It's a moment of pride for the parents to attend the “convocation” ceremony of their children, but ironically the premier Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is faced with severe “space-crunch” for hosting its convocation and thus has asked students to be accompanied by only one of their parents.
However, the doctorate supervisors are allowed to accompany their students. The varsity first thought of holding the ceremony at its Convention Centre, however, in the backdrop of limited seating capacity the venue was shifted to the auditorium of All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), situated outside the JNU campus.
A student who will get his doctorate's degree, said that it's once in a lifetime both for the students and parents and if any one of the parents is not present on the occasion, simply kills the moment.
“Both mother and father want to witness the convocation ceremony of their child; it's a gross injustice to invite only one. It's no less than a matter of shame for the university like JNU. However, I am quite happy and looking forward to the convocation,” he said.
A JNU official informed that even the AICTE auditorium have not enough space and have a seating capacity of less than one thousand persons which makes it practically impossible to invite all.
“There are practical limitations and we cannot invite everybody,” he rued. “The students will turn up with only one of their parents and their Ph.D. supervisors will also accompany them,” he said.
About 428 students have registered themselves for the convocation and would be felicitated with their Ph.D. degrees. The JNU is set to host its second convocation on 8 August after a gap of almost 46 years as the last time it was held in year 1972. The first convocation landed into controversy after the radical speech by the then JNUSU president.
On the other hand, “discordant” JNU Student's Union (JNUSU) has called for the boycott of the convocation ceremony in which JNU Chancellor and NITI Aayog member V.K. Saraswat would be the Chief Guest.
Surprisingly, the hacks covering JNU, have been kept out of the historical ceremony that is taking place after a long gap of 46 years.