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At 64, Mumbai resident clears BA in Economics, Sociology
Das, who cleared his BA exam in Economics and Sociology from the Institute of Distance and Open Learning (IDOL), went back to academics nearly 36 years after a failed attempt at completing his graduation.
Nearly half a decade after he passed his senior secondary certificate (SSC) exam, 64-year-old Harish Das, a retired advertising professional from the city cleared his final-year Bachelor of Arts (BA) examination from the University of Mumbai (MU) recently.
Das, who cleared his BA exam in Economics and Sociology from the Institute of Distance and Open Learning (IDOL), went back to academics nearly 36 years after a failed attempt at completing his graduation.
“I passed my SSC inter exam as it was called back then in 1972 but could not continue my education due to the circumstances at home. For the next 14 years or so, I continued doing odd jobs until I finally came across a good Samaritan who helped me get a job as a clerk with an advertising firm. In between, I enrolled for BA through IDOL and completed two years but couldn’t complete the third due to my job. Despite not having a graduate degree, through my work and sincerity, I could rise as an advertising consultant and finally retired from my job with an ad agency in 2015,” he said.
It was after he retired that Das decided to give himself another chance at academics. “All these years, not having a graduate degree had taken a toll on my self-esteem as wherever I went, people remarked, ‘oh you are not a graduate?’ Even in my professional career, I did not get promotions because I did not have a graduation degree. I was motivated to ace the exam some time or the other,” the Goregaon resident added.
Das then enrolled for the course in 2019 and appeared for the examination in October this year, in the online mode due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown. He said he studied on his own with no tutor or coaching as such.
“I only used the university notes and my experience, and applied a lot of general knowledge that I had gained over the years while writing my papers,” Das said.
As the university declared its results recently, he was elated to find out that he had passed with 42%. “Some said the score is less, but for me, it was a big achievement to do something that I could not do all these years,” he added.
Das’s 28-year-old son Tarun, who works as a media director with an ad agency, said that he was proud of his father. “I was also sceptical when he said he wanted to go back to studies. We all know how difficult it is to study when you have professional commitments. But he was determined, and he studied until 2-,3am, while I was working to ensure that he does well in the exam. We are very happy for him,” he added.
In the coming days, Das plans to pursue his MA from the university and is determined to work hard. “I know that a degree is not necessarily a certificate of knowledge but, I want to study and be able to say that I have learnt things formally and also teach others to do the same,” he said.
