Published 15:45 IST, September 23rd 2019
83-year-old man from Punjab graduates with a Master's in English
Sohan Singh Gill, an 83-year-old and a native of Hoshiarpur has completed his master's degree in English from Jalandhar recalling his vice principal's advice
Sohan Singh Gill, an 83-year-old man native of Hoshiarpur in Punjab completed his master's degree in English from a university in Jalandhar this month. Gill had completed his bachelor’s degree from Mahilpur in Hoshiarpur district decades ago and wanted to pursue post-graduation in English on the advice of his vice-principal then but was unable to pursue it as he got married in 1958 and had to leave for Kenya with his wife. In an interview to ANI, Gill said he also taught various subjects to children there while he was working in Kenya before he returned to India in 1991.
Sohan Singh's long-standing wish fulfilled
Remembering the vice principal’s advice, he decided to pursue Master's and started his preparation in 2018 for the course of MA in English and finally graduated from Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar this month.
"I hope there are enough employment opportunities for the youth in our country so that they do not have to leave India in search of jobs," he said to ANI.
A 98-year-old Masters in Economics
In another similar case that came to light in 2017, a 98-year-old Raj Kumar Vaishya cleared his Masters in Economics degree from Nalanda Open University (NOU) with 50 per cent marks. Vaishya was born in Uttar Pradesh in 1920 and graduated from Agra University in 1938. He had to quit further studies after completing his LLB in 1940 because of increasing family pressure to start earning. Vaishya rose to the level of General Manager at a firm in Koderma, Jharkhand and retired in 1980 after serving for over three decades.
He chose to study economics as he had developed a keen interest in understanding the Economics of the nation. China devaluing its currency had intrigued Vaishya and he also wanted to understand in depth about the problems of poverty and unemployment, and what could be possibly done to provide relief to people from inflation.
Prior to these incidents, the oldest known student was 84-year-old retired professor Ram Chandra Mishra Madhup, who registered himself for a PhD.
(With ANI inputs)
Updated 17:16 IST, September 23rd 2019