Nasimul Haque works as a carpenter. Also he is the general secretary of the Furniture Workers’ Union, an organisation of people in similar professions in Bholahat. After working all day, he would sit in the organisation’s small office in the evening.

In between his organisational duties, Nasimul would open his books and notebooks there and study until 11:00 pm. Many people around him would laugh when they saw this. Some would say, “What’s the point of studying at this age?”

Nasimul, however, paid no heed to what others said. Eventually, at the age of 43, he sat for the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination from the vocational section of Rajshahi Commerce College and earned a GPA of 4.62.