Meet Shafi Vikraman, Kerala Man Who Earned Over 145 Certificates Virtually From Ivy League Colleges

Shafi Vikraman, a resident of Thiruvananthpuram city in Kerala, is in his mid-fifties and yet pursuing his desire for knowledge. The lockdown brought lives to a halt for some, but it became a blessing in disguise for others. Shafi redeemed this opportunity and earned over 145 certificates from prestigious universities virtually from 16 countries.

Following the COVID-19 outbreak, Shafi enrolled on diverse virtual courses offered by Coursera, a United States (US)-based open online course provider and World Health Organisation's online learning portal. Though most of Shafi's courses dealt with the medical sector, he did learn miscellaneous subjects such as forensics, food and beverage management, psychology, blockchain, finance, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, robotics, among others.

He told the New Indian Express, "I preferred to do courses in marketing but ended up with a lot of medical courses. A university like Yale is a dream for us, and now I have certifications from those universities. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have studied all these subjects".

Making The Most Of Time At Hand

During the first lockdown in 2020, Shafi Vikraman didn't want to stay idle and started attending courses in July, which ranged from two days to two months. He admits to having difficulties initially where he attended class between 6 pm to 4 am, after his work. Later, he quit his job as a deputy general manager with a leading foreign exchange firm to focus on his online studies. He recalls when he could barely sleep for two hours because of the difference in time zones.

Shafi feels blessed to have earned certification from prestigious universities, including Ivy League colleges, an American collegiate comprising eight universities in the Northeastern US.

"You can now learn from the best of universities the world over. Everyone should make use of the opportunity. I used to love the medical field when I was younger, and now I am able to learn a variety of subjects from prestigious universities," he told The New Indian Express.

Shafi Vikraman believes e-learning to be the future amid the new restrictions given the emergence of new variants. And this is not it for him as he thrives to finish the new 22 courses for which he has recently enrolled. He is an inspiration proving that age or the availability of adequate resources cannot hamper anyone's desire to attain knowledge. One must make the best use of opportunities that life showers on oneself.

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