BENGALURU: Among the 73 gold medalists who were honoured at the 5th annual convocation at Dr Manmohan Singh Bengaluru City University (BCU) was Syed Rizwan (22), a visually impaired student from Acharya Patashala College of Arts and Science affiliated to the varsity.
Rizwan received a gold medal for scoring 84% in BA (Music). He said, “The entire credit goes to the faculty of my college. It was because of their efforts that I earned a degree along with a gold medal. I aspire to be in the Indian Administrative Service and at the same time, achieve excellence in music.”
“I faced a lot of challenges while learning music – especially while learning the swaras. However, I overcame the challenges with the help of my teachers and technology. Our college provides us with Braille and PDF notes, audio notes and much more. All these were given to me for free. My father and elder brother passed away recently due to health issues. My mother is a daily wage labourer and I have already started working full time as a telecaller with Samarthanam Trust for the Blind.”
Another gold medalist is Asma A, whose father is an electrician and mother is a homemaker. A first-generation college goer in her family, she bagged the first rank in MA (Economics). What made her stand out is that she has studied in government schools and colleges throughout her academics.
Asma said, “I studied BA at BBMP first grade college in Frazer town, and until Class 10, I studied in Government Kannada Higher Primary School at Pottery Town. I am the first-generation college goer in my family. I aspire to become a police officer and have started preparing for the competitive exams.”
MS Sanjana, another student whose father runs an electrical repair shop and mother is a homemaker, received two gold medals. She scored the highest marks in inorganic chemistry in MSc. Sanjana was honoured with the prestigious Dr EG Leelamani Gold Medal and Prof NM Nanje Gowda Gold Medal.
Another student, Sneha T, not only earned the first rank in her MSc in chemistry but also won four gold medals for her outstanding academic achievements. Similarly, Abhishek Sriram, a BCom student from Sheshadripuram Institute of Commerce and Management also received three gold medals. In all, 37,393 students -21,912 girls and 15,458 boys with degree and rank certificates.
On the occasion, Governor and Chancellor Thawarchand Gehlot, Vice Chancellor Ramesh B, Registrar Naveen Joseph and DRDO Director General Dr Binay Kumar Das also awarded honorary doctorate to six eminent personalities. They included cricketer and president of Karnataka State Cricket Association BK Venkatesh Prasad (Sports), Dr. K.Govindaraj (Sports administration), Arjun Janya (Music), Dr M Mohan Alva (Educationist), TK Narayanappa (Educationist), and Bava Mohammed Farookh (industrialist).