Cancer patients rediscover learning

Mumbai/Nashik: Many young cancer patients will now have a chance to enrol in short-term courses in photography, animation and painting and get on with the wonders of learning.

Nashik-based Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU) will soon roll out these vocational courses for patients of Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, an official said. University Vice-Chancellor R. Krishnakumar took the lead when he read about a 21-year-old student, Vaibhav Shinde, and his zeal for learning despite suffering from leukaemia. "When I came across Vaibhav and his will to learn and educate himself, I was filled with appreciation for his desire. After reading about him, I had an urge to contribute in his life and hence we enrolled him for a course in our university," Krishnakumar told IANS.

Study centre

Krishnakumar said it was, however, not easy for Vaibhav to keep up with his studies regularly. "From there stemmed the idea of establishing a study centre within the premises or near the Tata Memorial Hospital," he said.

"There are several teenaged and young patients in the hospital who seem to have lost the will to live because of the disease. They drop out of their schools or colleges eventually. While not much can be done to help with this, we thought we will come up with short-term vocational courses like photography, animation and painting to keep these young patients occupied," he added.

The university is in talks with officials at the Tata Memorial Hospital to kick-start the study centre by the next academic year.

However, for Vaibhav, who was suffering from leukaemia for the past three years, it was difficult to keep up with studies while undergoing long days of treatment at the Tata Memorial Hospital. A resident of Raigad district, he had enrolled in information technology, but had to drop out of college owing to health reasons. The YCMOU not only enrolled him in a graduate course in computer application but also waived his tuition fees and other expenses. "But this was not enough. I saw the boy struggling hard to strike a balance between his studies and his cancer treatment. So we gave him a certificate to appreciate his urge to be a learner," Krishnakumar said.