Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) with the help of the Darjeeling district health department on Wednesday organised a COVID-19 vaccination camp for college students over 18 years of age at Siliguri College here.
More than 15,000 students will be benefitted from the initiative.
This comes amid possibilities of schools and colleges resuming offline classes in West Bengal after the Durga puja festival.
"The board is started vaccinating among college students over 18 years old in all educational institutes particularly in degree, technical colleges which come under the SMC area. But it will be done for all the 18 years old in the Darjeeling district soon at the University and B.ED college level," said Goutam Deb, former state minister and chairman of Board of Administrators (BOA), SMC.
The state government is taking necessary measures to re-open the educational institutes and planning to fix a particular date so it will be beneficial for the students, he added.
Speaking to ANI, Ritankar Basak, a college student from Siliguri College, said, "We are requesting the administration to resume the classes as early as possible. Online classes are not like offline, we are unable to access the lab facility which is one of the essential parts when it comes to practical work. We are requesting the administration to resume the classes as early as possible."
Last month, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the state government was considering reopening educational institutes that have been shut since March last year. However, a final call will be taken depending on the situation at that time, she added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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