No convocation gowns, only ‘cultural attire’ for university students in Uttarakhand!

Uttarakhand govt will introduce a cultural attire in place of convocation gowns. A cap that reflects the tradition of Uttarakhand will also be worn during the ceremony

By: News Desk |
June 14, 2017 9:20 am

It might soon be that students in Uttarakhand will no longer be able to don convocation gowns as the state government is mulling to introduce a ‘cultural attire’ for the ceremony. The Uttarakhand Higher Education Minister Dhan Singh Rawat on Tuesday said that for the upcoming convocation ceremony at the Sri Dev Suman Uttarakhand University in Tehri, Garhwal, “we will introduce a cultural attire in place of the gowns. A cap that reflects the tradition of Uttarakhand will also be worn during the ceremony.”

The minister also said that from the batch of 2018, gowns will be replaced with the new “cultural attire”. Not just any dress, the state government has approached the National Institute of Fashion Technology to design a convocation dress which is reflective of the “culture of Uttarakhand and of the country”.

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Preempting objections that the University Grants Commission or the Centre’s Higher Education Department may raise, the minister said that the state government will address the issues accordingly.

His statement comes soon after Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Rawat said that he will not wear the traditional convocation robe at Dehradun-based University of Petroleum and Energy Studies’ convocation. The CM had then said there should be a “purely Indian attire” that must be made for convocation ceremonies.

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The decision comes close on heels after the prestigious IIT Kanpur had directed its students to don ethnic attire like kurtas, pyjamas and churidaars during their convocation ceremony in an attempt to shed away the “colonial tradition”.

Nearly 1,600 students of graduate and post-graduate levels will receive their degrees at the IIT-K convocation ceremony which will be held on June 15 and 16. IIT-K Director, Professor Indranil Manna, had said that it will be for the first time that the students will get their degrees not in the British-time gowns and headgear but in kurta pyjamas (boys) and kurta-churidaars (girls).

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