By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,
Bhopal: A book titled “Muslim Female Education: From Veils to Moon” which has been authored by Dr. Rahat Abrar, who is Aligarh Muslim University, (AMU), Public Relations Officer, was released at Aligarh in a programme organized on “Various Aspects of Female Education” to mark the centenary celebration of International Women’s Day.
The programme was organized by Centre of Adult and Continuing Education, AMU, with the collaboration of renowned Hindi literary magazine “Vartaman Sahitya”.
After the release of the book Prof. Pradeep Saxena, eminent Hindi critic and former Head, Department of Hindi, commenting on the book said that the book written on a serious subject in easy language does not only seek to make an entry in the elite class but it also satisfies the quest for knowledge on the issue among common people.
Prof. Saxena reportedly said that the colonial mentality and ideology is the biggest hindrance in social development, which does not allow history to be analyzed rationally. The movement initiated by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan sought to free education from the colonial dogmas along with the promotion of modern education, he observed.
He said that Dr. Rahat Abrar has written a very informative book on the Muslim female education citing the history of Aligarh Movement that witnessed the contributions of numerous Muslim women of high order.
While presiding over the programme, former Principal of AMU Women’s College and former Director of Women’s Study Centre, Prof. Zakia A. Siddiqui said that the killing of female child before or after death is still prevalent in our society. The dowry devil is rampant causing destruction of a number of families and female education in India is still a toddler. There is an urgent need of another Sheikh Abdullah who could revive female education movement in order to bring complete awakening in the society, she observed.
The editor, Vartaman Sahitya, Dr. Namita Singh said that women need to be self dependent economically in order to be empowered and get rid of the chauvinistic clutches of male dominant social order, the release said.
The Director, Adult and Continuing Education, Dr. Mah Seema Masood highlighted the features of informal mode of education and urged the people to adopt a positive outlook to be optimistic in their efforts.
The chief guest and MLC, Mr. Vivek Bansal observed that discrimination against women is an international phenomenon, yet India presents the brightest side of the picture that the President of Indian republic and Lok Sabha speaker are women and it has had a woman prime minister too. Mr. Bansal said that women have to be educated for all round development of the country.
Eminent social worker and educationist, Mr. Harnarayan Singh said that a national survey should be made to find out how women’s social status is largely determined by their economic condition.
Conducting the programme, Mr. Ajay Bisaria said that different social organizations could lead a national movement for female education. He also recited the famous couplet of great poet Majaz. On this occasion, Salma Kanwal recited a poem dedicated to women. The vote of thank was proposed by Dr. Rajiv Lochan Shukl. ([email protected])