for more than a year. So, this time, after a hiatus of more than one and a half years, when the public university authorities have taken the decision of re-opening of the classrooms and residential halls, it is being appreciated by the educationists, students and guardians, and they are viewing it will bring a sigh of relief for many students and their parents. Beyond all those questions if we have had proper and healthy university dorm facilities, the re-opening process provides an opportunity to strengthen existing education ambiance, health measures, disaster management, and at the same time make them more accessible, inclusive, participatory and protective.

The primary benchmark for reopening of residential halls will be related to physical protection against the COVID-19 superspreading. It must be simultaneously inclusive and accessible to all students. Maintaining necessary hygiene facilities, physical distancing, quality food, better teacher-guardian network and psychological counselling should be top priorities that the authorities of hall committee should be aware of. The following are some pointers on health, nutrition and WASH that the authorities of residential halls can exercise to keep their students and staff safe.

Mandatory Campus Sanitation:

Both University Campuses and their residential hall areas must run a thorough sanitization project of their grounds and work areas, inclusive of every room, library, canteen, nook and corners, washrooms etc., before the reopening and should continue this cleaning process after reopening too. The regular cleaning and disinfecting of the frequently touched surfaces like tables, chairs, doors, door handles , benches and the likes is a must. A roster for keeping up with the regular cleaning duties can be drawn up to ensure proper cleaning. University authorities should also take steps to restrict entry of outsiders in the university campuses to protect students from superspreading of Covid-19. Moreover, this is the Dengue season of the year. So, University authorities should keep their emphasis on this issue too.

Vaccination Program: Students need to have taken at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to access the residential facilities, said the university authorities. Dhaka university halls reopened on October 15, 2021 for all the residential staffers, Chittagong University on October 18, and Rajshahi University on October17. All the university halls are following the same rubrics for vaccination. The mandatory vaccination program needs to be affected for the residential hall staffers, canteen boys, and cleaners too. Providing vaccines for all who are related to the university dorms will result in a major beneficiary in achieving a coronavirus free environment.

Safety measures at the entry/exit points of residential halls & Initialization of hand sanitization provisions: 

Thermal scanning devices should be placed at the entrances of all residential halls to ensure additional safety. Whoever comes from outside would go through thermal scanning and also clean their hands before entering the hall. Those with the symptoms of the COVID-19 must be put into quarantine instantly.

Hand sanitizers or other modes of hand sanitization stipulations should be fixed at the entry points, and on every floor of residential halls, libraries, canteens and offices. It would be easier to fight coronavirus if everyone’s hands are properly sanitized. The hall authorities should give special attention to this issue by arranging proper supply of soap and water for cleaning hands.

Wearing Mask should be compulsory:

The novel Coronavirus mostly spreads through the droplets in the air. Wearing a mask for students, teachers, staff, canteen boys and all others concerned should be mandatory in the dorms, offices and canteens in order to prevent the mass spread of COVID-19. In every residential hall canteen, all canteen boys, managers and students should wear masks while serving and taking food. They shouldn’t crowd together at the canteen and maintain a minimum (3 feet) admissible distance from each other. Every tool of the canteen should be cleaned using disinfectant before and after its use. Teachers, students, staff members and others who are linked with university halls should follow the respiratory etiquettes in times of coughing and sneezing.

Accessible & better Toilet facilities:

Toilets of educational institutions and their residential halls are considered to be of great importance. Contagious diseases may spread quickly from here since a huge number of students use the same toilets. This is why it is necessary to keep an overall hygienic environment in such public toilets. University dorms were closed for more than one year and during the time most of the hall toilets were not cleaned and sanitized. Most toilets don’t have enough clean water, and soap supplies. Moreover, there aren’t enough women-friendly toilets in the campus so that girls can keep themselves clean during their menstruation. It’s high time environments of the toilets made more student friendly. University dorms need to make hygienic  toilets and sanitize them each day.

Quality food in the Canteen:

Hall authorities should be concerned about supplying healthy and nutritious food including serving fresh food. Meals should be served in small groups, avoiding overcrowding. Takeaway options should be available for students and staff. The staff in the canteen should also be masked and their used gloves need to be disposed in separate bins. The hall authorities should ensure that the food vendors and the canteen staffers wash their hands with soap and clean water before entering the university and hall premise. Crowding in dining halls, common rooms should be restricted. Moreover, while taking food students should wear their face masks before and after taking foods, and maintain minimum distances. Cleanliness is a must in dining areas.

Minimization of Gono Room Culture:

Although Dhaka University authorities have recently expressed their desire to get rid of “Gono” rooms at dormitories, first-year students have no choice other than cramming into such rooms again. Thirty to thirty-five students would have to sleep on the floor of each “Gono” room, space of which, in reality, can accommodate only eight. In this situation it’s really hard to maintain a social distance at all.  According to the 2019 DUCSU polls voter list there were 42 thousand students in Dhaka University and 40% of them reside in the residential halls along with many more students without authorization, though there isn’t enough room for taking these huge numbers of students in the halls. In Rajshahi university they have accommodation facilities only for 5 thousand students while the total number of students is 35 thousand. So, they too are in an accommodation crisis, many students having no other options are lodging in the “Gono Rooms”. Several teachers and common students said the “culture of Gono Room and Guest Room” continues to thrive because of political reasons, rather than any factual accommodation crisis. So, after the Pandemic it’s really a matter of concern as to how would the students maintain social distance after the universities reopen and protect themselves from the spreading of Covid virus.

Attendance & Routine Health Monitoring:

The daily and weekly attendance data might be really helpful to assess health risk situations.. Data driven from the economic status of the students, the student-teacher ratio, presence of the vulnerable groups including the female students in the halls should be monitored meticulously. A collective comparison can be drawn from the updated data with the previous one can help find out the exact number of dropout students during COVID-19. These steps will help authorities to draw proper guidelines and provide a much-needed help to the vulnerable students. Every hall authority should regularly monitor the health of its resident students, faculty members, and staff. Faculty members, staff and students should also be sensitized to self-monitor their health. All of them and students should submit self-disclosure, if any of their family members have been infected by or availed treatment for COVID-19.

Counselling & Guidance for mental health:

In order to reassure the students’ community to avoid any kind of stress, panic or trauma in the prevailing situation vis-a-vis their studies, health, and related issues, regular counselling and guidance is essential.  As universities were shut down for a long time, now is the time to revitalize the student-teacher-guardian network. Still students and guardians are stigmatized about the pandemic. Universities and Colleges should take steps for dealing with mental health, psychological rundowns and overall well-being of the residential hall students as they live there without their familial care. Setting up helplines for mental health, mental issues, and well-being of students in Universities/College dorms is essential and they need to be regularly monitored by Counsellors and other assigned faculty members.

Summing up:

Pandemic has transformed our normal life and distracted everything. Then again, this pandemic-pause has given us an overall and rare opportunity to review where we are now, and what kind of amendments we need in our lifestyle, and which areas we should re-prioritize. By applying lessons learned from Covid-19 pandemic, The Government, entire academic infrastructures and institutions communities can be better prepared for respiting risks of such future crises and strengthen the resilience of the education system.

(The writer is student of University of Dhaka)