A 70-year-old man from Sirsi in Uttara Kannada district was the cynosure of all eyes at the first-ever convocation for diploma students held here on Wednesday. With a score of 94.88 per cent, Narayan S Bhat emerged state topper in the civil engineering stream, and stood 10th overall.
Bhat joined R N Shetty Polytechnic College in Sirsi at the age of 67 to pursue diploma in civil engineering.
He was a topper even during his younger years, coming second in the mechanical stream of diploma at the government polytechnic, Karwar, in 1973.
After serving several companies in various states, Bhat returned to Sirsi to enjoy his retirement life.
“To keep myself engaged, I took up civil contracts. I had to stand before civil engineers to get signatures. This made me pursue a civil engineering diploma,” Bhat said. He has two daughters, one is working as a software engineer in Ireland and another is a scientist in the US.
Bhat said that he expected around 70 per cent marks. He did not bunk class a single day and had 100 per cent attendance.
The diploma convocation was held at the banquet hall of the Vidhana Soudha.
The convocation, organised by the department of technical education, was named after Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar. As many as 106 students from polytechnic colleges across the state received the gold, silver and bronze medals along with convocation certificates.
Higher Education Minister C N Ashwath Narayan announced granting autonomy to the Technical Education Board.