NEW DELHI: The Union Public Service Commission had last week declared the results of civil services 2017 examination and T Shahid of Kerala has cleared the prestigious test. He secured 693rd rank in his sixth attempt.

What makes Shahid's success different than others is that he never got an opportunity to attend any mainstream school. In fact, Shahid acquired his formal education through a madarsas.

Battling severe financial crisis at home, Shahid's family had put him in a Muslim religious educational institution at the age of 10. His father was also a madarsa teacher and mother Sulekha a homemaker.

After 12 years of religious education, he got the religious hasni degree, a course which equipped him to become a madrasa teacher, The Indian Express reported. He also completed his class 10 and class 12 through distance courses and got a degree in English.

“From 2010 to 2012, I worked as a madarsa teacher in Kannur for Rs 6,000,” Shahid, 28, told the Indian Express. He also worked as a journalist for a Malayalam daily in 2012.

Madarsa education is very common among the Muslims in the Indian subcontinent. Hundreds of thousand Muslims get their primary educations from these institutions. Shahid's feat can serve as an example to these madarsa students, who are perceived to be away from modern education.

Even Shahid believes that though there may be some controversies and arguments related to the status of madarsas but these religious institutions can also breed civil servants.