20 December 2021 08:46 am Views - 11249
There was drama at the graduation ceremony of the Colombo University when a number of students showed their displeasure at the appointment of the Venerable Muruththettuwe Ananda Thera as the Chancellor of the Colombo University.
The Faculty of Management and Finance Teacher's Association (FMFTA) had earlier announced it will boycott the graduation ceremony as a mark of protest.
Several students accepted their certificates from the Venerable Muruththettuwe Ananda Thera during the ceremony which was held physically and was also streamed online.
However, a group of students who had attended the ceremony refused to accept their degree certificates from the monk as a mark of protest. They got on stage when their names were read but walked past the new Chancellor without accepting the certificates from him.
At least one student was seen confronting the monk on stage before he was called to a side by a professor.
Another student brought his own degree certificate on stage and posed for a photograph with a teacher without accepting the certificate from the Chancellor.
“As an act of expressing our continued displeasure on the aforementioned appointment, the members of the FMFTA have unanimously decided to refrain from participating in the ceremonial Graduation 2019 which will take place from December 17 to 19 with the participation of the newly appointed Chancellor,” FMFTA had said in a statement earlier.
FMFTA said it objected to the appointment of the Venerable Muruththettuwe Ananda Thera for various reasons but did not specify the reasons.
Venerable Muruththettuwe Ananda Thera was appointed to the post by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa recently. (EASWARAN RUTNAM)