A 70-year-old from Karnataka created history by scoring top marks in civil engineering diploma exams in Karnataka.

A retired engineer, Narayana Bhat S secured over 94 % score in his civil engineering diploma exams. Bhat has previously worked in Karnataka and Gujarat that required mechanical and civil engineering expertise.

However, his journey was not all rosy. Initially, several colleges where he applied to reject this septuagenarian on grounds of age. He was told by college management that he was too old to study at his age.

However, an undeterred Bhat joined the RNS Polytechnic College under the special category and topped all semester exams in his batch.

Bhat said that he initially faced a certain resistance from his batchmates in their teens who were not as welcoming to conversations owing to the wide age gap. However, they began having comfortable conversations as days passed by when Bhat shared the knowledge he had gained.

Previously, Bhat had studied at the Government Polytechnic College in Karwar in 1973. He secured his diploma in mechanical engineering with a second rank.  

He said that in 2001, when he was working to build houses for the Gujarat earthquake victims, he had to await signatures of the qualified engineer just because he did not have a degree in this area. It was when he wanted to make do with the need to wait for a signature that this idea of studying further occurred to him. 

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