70-year-old retiree from Sirsi tops state in civil engineering diploma course

KARWAR: A 70-year-old man, a student at R N Shetty Polytechnic College in Sirsi, has secured the top rank in the state in the civil engineering diploma course by obtaining  94 per cent marks.

Narayan S Bhat is a native of Sirsi, who retired from a private company in 2013. He completed his diploma in mechanical engineering in Karwar in 1973 and worked for several companies in Karwar and in Gujarat.

After retirement, he wanted to study further to keep up with his children and grandchildren. In 2019, he applied for admission to the civil engineering diploma course at R N Shetty Polytechnic College in Sirsi. However, due to technical reasons, he could not get admitted. But, seeing his enthusiasm, the management of the institution finally admitted him.

Narayan Bhat (70) checking the examination results.

He attended classes like all other students. He sat in the classroom and scored 90 per cent marks in every semester, and was always ahead. He mingled with teachers and classmates who were younger than him and stole many hearts. Narayan was the brightest among the students.

He did not miss classes even one day and wrote the exam with confidence.  As a result of his hard work, Narayan secured 94 per cent in the diploma examination for the years 2019–20 to 2021–22, which was announced by the State Technical Examination Board.

Narayan S Bhat has proved that there is no age barrier to learning.

Narayan said, “I am keen to gain knowledge rather than spending time at home. The eagerness to study has increased after seeing the results. I am interested in pursuing engineering. I worked for a private company in Karwar and retired after 40 years. Then, the company again appointed me as in-charge of the Civil department, from Technical, where I have earned knowledge. Later, I realised that without civil engineering education, my signature would hold no value. I had hoped to score 70-80 per cent marks, and the teaching was also good. I put my best effort into studying and the teachers and classmates supported me a lot. Due to the age factor, I was forgetting some points, but I used to write them down. I want to thank my family for supporting me”, he said.