New Delhi: The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the apex body for all technical institutions in the country, has come up with a plan to ensure students do not miss out on internship opportunities during the coronavirus lockdown.

The council has asked all institutions to make sure the students continue with their internship from home. Students who bagged internships with organisations that are allowing work from home should continue working there, said the AICTE.

In a circular sent to all institutions Saturday, the AICTE said the institutions should give challenging problems as internship assignments to the students, who can work on them at home.

“In order to positively engage students who are not able to get internships in current situation of lockdown, all colleges/ institutes should give challenging problems as internship to such students which can be worked upon by them from their respective homes,” read the AICTE circular, a copy of which was accessed by ThePrint.

The council has asked all its affiliated institutions to abide by the social distancing guidelines and other measures promulgated by the central and state governments.

“Institutes should instruct their students, not to take up any Internships outside the organisations which involves travel, contact with outsiders, etc. However, ongoing internships, where companies are allowing students to work from home, shall continue,” the circular added.

Further orders regarding internships once situation improves

The AICTE will issue further orders regarding compliance of its mandatory internship policy “once the situation improves”, the circular said.

Internships for students in technical institutions were made mandatory by the government in 2018.

Officials in the council said students and institutions can also use online options to get internships.

In 2017, the AICTE signed an MoU with Internshala, a portal founded by former IIT and NIT students that helps students get internships.

“Online portals will come in handy now when students are not able to go out and look for an internship. Apart from this, institutions have also been asked to give challenging problems to students that they can solve from home and consider the work done on that as an internship period,” an AICTE official told ThePrint.

The council could develop a programme, “or come up with a marketing pitch or something similar” in future, the official added.