Degree matter: Late better than never

A 102-year-old retired British lawyer was awarded an MA from Cambridge University in 2016, but that does not detract from the feat of 98-year-old Raj Kumar Vaishya of earning an MA in Economics this year from Nalanda Open University in Patna. After all, an MA degree from Cambridge does not require sitting for examinations; Vaishya, however, had to write several three-hour-long papers and achieved a very creditable second-class degree alongside students who were over six decades younger if not sharper. Both men, unsurprisingly, had the same sage advice: that it is never too late to learn. Indeed, very “mature” students are not that much of a rarity these days, and every once in a while, a nonagenarian grandmother clears high school or a centenarian grandfathernotches up yet another Master’s degree, giving an entirely different spin to the term “golden graduates”.

Vaishya’s dedication and perseverance should make Bihar’s diehard “history-cheaters” take heed. Of course, the fact that he embarked on his quest for an economics degree so late in life only to understand why India remains poor is significant. So far, Vaishya has not yet revealed whether the books he read for the degree have given him any clues or clarity on that issue but if they have, he should forthwith offer his insights to chief minister Nitish Kumar.