JEDDAH, 30 January 2008 — Two local students from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) are among this year’s gold medalists.
They include Sajida Fakhri, a senior teacher at Manarat International English School for Girls, for an MA in English and Alia Hamed Ali, a former student from the International Indian School, Jeddah, for a BA in arts.
In all, 115,000 successful students at various IGNOU world centers have been awarded certificates, diplomas and degrees, and 57 of them have received gold medals in various courses.
Sajida and Alia are the only students to win gold medals in their respective streams, Shahnaz Patel, IGNOU Saudi Arabia’s center head, told Arab News yesterday.
Internationally, 1,057 students have been awarded master’s degree in English, 5,432 bachelor’s degrees in arts, 1,014 bachelor’s degrees in commerce, 359 bachelor’s degrees in IT, and 3,097 MBAs.
“Every new step in life is a challenge, but if you apply grit, determination, perseverance and hard work, success can be yours,” said Sajida, wife of Altaf Fakhri.
She attributes her success to Allah, her parents and the love and support of her husband and children. “Balancing a home, a job and studying for the masters course requires a lot of dexterity. But with the help and encouragement of the IGNOU-ATEICO staff, my task was made easy,” she said.
“The course books were well researched and written, and of great help. Besides, IGNOU provides competent facilities and a golden opportunity for others like me who wish to pursue our dreams of higher education,” she added.
“Go for it, as education is a sphere where age or time is no bar — your mind only needs the will to soar to new heights, and as they say ‘The sky is the limit,’” said Sajida in a message to those interested in pursuing higher education.
Alia said she was grateful to Allah for enabling her to accomplish her desired goal.
“Being a housewife with two daughters, reaching this milestone after a gap of three years of study is a dream come true for me,” she said, crediting her success to the support extended by her husband Zubair Siddiqui, parents and relatives. Zubair works in the IT department of a private firm. “If I can do it, you can too,” was her advice to the student community.
“Our IGNOU Saudi Arabia students have received gold medals for three consecutive years,” said Riaz Mulla, general manager of ATEICO, which represents the Delhi-based international open university in the Kingdom.
The two gold medalists were excited on receiving a personal call from IGNOU’s director of international division in Delhi, he said.
Mulla said that ATEICO will be sponsoring the two students to receive their gold medals at IGNOU’s 19th convocation to be held on Feb. 16. India’s Vice President Hamid Ansari will be chief guest at the event and will award gold medals to the students.
Last year, Sabitha Rahim, an IGNOU Saudi Arabia’s student and a teacher at IISJ, received a gold medal in MA English.
