Jalandhar NIT students don ethnic wear for convocation

JALANDHAR: Joining the educational institutions replacing the British-era gowns and caps with traditional Indian attire, the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jalandhar, observed its 14th annual convocation ceremony with students donning Indian outfits.

Dignitaries award a degree to a student at the NIT's convocation ceremony in Jalandhar on Sunday. Tribune photo: Sarabjit Singh

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 7

Joining the educational institutions replacing the British-era gowns and caps with traditional Indian attire, the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jalandhar, observed its 14th annual convocation ceremony with students donning Indian outfits.

Institution Director Lalit K Awasti said they asked all men to wear white kurta pyjama and white sari or salwar suit to women. Even the faculty members were directed to follow the same dress code.

Angavastram of saffron, red, blue and green colours were also donned by students and professors (BTech: blue, MTech: red, PhD: green and professors: saffron). In the absence of caps, the students unfurled their angavastram after receiving the degrees.

Several students expressed dissatisfaction over wearing the new dress code as they wanted to get themselves clicked with robes and caps, while some appreciated the new attire. Earlier, other institutions such as Roorkee IIT, Mumbai IIT, Kanpur NIT and others have adopted the Indian dress code for their convocation ceremonies. Last year, Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar had urged varsities that instead of going for British-inspired clothes for their convocation they should go for traditional Indian clothes.

Awasti said, “Changing the dress code for the occasion was the independent decision of NIT, Jalandhar, as it will help promote Indian culture.” As many as 1,084 students received degrees by chief guest Dr Vinod K Paul, member of NITI Ayog.