As the Covid -19 outbreak has taken a toll on education sector, the virtual internship has become a new reality.

Several students of Indian Institute of Technology, Patna (IIT-P), who had bagged summer internships in metro cities and foreign countries are now settling down with work-from-home kind of internship after the recruiters have modified their agreements due to the global lockdown.

Training and placement officer of IIT-P Kripa Shankar said, “No doubt the lockdown has affected the summer internship this year adversely. But all has not been lost completely. Thanks to the virtual management, the hi-tech companies are keeping the doors of internship and job offers running.”

Two IIT-P students have got internship offer in London and France-based organisations. Few others have got internships at Google office in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. However, several students were trying at Japan-based institutes but the process stopped midway.

Shweta Kumari, a first-year student of Patna Women’s College, said, “My summer internship is scheduled in June. I have applied for work-from-home internship as it carries weightage in the yearly assessment. I am waiting for the confirmation letter from recruiter.”

Meanwhile, the Development Management Institute (DMI) is also in talks with several companies for online internship.

DMI dean Niraj Kumar said that the institute was planning to switch for a digital-mode internship.

Kumar said the virtual internship is not same as practical experience of office training but considering the exceptional situation, it is judicious to utilise time.

Two students of Central University of South Bihar (CUSB) have been selected by Indian National Science Academy (INSA) for summer research fellowship scheduled in June-July.

Aashish Prakash and Awanish Pathak, both pursuing masters in science, have bagged internships at the CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, West Bengal and Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Science,Uttarakhand respectively.

CUSB’s public relation officer Muddasir Alam said, “Fate of their fellowship is tied with lockdown. In case the situation doesn’t go back to normal, students will continue with remote internship.”