For many people, retirement marks the time to step away from work and slow down. Ashok Kumar, however, has returned to student life. At 68, the former Coal India Limited general manager has enrolled in a postgraduate psychology programme at Ranchi University after decades in engineering.
As per Dainik Jagran, Kumar retired from Coal India on September 30, 2018, but his professional journey did not end there. He joined the JP Group as a vice-president and later worked as an adviser before retiring from the organisation on October 23, 2025. Even after two retirements, he remained keen to learn.
FROM ENGINEERING TO THE HUMAN MIND
Kumar’s academic background is rooted in engineering. He completed a BTech in Mechanical Engineering from NIT Jaipur, followed by an MTech in Industrial Engineering and Management from the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad. He also earned a PhD in engineering.
After a career in technical and managerial roles, he has turned towards psychology. Psychology lets him explore how people think and behave.
Kumar said that engineering had taught him to understand machines, and he now wanted to understand people through psychology, adding that learning never ended, as quoted by Dainik Jagran.
His shift from engineering to psychology is a change in direction, but it also shows that education need not stop after a degree, a career milestone or retirement. For him, returning to university is not simply about adding another qualification; it is about following his curiosity.
BACK IN CLASS, ASKING QUESTIONS
Kumar attends classes regularly, like other students, and engages with teachers by asking questions. His presence has caught the department’s attention.
Dr Parvez Hasan, head of the department, told Dainik Jagran that he had rarely seen a student who had achieved so much in life and still showed such eagerness to study further.
Kumar has returned to formal education at an age when many people have long left classrooms behind. He has chosen to take on postgraduate study and learn alongside students at a different stage of life.
His journey has taken him from engineering education to senior corporate roles and now to psychology. The next chapter is unfolding not in an office, but in a university classroom, where he is once again a student. He is learning alongside classmates from a different age group.
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