Nalanda Open University convocation: 5 jail inmates among 22,000 to get degrees

PATNA: Over 22,000 successful students of undergraduate and post graduate courses, including five inmates of Beur Central Jail, will receive degrees at the 11th convocation of Nalanda Open University (NOU) at S K Memorial Hall here on July 16.
NOU sources said acting Bihar governor Keshari Nath Tripathi, who is also the chancellor of universities in the state, would attend the function.Preparations for the convocation have started with the consent of the governor. Lalji Singh, an Indian scientist who has worked in the field of DNA fingerprinting technology, will be the chief guest at the function.
NOU vice-chancellor Ravindra Kumar Sinha said three Beur jail inmates have successfully completed PG and two UG courses. “While one inmate cleared MA in sociology, the other two did MA in geography and masters of journalism and mass communication from the prison in 2016. Of the 22,000 candidates, 28 will get gold medals in different streams,” he said.
Registrar of the university S P Sinha said Beur jail superintendent Rupak Kumar was informed through a letter that five jail inmates had cleared post-graduate and graduate examinations. “They have to go through necessary formalities to bring the inmates to the convocation venue and take them back after the event. We are still not sure whether the jail inmates will attend the function or not,” he said, adding at least 10 jail inmates have cleared their exams from NOU in various streams in last three years.
“We don’t expect the presence of more than 2,500 candidates at the convocation as most of them live outside the state and work in private companies,” Sinha said.
Gold medallists of the faculty of humanities include Ashwini Kumar Mishra (Hindi), Shatrughan Kumar (Maghi), Keshav Kumar Jha (Maithali), Ashok Kumar (public administration), Rabia Khatoon (rural development), Rajesh Kumar Sharma (Bhojpuri), Archana Shand (education), Ramawatar Raman (Sanskrit), Ataul Mustafa (Urdu), Seema Kumari (library and information science) and Farhana Tabassum (mass communication).
PG toppers of the social science faculty are Sandeepika Kumari (economics), Shubhanjali Sinha and Raj Sinha (geography), Md Firoz (history), Rupa Sinha (political science), Akansha Singh (psychology) and Ravi Shankar Ravi (sociology).
Sonam Rai (physics), Pooja Kumari (chemistry), Sanjeev Kumar Ambasta (zoology), Moni (botany), Beauty Kumari (mathematics), Heena Firdous (MCA) and Zainab Khaleel (environmental science) are the toppers of science faculty.
In commerce, the topper is Ashutosh Patel while Beauty Kumari and Puja Singh are the best students at PG level.