Institution flooded with calls from more students desperate to continue studies

Mysore/Mysuru: The bridge course offered by JSS Medical College for Indian medical students, who came back home from Ukraine due to war with Russia and those who could not go back to China owing to COVID-19 outbreak, has received an overwhelming response.

All the 500 seats announced by the institution have been taken and 11 more have been added, taking the total to 511. The course will begin from May 11.

“Admissions have closed but we are getting continuous calls from students and parents who want to take up the bridge course but we are unable to accommodate them. In fact we can provide quality teaching for 511 students so that they can continue their disrupted studies,” Dr. D. Sunil Kumar, Associate Professor of Community Medicine, JSS Medical College, told Star of Mysore this morning. “We are not assigning separate teaching faculty for them, but we are using the existing faculty to offer the bridge course,” he added. Interestingly, apart from Karnataka, students from Delhi, Mumbai, Gujarat and other places have also evinced interest in the bridge course and have sought admission.

Yesterday, at a press conference, Suttur Seer Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Swamiji said that of the 511 students admitted to the bridge course, 321 are from Karnataka. The enrolled students will be trained depending on which semester or year they were pursuing the medical course in China or Ukraine.

 “Both theory and practical classes will be conducted and clinical observation will be provided along with skill training using skill lab and virtual case scenario,” the Swamiji said.

All laboratory facilities will be provided free of cost. However, during practicals, the bridge course students can only observe the patients as they would not be authorised to examine them or administer treatment as per the prevailing norms of medical education, he added.

Though no fee will be charged for students, they should make their own arrangements for boarding and lodging. This programme is offered as purely transient academic support for students who are in distress.

According to Dr. B. Suresh, Pro-Chancellor, JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research (JSS AHER), the bridge course will be held in four batches and classes will be tailor-made after understanding their courses through course mapping. Teaching will be based on relevance of the curriculum taught at their respective institutions, he said.

The duration of the course would vary from four to eight weeks. “After completion of the bridge course, students will be given certificates that will mention the studied subjects along with individual assessment of  Professors. We are doing this just to ensure that there is continuity in studies. Students cannot stake any legal claims with the certificates,” Dr. Suresh added.

Vice Chancellor of JSS AHER Dr. Surinder Singh said that after brainstorming, the course has been designed in such a way that it would bridge the gap between knowledge and skill that has occurred due to unforeseen circumstances.  “The gap is created due to the lack of contact with teachers and access to laboratories. However, the course will not cover the subjects which are currently being taught online to prevent overlapping or duplication,” he added.

JSS AHER Registrar Dr. B. Manjunatha and JSS Medical College Principal Dr. H. Basavanna Gowdappa were present at the press conference.