UJ students boycott online classes scheduled to start Monday

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has announced it will start online classes on Monday, but students say they do not have the equipment needed to attend.

UJ announced on Thursday: “Term 2 will start on 20 April 2020, and all teaching and learning for the term will happen online.”

In a statement, the SRC has asked management to:

• Suspend all online activities during the duration of the lockdown to help with the distribution of learning resources such as devices, data and other study material.
• No assessments and submission of assignments and tests. The June/July winter recess to be cut short to at least one week to allow the second week to be used for supplementary exams or cancel the September one week recess to recover lost time.
• Students who wish to go back to residences to be allowed after the lockdown to use university facilities. The SRC further asked for no academic exclusions.

“As the interim SRC, we are committed to hold hands together with the management of the institution to ensure that we save the 2020 academic year and ensuring that students from disadvantaged backgrounds and the missing middle are not left out.”

In response, the university said: “We understand the challenge faced by our students and we are working on finding a solution.”

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