One is never too old learn and this has been literally proved by Shafi Vikraman, a resident of Thiruvananthpuram city in Kerala. Despite of being in his mid-fifties, he pursued his desire for knowledge and earned over 145 certificates from prestigious universities from 16 countries which included Ivy League Colleges. With this, he probably beat Dr. Shrikant Jichkar – the most qualified man in India who obtained 20 degrees after appearing for 42 University examinations.
While many were couped up in their homes during the lockdown in Kerala, it came as a blessing in disguise for Shafi. He utilized the time by enrolling in diverse virtual courses offered by Coursera, a United States (US)-based open online course provider and World Health Organisation’s online learning portal. As per reports, most of Shafi’s courses dealt with the medical sector, but he also took up miscellaneous subjects such as forensics, food and beverage management, psychology, blockchain, finance, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, robotics, etc.
“I preferred to do courses in marketing but ended up with a lot of medical courses. A university like Yale is a dream for us, and now I have certifications from them. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to have studied all these subjects”, Shafi told a media outlet.
He started attending courses in July, which ranged from two days to two months. Initially, he had difficulties because of the timing caused by the difference in time zones (between 6 pm to 4 am). He attended the classes only after his work. Later, he quit his job as a deputy general manager with a leading foreign exchange firm so that he could focus on his online studies from his home in Kerala. Even then he could barely sleep for two hours because of the difference in time zones.
The Kerala resident feels blessed to have earned certification from prestigious universities, including Ivy League colleges, an American collegiate comprising eight universities in the Northeastern US.
“You can now learn from the best of universities the world over. Everyone should make use of the opportunity. I used to love the medical field when I was younger, and now I am able to learn a variety of subjects from prestigious universities,” he said.
Vikraman believes e-learning is the future amid the new restrictions given the emergence of new variants.
And he isn’t done yet. He has got admitted to another 22 courses for which he has recently enrolled.
What have you learned in these last two years?