A 72-year-old grandfather was among those students lining up to receive their GCSE results this week and was delighted to find that he passed with flying colours
Hundreds of thousands of teens across the country received their GCSE results this week after months of hard work. But it wasn’t just 16-year-olds lining up to collect their results – 72-year-old grandfather Kamal Askani was getting his GCSE maths results, too!
Kamal returned to education after moving to Rotherham following his retirement from a 40-year career in the Middle East’s oil industry. He originally came to the UK during the coronavirus pandemic, but after his children encouraged him to stay, Rotherham became his permanent home.
After settling in, the former construction manager took up gardening as his new hobby, before realising that he wanted to return to education. Deciding to study for a higher maths GCSE, and he went to classes, where he was the oldest student in the room.
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But his younger classmates, treated Kamal with “respect” and were “motivated” by his decision to return to studying, despite his age. He told the BBC that it was a “good class” and “you are never too old to learn”.
As with many students, he faced challenges, including a language barrier, as he had only been in the UK for a few years. But, with determination and hard work, he successfully secured an impressive grade 7 in his maths exam.
Delighted at the result, his granddaughter, Sahel Far, 25, told the BBC that he has “always being so studious” and has been “a big source of inspiration” for the family.
She said: “He’s always pushed us to educate ourselves further and learn new things to just really say that if he can do it at 72, then we can all do it definitely as well.”
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Kamal has already made plans to continue his education and hopes to pass on his wisdom to students as he seeks a new career in teaching. He revealed: “All of this knowledge, I need to just give to other people, I don’t want to die and keep all this knowledge with myself.”
And, not content with a long and successful career in the oil industry, he has ambitious plans for his future. “I’d like to teach in college or in school because of all of my knowledge which I gained during my 40 years of experience,” the grandfather said.
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