In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay has become the first IIT to take the decision of running its next semester completely online.

Scrapingall face-to-face lectures for the rest of the year, director Subhasis Chaudhuri said the institute would teach the next semester “purely in the online mode so that there is no compromise on the safety and well being of the students”.

“The COVID Pandemic has made us at IIT Bombay rethink the way we impart education to our students. To ensure that our students begin the academic year without further delay, we are planning on extensive online classes details of which will be informed to all students in due course of time,” he wrote in a Facebook post shared close to midnight.

“We do not want a single student to miss out the learning experience for the lack of money. We have estimated that we need about Rs 5 crores to help those needy students. Our alumni have committed a good amount of support, but that is not enough for all these needy students and I solicit through this message your donations, however small it may be,” Chaudhuri wrote in his Facebook post.

IIT Delhi is also likely to hold the coming semester completely online and might call students back to campus only in December. However, the institute has not made any official announcement yet.