{"id":1255,"date":"2026-11-10T05:55:16","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T05:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/?p=1255"},"modified":"2026-11-10T05:55:16","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T05:55:16","slug":"always-among-students-afreen-sheikh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/2026\/11\/10\/always-among-students-afreen-sheikh\/","title":{"rendered":"Always Among Students: Afreen Sheikh"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Afreen Sheikh<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Assistant Professor at the Nagpur Institute of Technology, Ms. Afreen Sheikh\u2019s classroom extends beyond the corridors of her institute, out into the world, and back into her home. As a mother of three children, she is never not teaching; as an educator specialising in Student Development, the participants and processes of learning are a vital part of her life. Thus, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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when the initiative was offered by her Institute to enroll in an NPTEL course, in spite of how daunting the idea seemed to be, Ms. Sheikh signed herself up for one. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

She remembers being told by multiple colleagues and seniors that the courses were incredibly difficult; she was advised to sign up for a single course at first, proceeding only if she had proven to be able to cope with it. However, it was from this point of doubt and turmoil that her journey as a student began, once again; and Ms. Sheikh\u2019s life was absolutely occupied by learning, in all its forms, across all directions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first course yielded optimistic results, and she has always turned to NPTEL ever since. Having completed 18 courses, with the results of three more awaited, Ms. Sheikh has earned the tags of NPTEL Star, NPTEL Believer, and NPTEL Motivated Learner in this span. She has also earned seven NPTEL Elite Silver certifications and eleven Elite certifications. Yet, she is far from halting on her journey; if she were to do so, her son would need to have a strict word with her! Currently in his kindergarten days, he loves to compete with his mother as to who can get the highest scores. He sits by her as she studies for exams, running her through a list of everything she has covered, and all the topics which still need her attention. She\u00a0 even hides her scores from her son! While she admits the challenges she faces in dividing her time and attention, as a mother of three kids, she nevertheless remains highly enthusiastic and in great spirits because of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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She does not know what shape and form learning would take once her kids have reached the juncture she is at, yet, she hopes her journey with NPTEL would push them to learn all their lives, at all costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

She is a role model not only  at home, but also for her students and even her colleagues. Recently she had attended the NPTEL Star Workshop hosted by IIT Bombay, where she received her due for her efforts and was given a platform to share them. Her institute, too, gave her the recognition she deserved, highlighting her incredible achievements across public platforms. Ms. Sheikh expresses her heartfelt gratitude to the Principal, Dr. Amol Deshmukh; Dean of Academics, Dr. Manish Awasthi; Head of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Dr. Jitendra Bhaiwar; and, Dr. Mohammad Sabir, along with the Administration of Nagpur Institute of Technology, for their constant encouragement, guidance and support. She sincerely acknowledges the institution’s efforts in providing a conducive environment for continuous learning, professional development, and academic growth. At this workshop, having come to know about a mentorship scheme which NPTEL actively encourages, she was able to enlist twenty students from her institute, who enrolled in the course \u2018Soft Skills\u2019 alongside her, as her mentees. She is always looking for ways to engage meaningfully with her students, and anticipates more courses on NBA Parameters, Accreditation, and Outcome Based Learning at NPTEL, to help her make a greater impact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of her work day, Ms. Sheikh returns home, diving into her NPTEL lectures with her headphones plugged in, while her kids sit with their notebooks, occasionally peering into hers. She is comfortably living out the realization that age does not limit one\u2019s learning, and shall be passing it down to all her students, within and beyond her home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

~written by Eshani Bhattacharjee<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Afreen Sheikh An Assistant Professor at the Nagpur Institute of Technology, Ms. Afreen Sheikh\u2019s classroom extends beyond the corridors of her institute, out into the world, and back into her home. As a mother of three children, she is never not teaching; as an educator specialising in Student Development, the participants and processes of learning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nptel-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1255"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1261,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255\/revisions\/1261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}