Behista Khairuddin took admission in IIT Madras with the help of IIT professor (file photo)
Unstable internet connectivity, fear of Taliban and lack of proper equipment, Behishta Khairuddin pursues IIT Madras degree in chemical engineering
English writer George Herbert has rightly said “Where there is a will, there is a way”. After the Taliban took control, Afghan women were forced to stay at home and drop out of educational institutions. But for Behista Khairuddin, her desire to study chemical engineering was stronger than the Taliban invasion. Hidden from the prying eyes of the Taliban, Behishta built a small science laboratory in his home using borrowed beakers and studied chemical engineering at IIT Madras.
Faced with unstable internet connectivity, fear of the Taliban and no proper equipment, Behishta Khairuddin pursued a degree in chemical engineering from IIT Madras. It was in 2021, when 26-year-old Behishta fought with the Afghan army and decided to pursue his education remotely and completed his semesters from IIT Madras. In a phone conversation with Times of India, the 26-year-old invincible girl said, “I have no regrets. If you stop me, I’ll find another way. I feel sorry for you (Taliban) because you have power, you have everything, but you are not using it. It is you who should be sorry, not me.”
Due to diplomatic fallout, Behista Khairuddin did not get admission in IIT Madras even after passing the interview. In the interview she said that she did not get any response from ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations, which provides scholarship to Afghanistan students). Apart from this, the council also deactivated his account on the portal. It was then that Behista Khairuddin was engaged to Raghunathan Rengasamy, a professor at IIT Madras.
IIT Madras offered a scholarship to the Afghani girl and she started her studies at the prestigious institute after a month. For the first two semesters, she struggled but got familiar with the syllabus and excelled. In a telephonic conversation, Behishta Khairuddin said that she remains glued to the computer screen and rests for four to five hours. The 26-year-old Afghan girl said that her family has supported her a lot in this journey.
Describing her family, she said that her father is a social science graduate and her mother is a doctor. Behista’s elder sister is an IIT PhD student who was stranded in Afghanistan, while her sister studied law, and her brother studied social science. Bahishta Khairuddin is the youngest of them all who is supported by her family. Behisht Khairuddin aims to bridge the gap between education in Afghanistan. She is not interested in taking up any industrial job but wants to pursue her career in academic field.