THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It’s not often that a newly established university gets a former vice-chancellor as a student and that too in its inaugural batch. The Sree Narayana Guru Open University (SNGOU) earned that rare distinction as former Kerala University vice-chancellor, public health expert and ex-member of the state planning board Dr B Ekbal joined the varsity’s MA Malayalam course offered in distance learning mode.
Seventy-five-year-old Ekbal, a former neurosurgeon, had been nursing his passion to study Malayalam literature for the past many decades.
He arrived at SNGOU headquarters on Thursday and handed over documents to varsity Pro Vice Chancellor S V Sudheer as part of the enrolment formalities.
“I had enrolled in a number of online courses offered by foreign universities in virology and public health after my retirement. But pursuing masters in Malayalam is special as I was brought up in a family that had a close affinity towards Malayalam language and literature,” Ekbal told TNIE.
Ekbal’s late brother B M Hussain was a faculty in Malayalam at the Kerala University’s School of Distance Education. His niece Vineetha, who is a secondary school teacher, also did her masters in Malayalam. Ekbal said Malayalam writers Kavumbai Balakrishnan and P K Rajasekharan gave him the encouragement to take up the course.
So what drives Ekbal to pursue his academic pursuits relentlessly when others of his age choose to lead a quiet, retired life? “For me, life is a continuous learning experience. We should always keep ourselves updated of something new. There is so much in the world to study,” said Ekbal, who has authored over two dozen books.
Kollam-headquartered university, where Ekbal has enrolled as a student recently, obtained the UGC’s permission to offer a total of seven programmes this year. These include MA in English and Malayalam and BA in Malayalam, English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Arabic. SNGOU programmes offer learning in blended mode that is followed by leading international universities. In addition to direct classes, virtual classes are also offered and study material will be provided to students also in e-content mode.
Ekbal suggested that there should not be a bar on pursuing more than one course simultaneously in distance learning mode. “If one has the time and inclination, then why not?,” asked Ekbal, who also has plans to pursue masters in English and Economics as well. The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) Thiruvananthapuram centre has seen a large number of both serving and retired IAS and IPS officers enrolling for its various programmes.