Doctorate at 80: Never too old to learn

Amal Ismail Mitwally, 80, from Mansoura in the Nile Delta has proved that one is never too old to learn.

“Now that I have my master’s degree, I am going for doctorate,” Metwally said in an interview with The Egyptian Mail.

Metwally married at 12, which meant she could only dream of completing her education.

The dream never faded.

“I was obsessed with reading. I have been reading a lot, widening the scope of my knowledge,” she said.

When her husband went to Libya to work, Metwally seized the chance to fulfill her teenage dream and sit the preparatory school certificate, which she obtained.

She was hoping to go on to secondary school, but her husband asked her to stay with him in Libya.

“It was not an easy decision at all!” she said.

Metwally threw herself into her new commitments as her children grew up and married.

“I had to wait 30 years to get my secondary school certificate. Then my husband died after we came back to Egypt,” she said.

Metwally said she suffered from severe depression after her husband’s death.

“My sons and daughters live and work in Cairo. I stay in Mansoura. So, I decided to turn my depression and negative energy into success and accomplishment.”

She joined the secondary school and attended regular classes for three years. Her daughter, who is a professor at MSA University, encouraged her to resume her education after being impressed with her mother’s knowledge.

“We were talking about revolutions and my daughter was surprised with my knowledge and analysis of revolutions in France and Chile.”

After obtaining a high score for secondary certificate, Metwally joined Faculty of Arts, Sociology Department. Four years later, she graduated. But her ambition did not stop there.

Metwally used her experience with depression after losing her husband for an MA thesis on the social and cultural lifestyle of the elderly.

“I spoke with a large number of women in neighbouring villages and collated their answers and reached a scientific result,” she said.

After a discussion of nearly an hour and a half, the scientific committee agreed to give her an ‘excellent’ grade, with a recommendation to print the thesis and exchange it with universities.

What is truly inspiring about Metwally’s story is that she was fighting cancer and the subsequent health complications while preparing the master’s degree.

“Cancer attacked me several times. It took me three years to complete the master’s. I spent around year and half of this period fighting the disease.”

In the meantime, Metwally said that many people tried to disappoint her, but she turned a deaf ear to the negative comments.

Now, Metwally is still pushing the limits as she will start her PhD.

“I’ll keep learning until my last breath.”