VUT welcomes the essential service staff and the first identified groups of students back to Campus
VUT welcomes the essential service staff and the first identified groups of students back to Campus
Puleng Maphisa and Nontobeko Zondi
Students during the Residence induction in the Chapel
Due to COVID-19 regulations, The Vaal University of Technology (VUT) had to host induction for the identified returning students and staff members, from Wednesday, 17 to Friday, 19 June 2020 in the Chapel and Desmond Tutu Great Hall concurrently. The first cohort of about 800 students returned to their residences on Wednesday, 17 June 2020 after attending induction training facilitated by Ms Kediemetse Mokotsi, Director: Marketing & Public Relations and a member of the VUT COVID-19 task team.
Staff and Students had to go through the screening process before accessing VUT premises and thereafter attend an induction before proceeding to their residences or work stations. Ms Lebo Mogaladi, Biotechnology student said that she is happy to return back to campus. “it was very challenging to be home, more especially for work integrated (WIL) student like me, this is my final year and I am currently doing my WIL here on campus. I am happy to come back for I know I will be able to finish my academic year in time,” said Ms Mogaladi.
Screening of staff members when entering VUT premises
Some students had difficulty in accessing lessons on the VUT online platform, VUTELA which support distance learning. Mr Khotso Mokoena, a 3rd year Safety Management student is one such student who had no data to access VUTELA. “It is so good to come back to campus, I now feel safe after attending the induction. The main challenge of doing assignments at home was getting easily distracted while you still busy doing assignments,” said Mr Mokoena. He believes that being back at the residences will have a positive impact in his studies for there won’t be any load shedding that would affect the network and prevent him to access VUTELA. In total, 2018 Students had gone through the screening and induction training at the Vanderbijlpark residences and Science Park from 17 to 19 June 2020.
During these inductions, students were encouraged to keep social distancing, practice basic hygiene of washing hands regularly and always protecting themselves and others by wearing masks.