By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net
Bhopal: “Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, India’s first Education Minister, was among the top intellectuals of the first half of the 20th century who made a lasting impression on the life of Indians irrespective of caste, creed or religion.
As the first Union Education Minister he shaped India’s Education Policy and took on the task to bring about revolutionary changes in the education system of the country which the British had set up to suit their own needs”.
The above views were expressed by Prof. Akhtar-ul-Wasey, Director of Dr. Zakir Hussain Islamic Research Institute, Jamia Millia, New Delhi, in his keynote address in the two-day national seminar which concluded here.
India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sarojni Naidu while acclaiming the greatness and intellect of Maulana Azad had acknowledged his maturity of thoughts and vision when he was still a minor, Prof. Wasey recalled.
Reminding of Azad’s unique intellectual achievements, Pandit Nehru had said: “…..He was great in many ways. He combined in himself the greatness of the past with the greatness of the present. He always reminded me of the great men of several hundred years ago about whom I have read in history, the great men of the Renaissance, or in a later period the encyclopaedists who proceeded the French Revolution, men of intellect and men of action. He remembered also of what might be called the great quality of olden days – the graciousness which we sadly seek in the world today….It was the strange and unique of the good qualities of the past, the graciousness, the deep learning and toleration and the urges of today which made Maulana Azad what he was.”
Prof. Wasey stressed that though Maulana Azad had traditional Madarsa-based education but he had deep insight of modern education also. He strived hard to make education scientific oriented in free India as he considered it vital for the development of the country and its people, he added.
The national seminar was organized by the Department of Languages in the National Council of Education Research and Training , (NCERT), New Delhi here at Regional Institute of Education. Scholars from all over India converged here to present their in-depth papers on Maulana Azad, who was a great freedom fighter, a great scholar, philosopher, statesman and an eminent educationist. The scholars shed light on his myriad personality which brought out many facet of his life not known to many people at large.
Prof. Ateequllah of Jamia Millia Islamia University in his paper “Maulana Azad Aur Sir Syed” said both Azad and Sir Syed had different approach but their mission in life was same to uplift the Indian masses from the quagmire of illiteracy and throw away the yoke of British rule to breath in free air.
Maulana Azad was proactive and had the courage of conviction to preach unity of mankind, at a time when religion was used by fanatic elements to separate man from man and ideals of nationalism were used to separate nations from nations, Prof Ateequllah emphasized.
Prof. Wahab Qaisar of Maulana Azad National Urdu University,(MANUU), Hyderabad, while commenting over Dr. Jamshed Qamar’s paper on “Maulana Azad Aur Ranchi” said that Maulana Azad’s stay at Ranchi for about four years after he was declared persona non grata by the British Government and expelled from Bengal proved to be the workshop of education for him where he established a Madarsa and formulated its syllabus with emphasis on modern education along with traditional religious learning. This workshop came handy to the Maulana when he became India’s first Education Minister to formulate nation’s education policy.
In the seminar about one half a dozen research papers were presented on the life and works of Maulana Azad. Some of the topics included: “Maulana Azad Aur Nehru”; “Maulana Azad Aur Iqbal”; Maulana Azad Aur Sir Syed Ahmad Khan”; “Maulana Azad Ki Sahafati Khidmaat”; “Maulana Azad Ki Tahzeebi Shanaqt”; “Maulana Azad Aur Kalkatta”; “Maulana Azad Aur Asri Taleemi Masaeil”; “Maulana Azad Ek Mufakir, Ek Adeeb”; “Maulana Azad Ke Taleemi Nazariyat”; ”Maulana Azad Ghubar-e-Khatir Ki Roshni Mein”; “Maulana Azad Ki Mazhabi Khidmaat”; “Maulana Azad Ki Manwiyat Asre Hazir Mein”; “Maulana Azad Bahaisiyat Shaeir”; “Maulana Azad Aur Ranchi” etc.
Well-known litterateur Prof. Abdul Qavi Desnavi inaugurated the seminar while Principal of Regional Institute of Education, Bhopal Prof. A. B. Saxena presided over the inaugural function. Prof. Ramjanam Sharma, Head department of Languages, NCERT, delivered the welcome address. Poet Naseem Ansari and poet Shahid Meer rendered poetic tribute to Maulana Azad during the seminar.
Prof. Kamla Prasad, Prof. Afaq Ahmad, Prof. Abdul Qavi Desnavi, Prof. Wahab Qaisar, Prof. Afaq Husain Siddiqui, Rizwan Qaisar, etc. chaired the various sessions of the seminar.
Those who presented their papers in the seminar included: Prof. Ateequllah (Jamia Millia), Prof. Wahab Qaisar, Maulana Syed Sharafat Ali Nadwi, Dr. Qamar-ul-Huda Fareedi, Dr. Nusrat Jahan, Prof. Abdul Qavi Desnavi, Prof. Afaq Ahmad, Prof. Khalid Mahmood (Jamia Millia), Prof. Mohammad Nauman Khan (NCERT), Dr. Mohammad Ahsan (MANUU, RC, Bhopal), Journalist Arif Aziz (Bhopal), Dr. Jamshed Qamar (Ranchi), Prof. Zaman Azardah (Kashmir), Dr. Farooq Ansari, Dr. Shameem Ahmad, Kausar Siddiqui, Dr. Tariq Saeed, Iqbal Masood (Bhopal), Dr. Arjumand Bano Afshan (Bhopal), Dr. Mohammad Moazzamuddin etc.
It may be pointed out here that Maulana Azad’s birth anniversary which falls on November 11 has been declared “National Education Day”. This has been rightly done as the Maulana was instrumental in India’s educational progress. He was also a great institution builder. He established the University Grants Commission (UGC), the National Academies – the Sangeet Natak Akademy, Sahitya Akademy, Lalit Kala Akademy, and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. He strengthened the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and oversaw the establishment of a chain of top class technical institutions that now represent the best in the Indian Education System. Under his distinguished leadership, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur was established in 1951, which was followed by a chain of IITs at Mumbai, Chennai, Kanpur and Delhi.