mysuru like previous years the 101st convocation of the university of mysore uom witnessed the academic excellence of students from the disadvantaged sections of society the cynosure of all eyes on tuesday at the convocation event was latha hn a visually handicapped student who secured gold medal in ma kannada madalambike ts who secured 10 gold medals and four cash prizes lost her father three years ago and is from a remote village and a poor family she was supported by her sister who is a teacher to pursue higher educationlatha who is blind by birth is a ba and bed graduate she joined ma in kannada two years ago technology helped me a lot to learn the subjects i was typing on a computer using the nudi font now i have launched my own youtube channel nudi thorana where i post videos on preparing for competitive examinations i have uploaded 12 videos already she saida resident of handithavalli village near ravandur in periyapatna taluk lathas parents are daily wage workers my sister jayashri father nagaraju and mother radha supported my studies they never said no to anything i dreamed she saidat the time of covid19 crisis my friends and sister helped me in my studies they sent recorded notes which helped me a lot she saidmadalambike ts who secured 10 gold medals and four cash prizes is a resident of tammadahalla in chamarajanagar taluk she studied at the uom pg centre chamarajanagar since my childhood i have dreamed of pursuing an ma in kannada three years ago my father passed away he had wanted me to secure gold medals today i realised his dream my sister who is a teacher and my mother are my pillars of strength she saidchaitra narayan hegde who secured 20 gold medals and four cash prizes in msc chemistry hopes to pursue research at iisc bengaluru chaitra who hails from sirsi taluk in uttara kannada district pursued her bsc at yuvarajas college in the city i will pursue my phd and continue research she saidunemployment woesone of the challenges faced by the gold medal winners from humanities is finding a good job a gold medalist who did want to be named said she joined ma as she didnt get any job after pursuing a professional course even now i am searching for a job she saidas many as 29 852 students 9734 men and 20118 women were awarded degrees a majority of the gold medal winners and phd awardees attended the event with their family members however the number of foreign students was less this time as many were not able to attend the event due to the prevailing covid19 situation