3 lakh felicitated at Delhi University’s 96th convocation

NEW DELHI: That there is no age for learning was proven at Delhi University’s 96th annual convocation on Monday where a record 3 lakh students were felicitated. Proving the adage to be true were a 63-year-old retired army officer who completed his PhD and a 48-year-old former India Meteorological Department scientist, who received a gold medal for MA Buddhist Studies.
While Captain Virender Singh was researching for his PhD from the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) in 2017, his daughter was studying for her master’s degree at Delhi School of Economics and his 34-year-old son was working with a private company.
“I took a voluntary retirement from defence in 1983 and then finished my masters at FMS. I was in the corporate sector for 10 years and for 27 years in the talent development field but felt the need to broaden my knowledge base and joined the PhD programme,” Singh told TOI. Singh chose to do his thesis on organisational pride and performance.
Similarly, 48-year-old Narotam Singh could not contain his excitement as he received the medal for topping the master’s programme at the department of Buddhist studies. “I left my job with the IMD as I wanted to study further. Now I have enrolled in a university in Mysore to study neuroscience,” said Narotam, who completed his masters in 2018. The 2019 topper from the same department was 32-year-old Ngyuen Thi Thanh Tuyen from Vietnam. “I am very excited to receive the award. Now I am now pursuing a diploma course in Sanskrit,” said Tuyen in her broken English and Hindi.
Chief guest Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, the minister for human resource and development, lauded the university for the maximum number of awardees being women and two students receiving five gold medals. In midst of congratulating the students, the university vice chancellor, Yogesh Tyagi made a strong pitch for an integrated campus without thoroughfare in tandem with the Master Plan of 2021. Tyagi also spoke of the Institution of Eminence (IoE) status and said there were certain apprehensions regarding IoE, which he was sure would be addressed soon.
The VC also called the appointment of 3,000 guest faculty as a remarkable step. However, executive council members raised objection to the statement.