What could be more exciting than taking pride in children standing in front of their parents holding their PhD Degree? It is truly said that for learning there is no age bar and this mother daughter duo has exemplified this by receiving their PhD Degrees together on the same day.
Both Mala Dutta, 56 and her daughter Shreya Mishra, 28 went on to receive their Doctoral degree on the same day. According to the University functionaries, it was the first time that both mother and daughter received their Doctoral degrees on the same day. Although it has happened once but at the Post graduate level.They were not able to attend the convocation which took place the other day of Shreya’s wedding.
Mala Dutta is working with defence ministry as Indian Economic Service officer and completed her post-graduation in Economics long back in 1985 from the Delhi School of Economics. She always dreamt of pursuing her PhD after post-graduation. Her daughter Shreya Mishra is a consultant at World Bank.
“I had to take a break from work in 2012 when my younger daughter had her class 12 board exams. That was the time when I registered for PhD (in finance). I then took study leave from the ministry and worked seriously on my completing the PhD. It’s an absolutely wonderful experience for me because I got to learn a lot studying with the co-students of my daughter’s age. There were instances when my professor would call me ma’am. But I enjoyed it. The motivation was to get a PhD degree with my daughter on the convocation day,” Mala Dutta told Hindustan times.
Almost every parent gets to see their children graduating but very few children witness their parents graduating in front of them along and almost none graduating together.
“After I registered for the PhD we realized that we can complete it together and make it the most remarkable moment for us. Though our subjects were totally different, I started seeking guidance from my mother and worked harder to complete it within three years. The convocation was on November 19, a day after I was getting married. There was no chance of us attending and receiving our degrees together. It was disappointing for us both. We finally realized our dream and collected our degrees together. Officials there said that we would have made news headlines if we had received the degrees on the day of convocation. But it doesn’t matter because now my paternal grandparents and my husband are here to share this unique feat,” Shreya told Hindustan times.
Eventually the duo however submitted their thesis and appeared for their oral examination last year.
