National Education day - Central Board of Secondary Education

MAULANA ABUL KALAM AZAD India's first Minister of Education (1947 -1958) "We must not for a moment forget, it is the birthright of every individual to receive at least a basic education, without which he cannot fully discharge his duties as a citizen."

As the first Education Minister of Independent India (1947-1958), Maulana Azad focused on the following goals to strengthen the basic infrastructure of Education in the Country: P The establishment of a national education system with universal primary education, free and compulsory for all children up to the age of 14. P Education for girls and for the rural poor, to promote adult literacy . P Strengthing of secondary education and vocational training. P Establishment of the Indian Institutes of Technology as "a landmark in the progress of higher technological education and research in the country."

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P The development of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and the Faculty of Technology, Delhi University. P Setting up of the Central Institute of Education, Delhi [later became the Department of Education, University of Delhi] as 'a research centre for solving new educational problems of the country'. P The foundation of the University Grants Commission, an important institution to supervise and advance the higher education in the nation. In commemoration of his contribution to establishing the foundation of education in India, Maulana Azad's birthday - 11 November - is celebrated every year as the National Education Day. Seminars, symposia, essay-writing and elocution competitions, rallies and workshops are organised to highlight the various initiatives taken under 'Education for All' and in the vocational, technical and higher education sectors. Truly, there is no better way to honour this great human being and scholar who, in the words of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, was "a man of luminous intelligence and a mighty intellect with an amazing capacity to pierce through a problem to its core". Mahatma Gandhi referred to Azad as 'The Emperor of Learning', counting him as "a person of the calibre of Plato, Aristotle and Pythagorus."

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MAULANA ABUL KALAM AZAD Scholar, Poet, Freedom Fighter and a 'Visionary'

11 November 1888 - 22 February 1958 Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin, better known as Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, was not only a renowned Islamic scholar, stylist of a new form of Urdu prose and poet but also a prolific debater, a respected freedom fighter and a leader of the Indian National Congress during India's struggle for Independence. 'Azad' was the pen-name he adopted to signify his freedom from traditional ways. He was multi-lingual, being well-versed in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Bengali, Hindi and English. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was born on November 11, 1888 in the holy city of Mecca (now in Saudi Arabia). His father, Maulana Khairuddin Dihlawi, was a sufi pir of the Qadiri and Naqshbandi orders. Two years after Maulana Azad's birth his father came to Calcutta with the whole family. He had intended to stay only for a short time but his disciples and admirers did not let him go.

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Maulana Azad literally exemplified the saying that the home is the first school of a child. He was home-schooled in the traditional curriculum and in philosophy, geometry, mathematics and algebra - initially by his father and then by eminent teachers. Having realized the importance of English as an international language, he taught himself to read, write and speak the same. Maulana Azad became follower of Ahl-e-Hadees sect as Sunni Islam and followed the puritan ideology of the Salafis. His literary milestones include his autobiographical narrative, India Wins Freedom, as well as the two masterpieces of the Urdu language: Ghubar-iKhatir and the Tadhkirah. Also, his commentary on the Quran is without parallel in the realm of tafsir literature in Urdu.

Inspired by the revolutionaries, such as Shri Aurobindo Ghosh and Shri Shyam Sunder Chakravarthy, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad not only joined the freedom struggle but was also instrumental in expanding the revolutionary activities to North India and Bombay. He played an important role in bringing about Hindu-Muslim unity during the Khilafat and Non-Cooperation Movements, besides staunchly supporting Gandhiji's Quit India Movement. Since Maulana Azad's father had no faith in western education, he was educated at home by his father and by private tutors. Students who followed the traditional system of education normally finished their course at the age between twenty and twenty-five, but Azad managed to complete the course by the time he was just sixteen, and his father got together some fifteen students to whom he taught higher philosophy, mathematics and logic. Inspired by the writings of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, he decided to learn English. It was a period of mental crisis for him as he himself described:

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“This was a period of great mental crisis for me. I was born into a family which was deeply imbued with religious traditions. All the conventions of traditional life were accepted without question and the family did not like the least deviation from orthodox ways. I could not reconcile myself with the prevailing customs and beliefs and my heart was full of a new sense of revolt. The ideas I had acquired from my family and early training could no longer satisfy me. I felt I must find the truth for myself. Almost instinctively I began to move out of my family orbit and seek my own path." (India Wins Freedom; p-3) He started a column in his journal al-Hilal on "scientific matters" (muzakira-e-`ilmiya) in February 1913. The article was on radium, followed by Scott's expedition to the South Pole, wherein he praised European devotion to science and the search for truth. He translated articles

from Scientific American, the first was on montessori educational methods, "true science and true religion, although they travel on different paths, in the end arrive at the same destination" Ghubar-e-Khatir, (pp. 146-49). Al-Hilal was a weekly (Urdu) newspaper started by him, he used it as a medium for criticism of the British Raj in India. The newspaper also espoused the cause of the Indian independence movement and exhorted Indian Muslims to join the movement. In 1914, a security of two thousand rupees was imposed on "Al-Hilal" under the Press Act. When

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Maulana Azad deposited this amount, it was confiscated and a further security of rupees ten thousand was demanded. When these punitive measures failed to tone down the antiestablishment stance of the periodical, the government banned "Al-Hilal" and confiscated its press in 1915. Maulana Azad was not discouraged by this move. It was published from Calcutta. From November 12, 1915, Abul Kalam started a new weekly, the AI-Balagh from Calcutta, which continued till March 31, 1916. The publication of the Al-Balagh was also banned by the Government of Bengal and Maulana Azad was exiled from Calcutta under the Defence of India Regulations.. The Governments of Punjab, Delhi, U.P. and Bombay had already prohibited his entry into their provinces under the same Regulations. The only province he could conveniently stay in was Bihar, and he went therefore to Ranchi, where he was interned till January 1, 1920. In 1921 Maulana Azad started a weekly named "Paigham". But it was also banned in December 1921 and he was arrested. Maulana Azad's detention continued till January 1, 1921. In 1927, Maulana Azad restarted the publication of "Al-Hilal" and this weekly continued to be published till the end of the year. Maulana Azad was strongly opposed to the partition of India, on the grounds that it went against the grain of our culture which did not believe in 'divorce before marriage'. He dreamt of a unified India where Hindus and Muslims would co-exist in harmony.

The nation honoured Maulana Azad by conferring on him the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1992.

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