Mother, son complete their IIT-M programmes together

They may not be the first mother-son duo to graduate from an institution together, but they sure have a story to tell.

Aditya Kapadia, 23, and Jigisha Tailor, 49, were among the 1,460 candidates who recently graduated in what is claimed to be one of the world’s largest non-campus degree programmes offered by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras. While Mr. Aditya completed his B.S. degree programme in Data Science and Applications, his mother completed a Diploma in Data Science.

Ms. Jigisha had taught electronics for 16 years at a Gujarat college before taking a break in 2019 to focus on her sons’ studies. While at home, she wanted to upskill herself so as to be able to work from home. Along came an opportunity after her elder son enrolled in IIT-Madras’s B.S. Degree Programme in Data Science and Applications in 2021. Egged on by her son, she enrolled in a direct entry diploma programme in 2023.

“I used to advise students about this upcoming field (Data Science). Only after I joined the course did I realise how many applications it could have in different fields,” Ms. Jigisha noted. Elaborating, she said that in the field of business data management, the skills could be used to generate, understand, and analyse data to improve even small businesses. “Above all other factors was her passion for learning new things,” interjects Mr. Aditya. It was upon his encouragement that she joined the programme and they soon became each other’s support.

The B.S. degrees were conceived in 2020 with the goal of reaching people who do not have access to campus degrees, says Vignesh Muthuvijayan, Coordinator, B.S. Degree, IIT-Madras. The first batch was enrolled in 2021. The programme is designed to deliver online content and assign weekly assignments to students. It has three terms in a year and the exams are held in-person in centres across the country. The first year essentially has foundational courses on mathematics, statistics, and programming skills, says Prof. Vignesh, adding that in subsequent years, things get a lot more technical and tough.

To encourage enrolment of students from all economic strata, IIT-Madras was offering a 50% fee waiver for students with annual family income between ₹1 lakh and ₹5 lakh while for those with less than ₹1 lakh income, the fee waiver was 75%, he adds.

Soon after completing the course, Aditya has joined an agritech multinational and wishes to stick to the field as he finds the sector interesting. “There’s a large volume of data that’s been generated in this sector but it is still difficult to analyse and present it. It is challenging,” he adds.

Ms. Tailor says she is considering going back to teaching but any full-time engagement will have to wait till her younger son completes his higher secondary exam next year.