Bharatpur mayor finally passes Class X

Age is not a bar if one wants to study, and this was proved by the mayor of Bharatpur in Rajasthan.

Shiv Singh (59) cleared his Class X Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE) exams, the results of which were declared on Sunday. He cleared the exam in the first attempt, securing 42%.

The mayor decided to get back to studies after four decades. Reason: new government norms states that a person contesting municipal elections needs to be matriculate. For his feat he gave full credit to Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who made matriculation a compulsory criteria in the panchayat elections.     

Singh, who had dropped out of school in 1971 after passing Class VIII, enrolled as a private candidate and attended special classes held for weak students at the government senior secondary school in Roopwas village. He even took tuitions for English and Mathematics.

 "I feel motivated after the results are announced. Now, I plan to apply for Class XI. Being a mayor, it was tough to find time to study. It was also very challenging to study after nearly 40 years," he told DH.

Saying education is mandatory, Singh recalled a recent foreign trip when he felt embarrassed for not being able to communicate in English.

Singh was elected first mayor of Bharatpur in 2014 when it was upgraded to a municipal corporation.

With a strong business background, Singh entered politics in 2004 when he got elected as chairman of the municipal council.