Kite to Patang: MU software changes student’s surname
If you are a University of Mumbai student with a surname such as ‘More’, ‘Pant’ or ‘Kale’, you may be in for a surprise when you receive your degree certificate.
The Devanagari script on a degree certificate issued by the University of Mumbai (MU) to a Bachelor of Mass Media (BMM) graduate Nikita Kite from Ramnarain Ruia College at Matunga bears the literal Marathi translation of her surname, instead of her actual surname. While the English script correctly displays the student’s surname as Kite (pronounced kee-tay), the Devanagari script has ‘Patang’ (kite in Marathi) in its place.
According to the university, the reason for the error is the software that generates degree certificates. “The software identifies the words which find an entry in the dictionary and translates them into Marathi,” said Deepak Wasave, the officiating controller of the examination.
Instead of resolving the bug, the university has a way of overcoming the problem. “We manually verify every certificate before issuing it, but somehow missed the error,” said Wasave.
Despite the university’s insistence to the contrary, it’s likely that there have been more such mishaps. Suhas Pednekar, principal of Ramnarain Ruia College, said, “The only error in the certificates of two of our graduating students is that their names have been misspelt, changing their meaning,” he said. Also, the university said that it has issued a fresh certificate to Kite.