Najma Heptulla signals speedy implementation of govt schemes in eastern India.
By TCN News,
New Delhi: The two-day National Conference on ‘an understanding of educational aspirations and attainment of minority girls in India’ organised by the All India Confederation for Women Empowerment through Education (AICWETE) at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi came to an end on Sunday with a technical session chaired by Dr Faiza Abbasi, Assistant Professor, Aligarh Muslim University.
Presentations at the session were made by Dr Shabistan Gaffar, Chairperson, AICWETE; Khalid Saifulla, education activist from Jharkhand; K Natarajan, thinker and strategist, New Delhi; Reem Ashraf and Abdul Matin, both research scholars at JNU, New Delhi.
Justice MSA Siddiqui, former Chairman of NCMEI presents a memento to Najma Heptulla, Union Minister for Minority Affairs at the inauguration of the two-day National Conference on ‘An understanding of educational aspirations and attainment of minority girls in India’ organised by the All India Confederation for Women Empowerment through Education (AICWETE) at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, deliberating at the Conference, Afrida Hussain, News X correspondent from Guwahati, said, “Women and girls have been victims of ruthless power struggles for centuries in all societies and cultures around the world. We know that women are minority within the minority. It is nothing but our society had been keeping women socially, educationally, and politically backward.” Hussain proposed, therefore, that the focus of all initiatives should be on the empowerment of women and girls as they are disproportionately affected by poverty and discriminations, and suffer abuses and violations.
Zafar Agha, Member NCMEI; Afrida Hussain, News X, Guwahati; Justice MSA Siddiqui, former chairman NCMEI; and Nurul Islam Laskar, Project Head, ANREM pose together at the two-day National Conference on ‘An understanding of educational aspirations and attainment of minority girls in India’ organised by the All India Confederation for Women Empowerment through Education (AICWETE) at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on Saturday.
Najma Heptulla, Union Minister for Minority Affairs, who inaugurated the Conference on Saturday, said, “To me, a girl’s education is more important as she is the mother of the coming generation. Call the men also as their mindset towards the education of the girl child needs to change.” Heptulla expressed her desire to intensify the implementation of various schemes of the Government for the educational advancement of minority communities in states such as Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
Presiding over the inaugural session, Justice MSA Siddiqui, former chairperson of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI), said “Give the girls good education and they will be able to protect themselves from all social evils and discriminations.”
Another delegate from Assam, Nurul Islam Laskar, Project Head, ANREM, apprised the participants about the various initiatives taken by NGOs, civil society organisations, and advocacy groups for promotion of education among girls of minority communities in Assam.
The unique feature of the Conference was attendance by girl students from various educational institutions from Delhi and adjacent areas.