VIJAYAPURA/BAGALKOT: It is rightly said there is no age limit to when it comes to education and it is never too late to go back to college. An example to the saying, this 76-year-old man appeared for an exam for his fourth post-graduate degree, affiliated to Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). Clad in a pink jubba and white dhoti with a patga on his head, Ningayya Wadeyar, a resident of Kelur village in Ilkal, is appearing for MA in Sociology examinations for the academic year 2018-19.
He took admission with IGNOU in 2017 as an external student of the open university. He wrote his first paper earlier this month at BLDE Educational Institution. He will be writing his last paper on December 26.He sat for three hours in the examination centre with other students, most of them way younger than him. He chose to write exams in English medium though he studied in Kannada Medium during his school days.
Interestingly, he is capable of writing with both his hands. He was right-handed earlier but as his right had lost strength due to age-related issues a few years ago, he has been practising with his left hand and writes without any hassles.
Ningayya is a former employee of the Department of Health and Family Welfare. He worked as a clerk for 33 years and started receiving a pension in 2000. In 1967, he got his BA degree as a regular student. After 29 years, In 1996, he took admission as an external student for MA in Kannada at Karnataka University, Dharwad (KUD) and passed the exam successfully after a gap of almost 15 years, he got admission for MA English.