Jeddah Housewife Wins IGNOU Gold

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JEDDAH: Juveria Hashmi, a Jeddah housewife with two children, has made history by winning a gold medal for her masters in English literature at the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).

“IGNOU Saudi Arabia is proud that it has struck gold in its masters program in English literature for the third time,” Dr. Shahnaz Patel, director of ATEICO-IGNOU Saudi Arabia announced yesterday.

“Thus IGNOU Saudi Arabia becomes the first international center to win consecutively three gold medals in M.A. English literature,” she added.

Aside from Juveria, three other students from IGNOU’s overseas centers have won gold medals — from Oman, Mauritius and Nepal.

Juveria, a former student of International Indian School-Jeddah and daughter of Arab News staffer Muhammad Mujahid Syed, will receive her medal from professor R. Natarajan, former chairman of All-India Council for Technical Education and director of Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, at IGNOU’s 20th convocation at the IGNOU headquarters in New Delhi on Feb. 28.

Juveria, who hails from Lucknow, is pursuing her studies here. She has been a meritorious student throughout her academic career.

“It is remarkable for a student who never initially studied English,” Patel said.

“I developed interest in English literature and have deep interest in it,” said Juveria who secured 69.5 percent in masters program in English literature.

In 2000, Juveria was a topper in Urdu in her class 10 exam and in 2002 she secured highest marks in history in class 12 exam. The New Delhi-based Central Board of Secondary Education conducted both exams and she won medals in both.

When she finished schooling, she got herself registered in Delhi University and completed her B.A. honors in English through its correspondence course.

“Now I want to continue my education further with a research work in English novels,” Juveria said.

“Juveria’s achievement has become possible due to her own hard work, dedication and determination, as well as the support she received from the faculty, the management team of ATEICO Communication headed by General Manager Riaz Mulla, which represents IGNOU in Saudi Arabia, and, above all, the Indian diplomatic mission’s offices in Riyadh and Jeddah,” Shahnaz said.
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