By Manzar Imam for TwoCircles.net,
Despite belief in the inevitability of death, sometimes one struggles in shock and awe to believe in its eventuality. The passing away of Padma Shri Dr. Syed Hasan was one such sad and shocking time. Founder director of INSAN School, Dr. Hasan died on Monday January, 25, 2016. He was 91 and is survived by three sons and a daughter.
Syed Bhai, as he was so fondly called, has passed away but he is to live long in the hearts and minds of thousands of people of Seemanchal and elsewhere. People of the Purnea Commissionerate of Bihar owe him special thanks for inculcating in them not just the value of education but also, for taking necessary steps to ensure availability of it. He established INSAN School on November 14, 1966 in the then Kishanganj Sub-Division of Purnea District to provide education to children.
It is worth noting here that all the four districts of the Commissionerate which also includes Kishanganj still lag far behind rest of India in this most crucial index of social development called education. But it can also be rightly said that a major credit for whatever success in terms of education is seen in the area today, goes to Syed Bhai. The School he set up earned huge success in the 1970’s and 80’s. And, it continues to contribute to the educational uplift of Kishanganj and its adjacent districts.
Due to untiring efforts of Dr. Hasan, INSAN School later grew into a college. Had it not been for his hard work, the area would have still remained insignificant in education. Today school’s alumni include writers, teachers, politicians, doctors, entrepreneurs, engineers, civil administers and above all, true to the nomenclature, they include a galaxy of sincere and humble human beings (insan) who are committed to serve humanity.
Besides other parts of the State, today hundreds of students from each panchayat of the four districts of this northeastern Division of Bihar are successful in different spheres after going through the loving and inspiring guidance of Syed Bhai.
My wish to meet Syed Bhai could not fulfill. But like many others I also benefitted from his ideas directly or indirectly as I had the opportunity to learn about him through many students of the school in Delhi and elsewhere as also through his affable, elegant and intellectual son Reza Syed Hafeez who taught a whole batch of computer class students more than just the syllabus.
Born on October, 24, 1924 in Paithana village, Islampur in the academic soil of Nalanda, Bihar, Syed Hasan graduated from Jamia Millia Islamia. In 1954, he went to the US for further studies and obtained his doctoral degree from Southern Illinois University.
Dr. Hasan returned to India after spending ten years in the US to establish INSAN School in Kishanganj. Within a short span, the school achieved a great milestone in providing quality education. Its reputation spread far and wide which excited students and their parents from different parts of the country to seek admission to study in the thatched classrooms in the small bordering town of Kishanganj, which then was not even a district.
In recognition of the services of Dr. Hasan to education the Government of India conferred on him Padma Shri in 1991.
According to an alumnus of School, the Government of India also nominated him member of an Educational Advisory Committee. He won several awards and accolades. He was also nominated for Nobel Peace Prize in 2003. But the real prize is the respect he earned from the people.
His death is being widely mourned. While thousands of his students find it hard to bear the loss, intellectuals, educationists and political leaders from across India continue expressing their grief.
In his condolence message, Member of Parliament Maulana Mohammad Asrarul Haque Qasmi said that the invaluable efforts made by Dr. Syed Hasan for promotion of education in Kishanganj cannot be forgotten. Through INSAN School he brought an educational revolution and offered Muslims a golden opportunity to excel and move ahead. While mentioning his personal relations with Dr. Hasan, the MP said that Dr. Hasan was a sincere and moderate person of high moral character. In his demise, Kishanganj has lost a true educationist. It is a huge loss for the whole region, he said.
Former central minister and Member of Parliament, Mohammad Taslimuddin said that through INSAN School Syed Bhai not only worked for elimination of illiteracy in Seemanchal but also succeeded in getting Bihar a respectable position in the realm of education. With his demise Bihar has lost a hero. The Araria MP also appealed to the people to carry forward Dr. Hasan’s mission to turn his unfinished dream into reality.
An alumnus of INSAN School and former Member of Bihar Legislative Assembly, Akhtarul Iman paid glowing emotional tribute to Dr. Syed Hasan stating that when Syed Bhai set foot in Kishanganj in 1965, the literacy rate there was a mere 6 percent, but because of his continuous efforts this was raised to 35 percent. He expressed displeasure with the Government of Bihar for not according Dr. Hasan the Guard of Honour.
Whether or not the Government felt it necessary to honour Dr. Syed Hasan, the huge number of people paying him their tribute is certainly a great honour which he enjoyed both in life and death. He will continue to command respect in people’s hearts.
On January, 26, 2016 presence of more than 25000 people from Bihar, West Bengal, Nagaland and Nepal in the prayer and burial of Dr. Hasan within the premises of the school was a well-deserved honour to both his persona and to the cause that he stood for throughout his life.
However, the real tribute to Syed Bhai would be to carry forward his unfinished agenda of educating the children to bring about a dramatic social change in the educationally backward region of Bihar.
Love nurtures growth, said a dear friend of mine. And, Syed Bhai loved children. He said, “Children are a world in themselves.” And, through best part of his life, he nurtured them for a better world. May Allah get him best reward for his noble work and grant him His pleasure and paradise!
Manzar Imam is a Delhi-based freelance journalist hailing from Purnea. He can be reached at [email protected]