Following years of apparent fantasy and dogged ambition to wear an academic gown and own a degree certificate from a university, a 79-year-old woman has now fulfilled that dream as she was among 1,678 graduates of Al-Qalam University in Katsina, Katsina State.
Hajiya Fatima Kurfi, a mother of four with over 20 grandchildren, was among those called upon to receive their various degrees at the university’s convocation, which was held last week.
Daily Trust gathered that ‘Mama Kurfi’, as she is fondly called by course-mates, was admitted into the university in 2005 and graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Islamic Studies in 2009, but her convocation ceremony was deferred, with others’, till last week when the university held its maiden convocation for seven sets that have passed through the institute.
To Mama Kurfi, age is no barrier to seeking education, as it is a very important tool for life. “An uneducated person is not complete. Even if he tries other ventures like business, his lack of education will limit him greatly,” she said.

Speaking to Daily Trust, she said: “When I was young, there used to be a primary school in Kurfi town were all my peers went, but I was not among them. After I got married, my husband started to teach me how to read and write, and it was with this I was able to guide my children,”

Mama Kurfi said, when her husband left for England and she joined him there, her spoken English improved greatly during the almost three years she spent there.

“During my stay there, I tried to do something about my education but could not. Upon my return to the country, I took up the challenge to get the formal education as all this time I was still doing my informal teaching and learning processes,” she said.