Indian teacher with 26 degrees vows to be student for life

Wayanad, Kerala: This Teacher's Day, which was observed on Saturday, 54-year-old teacher T. Sasidharan's aim is to remain a student for the rest of his life and he just needs four more post-graduate degrees to make it to his 30th.

"People might feel that I am not in the proper frame of mind. I do not deny it because writing examinations has become my favourite pastime. It has been my hobby since I finished Class X," Sasidharan told IANS.

Sashidharan is presently a teacher at the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) in Wayanad, an organisation which trains school teachers.

He boasts of 26 post-graduate degrees in history, sociology, psychology, philosophy, Gandhian thought and population studies, among others, besides two M.Phils and two M.Eds.

These degrees have been acquired from various universities, including five from Annamalai, four each from Alagappa and Madurai Kamaraj, three from IGNOU, Mysore and Madras and two from Calicut and Pondicherry.

"I have also completed my LL.B. course. I am currently pursuing PhD in two subjects besides doing courses in criminology, public administration and social welfare administration," Sasidharan added.

His passion for teaching can be gauged from the fact that after serving as the principal at DIET, he went back to the post of a teacher because he didn't enjoy the administrative responsibilities that came with the job.

This passion for studies runs in Sasidharan's family. His elder brother has eight post-graduate degrees while his younger brother, a librarian at a government college, boasts of 13 post-graduate degrees.