Robe costs Rs 1,000 with Rs 500 caution deposit
Medical graduates, who did not rent the convocation robe at the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical university on Wednesday, citing the rent was high. (Photo: DC )
Chennai: A group photo opportunity with everyone else in a convocation robe was not possible on the second day of the 26th convocation of the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University as the robe rent was raised to as high as Rs 1,000 with Rs 500 as caution deposit. To save money, the medicos kept using the same robe among a chain of friends.
Governor K.Rosaiah inaugurated the 26th convocation on Tuesday at the University of Madras. While some medical students out of 14,260 graduates were given certificates on the first day, the rest were asked to collect them from university campus the next day.
Although it is not mandatory to wear the convocation robe on the second day, as they did not receive the certificate on the stage officially, the students felt cheated when they approached the tailors, who came with robes to rent.
“We pay in lakhs as fees for the course and collecting this much even to receive our certificates is a shame,” said Madhavan (name changed), a medical student from Tiruvannamalai.
Be it an arts or engineering or medical university convocation, the robe would be rented out for around Rs 300 and Rs 100 would be refunded, he added. A B.Sc nursing graduate said that her batch bought only one set and exchanged it among 40 in their class while posing for the photograph. She also pointed out that they could not stay in the proud convocation robe for any length of time as they had to give it to their friends.
Sources said each of the three tailors on Wednesday brought only around 400 robes and each could rent out only 100 robes. Of the Rs 1,000 robe rent, tailors get only Rs 100 for each robe and the other Rs 900 had to be made over to the university fund, the sources added.
When contacted, VC Dr D Shantharam said, “Around 4,500 candidates applied to receive degrees in person, but only 3,000 could be accommodated at the University building.” He added,“I also received oral complaints about the robe rent, but the same amount was charged in the last few years too. However, it would be discussed with the finance committee before the next convocation.”
( Source : dc )
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