Ismail (extreme right) and his two daughters during the geography exam. Picture by Abhijit Chakrabarty

Kushmandi, June 11: Talk about filial bonding!

A 55-year-old man and his two daughters, both married, are taking the Madhyamik examinations being conducted under Rabindra Mukta Vidyalaya, a distance learning course of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education.

To say the least, the trio ? Mohammed Ismail Azad (55) and his two daughters, Farida Eayasmin (29) and Sirajam Manira (24) ? is drawing curious people to the exam centre at Nahit High School here, 74 km from Balurghat. The exams began on June 2.

Ismail, a resident of Fatehpur in the Kaliaganj police station area of North Dinajpur, is a casual worker at the Kaliaganj regulated market committee. ?After I finished Class VIII, I took up this job,? Ismail said. ?Last year, I heard that Rabindra Mukta Vidyalaya has started conducting examinations for external students and I realised that this was my opportunity to pass the Madhyamik. I convinced my daughters ? who had studied till Class IX ? to sit for the exams.?

?I do not think age is a factor as there is no end to knowledge and that is what motivated me,? he added.

In June, 2005, Ismail contacted the study centre at Rabindra Mukta Vidyalaya at Nurpur High Madarsa, where the coordinator, Abul Khayer, enrolled all three of them. ?For one year, classes were held on weekends,? he said. ?We are taking eight papers as we have not opted for additional subjects.?

Both daughters, too, seemed eager to take the exam. ?Besides the exam helping us get jobs, we did not want our children to find out that their mothers had not passed school,? one of the girls said.

Even the husbands ? one holding a madarsa certificate equivalent to Madhyamik and the other a school drop-out ? are very enthusiastic about their wives taking the test. Every day, they accompany Ismail, Farida and Sirajam in a taxi to the exam centre and wait outside till the papers are over.