SRINAGAR, India (AP) — India’s coronavirus surge that left 180,000 dead over two months has devastated its universities, with the loss of professors leaving many students feeling anxious without their knowledge, guidance and often, friendship. At AMU, one of India’s top universities that has produced generations of politicians, jurists and scholars, more than 50 professors and other staff have died during the pandemic. Lockdowns meant that colleagues and students could not share their grief, and many are wondering how to cope without their mentors. The pandemic has been equally devastating for government schoolteachers. More than 1,600 died in Uttar Pradesh state alone, where many are thought to have become infected after being forced to staff polling stations for an election over their objections.
