Tribhuvan University Published a Research Journal on the Effects of COVID-19:
Tribhuvan University has published a research journal on the effects of COVID-19 on various sectors of health, education, economy, and society. Minister for Education, Science and Technology, and Tribhuvan University Vice-Chancellor Giriraj Mani Pokharel released the journal through online technology at a press release held immediately after the TU meeting. The journal, published by the TU Research Center, contains research material on Covid-19.
Tribhuvan University has played a leading role in the field of education and public health in the complex situation of Covid-19 infection. In the face of global complexities, the university has played a leading role in making teaching-learning technology-friendly by using its expertise in the fields of education and health to implement health-related research, healthcare, expert counseling, and the implementation of electronic media. Prof. Dr. Dharmakanta Banskota, Vice-Chancellor of Tribhuvan University, in an official letter to the government, informed that the physical assets, equipment and expert manpower of the university could be used for anti-COVID-19 purposes.
As the transmission of Covid-19 spread, Tribhuvan University immediately decided to use its affiliated campuses as quarantine and isolation centers. Similarly, under the special initiative of TU, PCR machines were installed at Teaching Hospitals Maharajgunj, Kirtipur, and Surkhet, and health check-ups were also conducted. In coordination and cooperation with the Government of Nepal, the initiative has also played an important role in providing services as a COVID hospital with ICU by evacuating the bone and nose, ear, and throat wards of the TRI Teaching Hospital.
In the fight against Covid-19, the health workers and staff of Tribhuvan University have been able to provide services at the forefront. About two hundred health workers are still active in the health service despite being infected themselves. In addition, health experts of the university are playing a leading role in the construction and expansion of Covid-19 laboratories across the country and are contributing to making the country safe from the risk of COVID, said TU.
Tribhuvan University has adopted an alternative method of teaching and learning to keep itself afloat even in the challenging circumstances of the COVID transition. Teaching and learning have been started by immediately providing 175 free zoom technology licenses in collaboration with an organization called NREN to manage online classes by creating conditions for taking classes from home using social distance. Learning from the significant achievements of the internationalization of education, TU has taken 500,000 licenses from the Microsoft team and made the classroom more organized by sending emails to teachers, staff, and students.
A Center for Information Technology Innovation has been established at the central level to make policy decisions to move the teaching-learning process through modern technology and to extend the access of information technology to all campuses and agencies. The work of creating subdomains of more than 130 bodies to manage all the bodies of the university in one domain has been successful. In order to make the teachers and staff of the university technology-friendly and involve them in the electronic medium, training has been provided to 5,000 teachers and more than 500 staff to conduct online classes.
Work has started to connect all the students through the official email provided by Tribhuvan University regarding all the educational, administrative, and research activities of Tribhuvan University. Work is underway to automate the internal administrative activities of the university through Office Automated Software. The first installment of the amount received on the initiative of the University Grants Commission has been made available to all the educational institutions to expand the access of technology to all the institutions of the university.
In order to maintain the physical distance due to the infection of Covid-19 and implement the code of conduct issued by the Government of Nepal on health, the online materials in the central library of Tribhuvan University can be used by the students, teachers, and staff of the university using official email.
An agreement has been reached between the Nepal Health Research Council and Tribhuvan University to conduct research on COVID and other health-related issues. A joint initiative of the School of Management and the Ministry of Labor and Employment has conducted research on the effectiveness and feasibility of the Prime Minister's Self-Employment Program (PMEP). A joint initiative of the Central Department of Economics and the Policy Research Institute has conducted research on the economic impact of COVID-19. COVID Special Journal has been published by TU Research Center. The Research Center for Applied Science and Technology (RECAST) has published the "Astha Journal" as a COVID special journal.
In addition to the training provided to university faculty and staff, the faculty of humanities and social sciences, crisis management program, UNDP, and the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration have also provided training on leadership and decision-making capacity to 80 local body heads and deputy's heads in times of crisis.
