Oldest Pupil

A man who is said to be the oldest pupil in the country has reportedly kicked the bucket at the age of 94, according to his family.

Mohammud Modibbo didn’t have the privilege to go to school as a child because he worked as a trader, travelling around the country.

BBC reports that, he decided to enter primary school in his mid-80s and had recently begun secondary school in the northern city of Kano. His teacher, Abdulkarim Ibrahim, said Mr Modibbo was “easy-going and jovial”.

“During classes, he was very attentive and asked questions when he didn’t understand – either asking the teacher or a student sitting beside him,”

Mr Ibrahim told the BBC Hausa service.

Mr Modibbo had dreamed of pursing a university education, but his “sudden death” had robbed him of that chance, the teacher added.

Initial reports put his age at 83, but his family says he was 94. Mr Modibbo was an Islamic scholar who sat in school alongside pupils young enough to be his great-grandchildren, and even great-great grandchildren.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records the oldest person ever to have enrolled at primary school, was Kenyan Kimani Maruge at the age of 84. He passed away five years later.

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