Media Release

Mangaluru, May 3: Expert Group of Institutions in view of the recent events and rumours issued a clarification via a press release.

"As per the guidelines issued by the Government of Karnataka on April 21, we had completely stopped all classes and academic activities in our college from April 22 onwards. When parents came to the campus to pick up their children, we have allowed the students to go with them. About 1,500 students had already left the campus with their parents before the lockdown. Once the lockdown came into effect and based on the government’s guidelines to restrict all non-essential movement/travel of people, we had communicated to the parents not to come to the campus to pick up their wards. The Pre-University Board as well as the Honourable Minister for Primary and Secondary Education had also issued guidelines to retain residential college students in the hostels in view of the upcoming exams," the press release stated.

"In spite of this, some parents violated the lockdown rules and came to the campus to pick up their children without prior intimation. In order to comply with the lockdown guidelines, we did not allow them inside the campus. When a group of about 20-30 parents started using foul language and created a ruckus outside the gate, we called the police to intervene. Unfortunately, an FIR was filed against the institution for allegedly creating a situation for parents to gather and allegedly holding classes in the institution," Expert stated.

The press release further maintained that the Institution did not hold classes or academic activities since April 22 and therefore the allegation is baseless. The Institution clarified that the students were involved in self-study in their hostels as they felt that the campus provided a safer and serene environment to face the upcoming board exams. "We had also repeatedly sent emails to parents not to travel to the campus during the lockdown as we are committed to following the government guidelines. After much pressure from the parents and based on the directives of the district administration, we decided to allow the students of the parents who had come to the campus to go home. Since then, we have not restricted any students from going home on request from their parents. As of now, not a single student on the campus is Covid positive. Five students have been sent to the hospital for RT-PCR tests. In case any student is found positive, we have protocols in place to isolate them and take care of their health. Irrespective of this care taken by us any parent still wishing to pick up their ward is free to do so even now, and we are committed to following all the rules and guidelines of the government as always," Expert said.