Meet Kiran Jariwal, an MA pass who never went to school

A private tutor chose not to send his daughter to school or college, or a university either, but the self-taught girl under her father’s guidance never felt the need for a formal education to get a master’s degree in Rajasthan.

Sanwar Sangamanand of Churu in Rajasthan kept daughter Kiran Jariwal off institutional education through her life because he thought she would miss her mother in school. The father has been doubling up as her mother since his wife died when their daughter was just six months old.

“After my wife passed away and Kiran was too young, I decided I will not let her miss her mother. I didn’t send her to school because I thought the teachers wouldn’t be able to handle her when she missed her mother in school. Moreover, it wasn’t possible for me to prepare tiffin for her,” he said.

His logic sounds weird but that didn’t come in the way of her education.

Kiran cleared Class 10 in 2008 and class 12 in 2010 from Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education as a private student. In 2010, she enrolled for a bachelor’s course at Maharaja Ganga Singh University and cleared it in 2013. This year, she got a master’s degree.

Kiran said she never missed school because of the tuitions. “My house was always brimming with students and it was almost as if I was in school. I learnt everything through these tuitions.”

She never got attracted to college life either. “My friends told me they bunked classes, went shopping … so I thought not much teaching happened in colleges. I was helping my father in his private tuitions when not studying for my higher education.”

Her proud father wants to send her name to the records books. “I think it’s no mean feat to get a master’s with no formal education,” he said. On August 15, health minister and Churu legislator Rajendra Rathore felicitated Kiran for her achievement at an Independence Day function.