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The Dedan Kimathi University of Technology has finally decided to bring in a solution to the question of students waiting to graduate this year. This will be done through a virtual ceremony set to be held in two weeks. DeKUT will then become the first Kenyan institution of higher learning to do so.
Due to the ban on public gatherings by the Kenyan government, many ceremonies have been cancelled or even pushed to next year with upcoming graduation ceremonies falling victim.
According to the university’s vice-chancellor, Prof. Ndirangu Kioni, “the students requested for the graduation ceremony because they wanted their certificates so that they can move on with their lives.”
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The online event will be held on May 8th seeing 1,777 students graduate in the university’s 9th ceremony.
“The University Senate resolved to hold virtual graduation in keeping with our student-centric approach. It was to ensure that we keep our promise to the students and graduands of DeKUT of timely completion of studies,” Prof. Ndirangu said.
“It will be a brief ceremony and will be attended by a maximum of 15 people spread out in our main hall. The deans will stay in their offices or wherever they will be and read out the names from there,” he said, adding that it will be streamed online.
The students will then have to watch the ceremony via the university’s Youtube, Facebook and Twitter pages.
The professor defended the schools’ resolve as a good way to make sure that students who have worked so hard for their respective certificates don’t get a delay.
“Our students in nursing and IT completed their studies last year but cannot secure employment for lack of the certificates yet their skills are needed during this period,” he added.
But it seems that some of the graduands are not for the idea of a virtual ceremony. The opposition comes mostly against the fee requirement for all the graduands who will have to part with between KES 3,100 for diplomas and KES 6,100 for PhD.
Through the #NoVirtualGraduation hashtag and WhatsApp groups, they questioned the rush to award certificates at a time when the pandemic has shut down the economy.
#NoVirtualGraduation if you only listened . Mbona mnatuharakisha and we clearly infuriated by the decision I mean in the end we are the ones to graduate. Don't give us three graduation nonsense that even is worse in making sense than virtual one just a divide and conquer method
— It's Njiru (@liyansmutembei) April 25, 2020
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