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Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (DeKUT) has announced it will hold a virtual graduation ceremony amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Vice-Chancellor Prof. Ndirangu Kioni in a statement said the university’s senate made the decision after the government banned all social gatherings to avert the spread of Covid-19.
“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. This will ensure that graduands will be released to take advantage of any employment or scholarship opportunity that may come up in the near future,” said Prof. Kioni.
A total of 1,777 students are set to graduate in the virtual ceremony slated for May 8th, 2020. DeKUT will become Kenya’s first institution of higher learning to hold online graduation.
"In these uncertain times, it is hard to predict when the country will go back to normalcy so that traditional graduation can be held...our graduands who worked hard to complete their studies should not suffer a delay," said Prof Kioni.
"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.
The university said graduands will receive their certificates two weeks after the ceremony, which will be the institution’s 9th graduation.
Prof. Kioni indicated that the university will later hold a special ceremony for the graduating class after the pandemic to celebrate their academic achievement.
Through DeKUT’s Facebook page, some students protested the decision, saying the senate did not ask for their views before making the move.
“DeKUT really? Some of these graduands are community sent individuals. How do they even start by explaining virtual graduation! Working tirelessly for 4-5 years to be on that graduation gown only to meet with this kind of disgrace, no. Kindly revisit this and give us a humble time to protect against Covid-19. We are not going anywhere with the certificates at the moment, even raising the graduation fee at the moment is a hilly nightmare to some of us. Please help the poor comrade by postponing the graduation,” said Ephantus Muriungi.