IIT Kanpur Sheds 'Colonial Tradition' Students To Don Kurta Pyjama And Churidaar At Convocation

In a bid to shed 'colonial traditions' IIT-Kanpur has instructed its students to don ethnic attire like kurta, pyjamas and churidaar during their convocation ceremony and ditch the ceremonial black robes and head gear.

Picture for representation

The convocation ceremony will be held on June 15 and 16 in which some 1,600 students of graduate and post graduate levels will receive their degrees from chairman of Tata Sons, Natarajan Chandrasekaran.

"For the first time, students will receive their degrees in the institute not in the British-time gowns and headgear but in kurta pyjamas (boys) and kurta-churidaar (girls) along with stoles in different colours to mark their specific courses," IIT-K Director, Professor Indranil Manna told PTI over the phone.

PTI

British-era ceremonial robes have been a moot point for a long time now. Back in the late APJ Abdul Kalam, then the President, had said that "the foreign inspired gown should go". Kalam suggested the indigenous dress featuring Lucknow's famous chikankari in its place, reports TOI.

In December last year, UP Governor Ram Naik called the black robes a "redundant British custom" and ditched the attire at the convocation of King George Medical University, Lucknow. Since then many universities have followed suit, IIT Kanpur being the newest to join the bandwagon.

At Lucknow's Dr Ram Manohar Lohiya Law University, students ditched the gowns to don safas and stoles at their convocation back in 2015.?

BCCL

Professor Indranil Manna added that students will be required to wear Indian clothes during all future convocations. According to reports, coinciding with the golden jubilee of the institute, the ceremony will also see professors donning golden coloured robes fully covering their suit.

They will also not be needed to wear black leather shoes and will be free to go in for Indian footwear in leather, Manna said.