BENGALURU: While Dayananda Sagar University held its fourth convocation on Friday, faculty members of commerce and management sections were pleasantly surprised by the curious case of their class toppers. For the past three years, the toppers for BBM and BCom programmes have been Tibetan students.
Sonam Chouksey topped the BCom class and Tenzin Choezom the BBA class this year. Choezom, who is from the Tibetan settlement in Bylakuppe, says theirs is the first generation in the family to get proper education. “While a few from our parents’ generation got good education, most did not and are into agriculture. We’re the first generation to get the opportunity. The expectations are, therefore, high from us. We are lucky to get this chance and want to live up to it,” she said.
Choezom is now pursuing MBA in Vagamon, Kerala.
Shivani Peer, assistant professor at the university’s school of commerce and management, said these students have the passion to score well. “It may be their refugee status that is driving them to prove themselves. Many of them are not from great socio-economic backgrounds either. This makes them strive harder, take every task given to them seriously and work diligently. Many of them are all- rounders — in the past we had a model and a sportsman,” she said.
The school has had three to four Tibetans in every batch since 2015.
Chouksey is from a Tibetan settlement in Periyapatna and has studied in various parts of the country. “I have been in boarding since class 4. Initially, I wanted to improve my English and joined a school in Mysuru. Three years on, I realised I might be forgetting my culture and decided to join a school in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh. Being in boarding, I believe, made me much more responsible for my actions and helped me work hard,” said Chouksey, who now aspires to do an MBA from a foreign university.
Mix of physical, virtual
As many as 1,030 students received their UG, PG degrees and PhDs in the fields of engineering, health sciences, commerce and management, basic and applied sciences and arts and humanities at the convocation. While PhD scholars and rank-holders attended the convocation in person, other graduates received their degrees virtually.