Bangalore University toppers wanted gold, not lucre

It was all gloom and no glitter at the 45th convocation of Bangalore University on Friday. The toppers were a dejected lot as their academic excellence was rewarded in cash and not with a gold medal.

Amrutha Venkatesh, a BSc student of MES College, who had won nine gold medals, sounded upset: “It was sad to receive a cash prize. They gave me Rs7,000 which I can spend in a minute. They could have given me at least one gold medal instead of nine, which I could have preserved for life.”

All the toppers echoed Amrutha’s opinion. Priyanka JB, a BCom student of Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College, who topped in seven subjects, said, “We were expecting to receive gold medals from the governor. If they were cash-strapped, they should have at least given us gold coated ones for keepsake.”

Varsity officials said that for some time now, toppers were being
awarded cash prizes as the donors’ contribution to confer medals was insufficient. An official said, “We had written to the donors requesting them to increase the amount. But most of them have not yet responded. replied. We will write to them one last time, and if there is no response we will remove the term ‘gold medal’ and confer only cash awards.”

While students and officials had their own tales of woes to share, second-timers like Smitha HN, an MSc Physics student, were least surprised.

Smitha, who won seven gold medals this year and had earlier topped in the BSc examinations, said, “I knew that we would be given cash awards as I had received a cheque even when I topped the BSc exams. Medals are more valuable, but we have to be satisfied with the money. However, we do preserve the certificates.”

Harish NS of University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering, who won seven gold medals in civil engineering, said that the university and government together could have sponsored at least one gold medal for each topper, instead of putting the blame on donors.

He said, “After all, an achiever should experience the pride of receiving a real gold medal.”

Meanwhile, the university’s decision to introduce online degree certificates received mixed reaction from students. While most of them appreciated the idea, some felt it could be misused unless a stringent procedure was in place. Hamsini M, an MCom student, said, “The online degree certificate idea is good. I had to wait for eight months before receiving my convocation certificate.”