Students not permitted to attend convocation due to ‘low’ grades

Mumbai: The convocation season has arrived with students coming out on social media to highlight the alleged ‘discrimination’ by some colleges, which are affiliated to the University of Mumbai. SIES College at Sion last week issued a notice which stated that only ‘O’ and ‘A’ grade students will be allowed to attend the ceremony and the rest of the graders like ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ and ‘E’ will have to collect their certificates from the college office.

During convocation, the colleges are supposed to felicitate students and provide them their passing certificate, which is acknowledged in the presence of their parents.

Sandesh Padale, a student, took the matter to Facebook mentioning it as an ‘inequality’. His post said, “The problem is not that they (students of B, C, D and E) aren’t allowed to be there. The problem is that the educational institutions which are supposed to treat students ‘equally’ are making segregations among students based on their mark sheets.” It further said, “This act is the reflection of the society which judges a student based on his or her mark sheet and tells them that there is nothing beyond this piece of paper.”

A similar incident occurred at V. G Vaze College, Mulund where the parents of students who scored ‘O’ grade were invited to the convocation ceremony. For the rest, their parents were asked not to attend in a circular.