Varathaledchumy Shanmuganathan: The Oldest Woman to Earn a Master’s Degree from A Canadian University

November 2, 2021, Tuesday, an extra convocation took place where Varathaledchumy Shanmuganathan, 87 years old, walked York University’s virtual stage and became the University’s oldest graduate. There are 4,000 students who are also about to receive their degrees wherein some are enough to be her grandchildren, Shanmuganathan received her master’s degree in political science.

Varathaledchumy Shanmuganathan was born in Velanai, a small village in Northern Sri Lanka. She traveled to India to study and earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Madras. After gaining her degree, she went back to Sri Lanka where she joined the ranks of educators in Jaffna and taught Indian history as well as English at a local school and eventually received another diploma in education from Ceylon University. In her mid-50’ she completed her first master’s program at the University of London’s Birbeck College wherein she studied applied linguistics. After receiving her master’s degree, she went to teach English and economics. After teaching in London for eight years, she was sponsored by her daughter and arrived in Canada in 2004. Her daughter was an MBA graduate from York’s Schulich School of Business and it was she who encourage Shanmuganathan to apply for the University’s master’s program.

Shanmuganathan has been to four different continents where he lived and taught; even after over eight decades, Shanmuganathan’s philosophy hasn’t changed; that we need peace. For her major research paper, she wrote about the causes of the civil war, peace processes as well as the prospect of peace in Sri Lanka. As mentioned by Shanmuganathan, what empowered her love for politics is her early understanding of war as well as the impact on the nation. Shanmuganathan witnessed with her very own eyes the destruction of the Second World War and the inspiration of Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolent resistance movement.

(*photo from Twitter:https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FDRd-LNXoAEhq3T.jpg)