Mother, 45, and son, 21, collect IIT Madras degrees on same stage

At the Indian Institute of Technology Madras recent convocation, Jigisha Tailor, 45, and her son Aditya Kapadia, 21, walked across the stage together to receive their degrees in the online BS in Data Science and Applications programme. Neither had originally planned to study alongside each other.

Jigisha had spent 16 years teaching electronics at an engineering college in Bharuch, Gujarat. In 2019, family responsibilities led her to leave the classroom. Three years later, she returned as a student, after her son encouraged her to enrol.

Aditya enrolled in the online programme in 2021 when he was 18. The Covid-19 pandemic had shut campuses across the country. He started the course alongside a diploma at a college in Ahmedabad, a requirement at the time. When IIT Madras’s senate declared the online degree equivalent to a regular four-year course, he dropped the diploma and continued solely with the BS programme.

Jigisha watched initially from the sidelines as course materials spread across the kitchen table. The subjects—statistics, systems—were close to her electronics background yet new enough to challenge her. Aditya kept urging her to join. Towards the end of 2022, she did.

Restarting studies was difficult. “Initially, it was like after a long period of time, I was learning once again the maths and stats. That was a little bit difficult to grasp. After two to three weeks, it was easy,” Jigisha said. She relied on live doubt-clearing sessions and a WhatsApp group with batchmates. She took one or two subjects per semester, unlike Aditya who took four. “That’s the beauty of this programme,” he said. “If you’re a working professional, or someone like my mother, you can go at a gradual pace.”

Her daily routine involved waking at 4:30 am to study until 7 am, then household chores, and more coursework in the early afternoon. Some relatives questioned her decision. “Many of our relatives would say, ‘Why are you studying now? Why do you want a job?’” Jigisha said. “I would tell them that I want to do something different.”

Her husband, a college professor, supported her through difficult periods. Her father-in-law monitored her project deadlines, and her mother-in-law, then confined to a wheelchair, asked why she put herself through such effort. “It was their support that made it possible,” Jigisha said.

Mother and son became study partners and then competitors. They aimed for top grades—'S' (highest distinction) and 'A' (high distinction). When Jigisha scored an 'S' in one course, Aditya wanted one too. When he achieved it, she pushed harder. Aditya, having completed his diploma earlier, guided her through vivas and online proctored exams. “His experience helped me a lot,” she said.

Aditya finished his BS in 2024 and interned at Syngenta as a data scientist. Jigisha completed her degree in 2025. Both now plan to pursue an MS programme from IIT Madras.