Pervez Bari | Clarion India
BHOPAL — A total of 150 educators from across the globe were felicitated with the 8th AMP National Award for Excellence in Education 2024 at a glittering function at Ravindra Bhawan here on Teachers’ Day on September 5.
Bhopal Shahar Qazi Maulana Syed Mushtaq Ali Nadvi presided over the felicitation function while former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh, who is presently a Rajya Sabha member, was the chief guest for the programme. The function was attended by some of the awardees, especially guests, AMP members & volunteers and members of the academic community. Other winners who could not travel to Bhopal attended the function online.
In his presidential address, Maulana Nadvi said that the importance of teachers can be understood by a quote of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) wherein he said: “I have been sent only as a teacher to you”. The Prophet impacted the hearts and minds of people through various educational activities.
Maulana Nadvi also quoted Allama Iqbal who had said: “The soil of Hindustan is very fertile and amenable to good works from its citizens.” He told the gathering that they should be thankful that Almighty Allah has made them a teacher because as per the Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), a good teacher can reach the level of prophets.
Digvijay Singh greeted and praised all teachers on the occasion and appreciated the AMP’s initiative of bringing together Muslim professionals to contribute valuably to society. He said education and health should be given top priority for the progress of the country. He also emphasised that Muslims should get into professional education for the progress of the community.
He said the number of Muslims in government jobs is less than that of the people of SC/ST category. Only 74% of Muslims have formal education and the number of women with formal education is still less than their male counterparts, he said. The percentage of literate people in SC/ST category is equal to that of the Muslims, Singh said.
Despite this, the number of Muslims in government jobs is very low, Singh said, adding that a large chunk of the people of this community is intellectual and should encourage the youths to join professional education.
Singh said in universities, the situation has come to such a pass that to become a vice-chancellor one has to be an RSS member. According to Singh, the entire education system has become corrupt. In many educational institutions, a large number of posts are lying vacant, but teachers are being appointed on contract, he said. “How can a person who is working on contract impart quality education to others?” he asked.
Appointment of teachers and professors on a contract basis is not good for the future of students, he opined. The quality of education in government schools is so poor that people do not want to send their children to those institutions, the former chief minister added.
Prof Furqan Qamar, former vice-chancellor of the University of Rajasthan & the Central University of Himachal Pradesh, in his keynote address, said: “Our participation in higher education should be increased and we should demand more from the government being a sizeable section of the population.”
Dr Usha Khare, National Teacher Awardee (Govt. of India) and State Teacher Awardee (Govt. of MP), and one of the Guests of Honour, who recently retired as Principal of Bhopal’s Govt Girls Higher Secondary School in Jahangirabad,recounted her experience of how she went around the impoverished mohallas requesting parents to send their daughters to schools. She mentioned that she donated her entire prize money of Rs 25 lakhs she won at Kaun Banega Crorepati show to the school and on retirement she left around 1.5 crores worth of assets for the school.
The winners were selected by an eminent jury of 14 educationists and academicians from thousands of nominations received from across India.
The Ibrahim Qureshi Memorial Award was presented to Prof Furqan Qamar for his outstanding service in the field of education.
The Lifetime Achievement Awards were given to Hazrat Maulana Sayyed Muhammad Aqil, Shaikh-ul-Hadith at Mazahir-ul-Uloom, Saharanpur, UP; Jamaluddin Ahmad Khan, ex-lecturer Halim Musim Inter College, Kanpur, UP; Sharifa A. Azeez from Crescent Matriculation School, Chennai, Tamil Nadu and Sheila Lawrence, former headmistress, Lucknow Christian College, UP)
A total of 78 teachers were also given Special Jury Awards for the primary & secondary, higher education & heads of institution categories. Apart from these, 50 My Favourite Teacher Awards were also given to those who were voted by students and parents across the country.
Meanwhile, the awardees from Bhopal included Bushra Parveen, Oakwoods School; Dr Shazia Ali, Champion School; Dr Mohammad Athar, Institute of Excellence; Dr MM Malik and Dr Siraj Ahmed, MANIT; Dr Sana Khan, Azim Premji University; Prof Dr Ghayur Alam, National Law University; 8. Prof Asma Rizwan, People’s University; 9. Dr Abid Husain Saify, All Saints’ College of Technology; Dr Faiqa Saulat, Trailblazer International School; and Ms Nikhat Ara, AU School.
The other guests of honour included MLAs Arif Masood and Atif Arif Aqueel, Mohammad Wazir Ansari IPS (retired), former DGP – Chhattisgarh. Each of them applauded AMP’s extraordinary achievements in the field of education and employment in the last 17 years. They also congratulated the organising team and the jury for the very thorough selection of the awardees and for meticulously conducting the felicitation programme.
Farooq Siddiqui, head of the AMP National Coordination Team, hosted the show with aplomb and recounted how from a small humble beginning AMP has now reached across the country in 200+ cities and its volunteers in many countries around the globe.
The guests were welcomed by Kalim Akhtar, zonal head of Central India, AMP NGO Connect. He presented an English translation of the Holy Qur’an to Digvijay Singh.
Sajid Qureshi, Acting President of Ibrahim Qureshi Memorial Study Circle, Bhopal, thanked AMP for allowing him to support and associate with this great event. Rafat Iqbal Farooqi, state head of the AMP Madhya Pradesh proposed the vote of thanks.
