KARACHI: Students holding top positions in their respective specialised disciplines at Karachi University resented on Wednesday the university decision to restrict distribution of gold medals at the forthcoming convocation only to those students who had acquired an overall first position in the department and the faculty.

The convocation is scheduled to be held next month.

Spealcing to Dawn, students at the KU`s chemistry department said that they were disappointed by the decision as they had been waiting for the big occasion for months.

`My dream to receive a gold medal at the convocation has been shattered. I wish the university administration provided us with an opportunity to celebrate this lifetime experience in the presence of our parents,` said a student on condition of anonymity.

According to students who stood first in specialised disciplines, teachers have told them that they would get their gold medals later at a separate ceremony at the dean office.

`Students have been told that the convocation ceremony tends to be too long and the chief guest and other officials usually don`t have the time to award gold medals to all students,` another position holder student said.

Students also raised concern over the convocation fee of Rs2,500 and said it was too high given the fact that the university had made no arrangements for any kind of refreshments and they had to arrange their academic dress from their own pocket.

According to sources, the university has been distributing sponsored gold medals (under a contract with the sponsoring party) at all levels for decades. At least two gold medals in the specialised disciplines of physical chemistry (Hanif Adamjee Gold Medal) and inorganic chemistry (Universal Chemical Industries Gold Medal), both at the master`s level, are mentioned in the Karachi University Code of 1972.According to sources, the practice had been to award gold medals at the department and faculty level as well as those instituted undera contract at the convocation.

But, for the past two years, medals (around 60 in number) in the specialized disciplines had been given later in a separate ceremony held after the convocation.

Threat to convocation Apart from the students` concern over the convocation, teachers have decided to use this time to pressure the administration to get their unpaid medical bills reimbursed.

The Karachi University Teachers` Society (Kuts) at its recent executive body meeting had warned the administration that if their unpaid medical bills were not reimbursed before the convocation, they would be forced to take an extreme action.

`These medical bills that haven`t been reimbursed for months amount to Rs4.5 million while the university intends to spend Rs6m on the convocation. Teachers are serious on the matter and we have told the vice chancellor about it, said Kuts president Dr Shakeel Faroogi, a senior teacher at the genetics department.

He supported students` demand for award of gold medals at the convocation and said that the university shouldn`t deprive them of happiness at this special occasion.

KU registrar Moazzam Ali Khan said that time constraints was the only reason behind limiting student number for award of gold medals.

Over 50pc of the total number of gold medals awarded at the convocation, he pointed out, were given by the university.

Regarding convocation fee concerns, he said that students should appreciate the fact that the tuition fee of the university was far lower than that of other public sector universities of the country.