Watch | US high school student denied diploma after she danced her heart out in graduation ceremony

A student in a Philadelphia high school graduation ceremony was denied her diploma after her quirky dance performance on stage resulted in laughter from the audience.

The student, identified as Hafsah Abdul-Rahman, belonged to the 2023 senior class at Philadelphia High School for Girls.

She was captured in a viral video as she awaited her turn to be called during the ceremony held last Friday. When her name was announced, she made her way across the stage towards the school's principal, spontaneously breaking into dance along the way.

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Watch | The moment when Abdul-Rahman was denied diploma

To the utter surprise of everyone, the principal — identified as Lisa Mesi – refused to present the girl with her diploma and instead instructed her to sit down.

According to a report in The Philadelphia Inquirer, the school officials had previously instructed students to inform their families that cheering or applause would not be permitted for individual students when their names were called.

However, Abdul-Rahman stated that an assistant principal had told the girls just before the ceremony that they could showcase their personal style while walking.

Despite this, when Abdul-Rahman briefly danced over to the principal, Mesi claimed that she had caused laughter in the crowd and, as a result, would not receive her diploma.

Abdul-Rahman's grandmother, who initially shared a video of the incident on Instagram, acknowledged that the graduates and attendees had been instructed to maintain silence."Everyone respected that," she wrote.

"But if someone didn't, how can you punish these young girls for something someone in the audience did?"

A video of the ceremony shared on Twitter stoked massive outrage.

"Appalling that she was not given her diploma," one wrote. "Outrageous behavior from the school."

"I can’t even make sense of this, she’s excited and she should be," another commented. "She did nothing wrong. I don’t understand this world today."

Others, meanwhile, fully supported the school, claiming the student "knew the rules" and flaunted them anyway.

"Lots of schools do this, and have done it for years!" one viewer wrote. "You have a short time to do the ceremony, and if there was a celebration after each child, you would be there all day. You can’t read the next name if there is [noise]. We have to stop making excuses for our kids."

Abdul-Rahman was not the only student whose diploma was withheld during the June 9 ceremony.

Social media videos alleged that at least two other teenagers were denied their diplomas, one for briefly pointing an index finger in the air and another for waving at attendees.

The School District of Philadelphia, to which Girls' High belongs, has expressed its disapproval of the school administration's actions.

Meanwhile, according to a spokesperson for the school district, Abdul-Rahman and the other girls eventually received their diplomas after the ceremony. But for Abdul-Rahman, the experience was marred by the incident and did not hold the same significance.

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