Sanjeev Roy, noted Erasmus Mundus scholar and founder of Roy Foundation, was the chief guest. Besides, former principal of Shivaji college, Dr Shashi Nijhawan, principals of several other colleges, members of governing bodies, teachers and around 300 students of the Shivaji College attended the event.
On 29thJune 2020, Shivaji College, one of Delhi’s most respected colleges, celebrated its 59th Annual Day virtually on Zoom due to Covid 19 pandemic and official social distancing guidelines.
The event started with the National Anthem. Acting Principal Dr. Shiv Kumar Sehdev inaugurated the event by lighting a lamp and welcomed all the guests. He spoke at length on the importance of adaptability with the changing times in the context of the current pandemic situation and congratulated all the toppers and award wining students for their sincerity, hard work and perseverance. College’s annual report was also released on this occasion.
The main highlight for this annual function remained the coveted ‘Student of the Year’ Award which was awarded to Vidya Shriwastva, Nishtha Sethi and Tushar Joshi from the Science, Commerce and Humanities streams respectively, for their impeccable academic and all round performance.
The chief guest for the event was noted Erasmus Mundus scholar and the founder of Roy Foundation, Sanjeev Roy who enthusiastically interacted with the students. In the manner of a motivational speaker, he brought everyone’s spirits up by urging the students to look at the pandemic not as a tragic event but also as an historic event with an opportunity for brainstorming innovative ideas and tapping the potential for immense transformation and ideas to recreate the present world a new. He emphasized on need of developing not just one’s IQ but also ‘AQ’ which he defined as ‘the ability to face and tackle adversity efficiently’. Referring to the current pandemic situation, he motivated the students to transform the adversity of the pandemic and this sense of historic rupture as an opportunity to change and reimagine the workings of the world as the world right now is highly malleable and desperately needs innovators and young leaders.
Distinguished alumnus Senior Advocate at the Delhi High Court, N. Hariharan was honored with the ‘Alumni of the Year award’. While delivering his speech, Mr. Hariharan went down the memory lane and recounted his college days 37 years ago when he was a student in Shivaji College. He marveled at the metamorphosis of Shivaji College from a small institute with limited means 37 years to the institute it has transformed into now, using the analogy of a seed transforming into a grand banyan tree. He gave the credit for such a transformation to the grit and hard work of its teachers. Addressing the students, he urged the students to inculcate integrity and honesty as young adults. Invoking a phrase from Mahabharat ‘Yatho dharma, tathojaya’,he motivated the students to follow their calling in life and do their duty with integrity and honesty.
The E-newsletter of the college placement cell was also released on this occasion. In keeping with the tradition of the annual day event, the names of all the extraordinary students were announced and awarded scholarships for obtaining highest marks in each course. In addition to awarding the promising students in academics, awards and prizes were also given to students excelling in the field of sports, politics and other extra curricular and co-curricular activities. Acknowledging the importance and valuable contribution of the non- teaching staff, a special ‘Employee of the Year’ award was given to Afroz Khan for his tireless and efficient work.
A glimpse of college’s year round active participation in and organization of curricular, extra curricular and co-curricular activities and events was showcased through vibrant power point presentations. College’s commitment towards shaping a just and gender sensitive world was reflected through the various events and activities organized throughout the year by college’s various organizations and societies like Women Development Cell, Equal Opportunity Cell, TEDx and SPADE to name a few.
