The decked up "dikshant mandap" of Ranchi University, hosting the graduation ceremony of autonomous Marwari College, proved to be an apt venue for Assembly Speaker Dinesh Oraon to declare that academics and not politics was his first love.
"I am an educationist and not a politician by nature. Hence, it's my appeal to graduates to accept teachers' constructive criticism and follow their directives as you are entering into a new world," the two-time BJP MLA from Sisai told an august gathering of young graduates, their parents and academics as chief guest.
Oraon, an MA from Ranchi University who also served as lecturer at J.N. College, Dhurwa, said he felt proud to note that of the 28 gold medallists among those pursuing undergraduate, post-graduate and vocational courses, 21 were girls. "Hence, I appeal to vice chancellor R.K. Pandey to set up a new campus girls on priority," he said in his address.
Among other achievements of the college, which the Speaker highlighted, were the quality of education and job oriented courses provided to students of Marwari College. "The autonomous Marwari College is known for its commerce teaching which is considered to be one of the best in its class. It is unbelievable as the total strength of students is around 18,000 due to their interest in pursuing commerce as a subject," he said.
Vice chancellor Pandey, who was guest of honour, stressed that there was a lot more to education than merely learning mathematics and memorising formulas. "It is one of the important tools for imbibing moral values that enable people to grow. Students of Marwari College, whatever education and values you have gained, try to become respective citizens of the country," he said.
Earlier, Oraon lit the ceremonial lamp to start the day's proceedings.
Apart from Pandey, he was accompanied by several other dignitaries, including RU pro vice chancellor M. Raizzuddin, registrar A.K. Choudhary, Marwari College principal Ranjit Singh, former principal Javed Ahmed and former RU vice chancellor K.K. Nag.