Depriving higher education to girls and denying them the opportunity for further studies will be a sin. Said Minority Affairs Adviser to Government of Telangana Mr A K Khan IPS (Retd.).

A program was organized by SEED, USA and Helping Hand Foundation to felicitate students and provide scholarships. It was held at MESCO Auditorium in Hyderabad on Sunday. Mr. Khan said “girl education has the power to change the society, and it is now gaining better importance in Hyderabad.”

Khan expressed satisfaction over the performance of the schools. He said “girl education, particularly in residential schools is possible. But it needs respecting religious boundaries along with girl students to be given adequate opportunities”.

There are challenges for higher education of girl students among Muslims in the weaker sections according to Mr. Khan. It has been seen that there’s exceptionally high drop-out rates. Muslims must be enrolling for higher studies of girl students in sufficient numbers, he lamented.

AK Khan’s Advise to Girl Students

AK Khan advised girl students to hold steadfast to social and religious values but study smart. Cultivate social skills and endeavor to achieve big. Also he urged them to apply for civil services. However he expressed happiness over enrollment of Muslim girls in Civil Services training programs. Mr AK Khan said “out of 1700 candidates, who appeared for the civil services training by the government more than 900 were girls.” Performance of girl students in the minority residential schools of the state are highly appreciated.

Speakers, including educationists, academicians and Muslim intellectuals at the forum reiterated that Higher education in Muslim minority students continues to be a cause of concern, as only 6% of the students enroll into higher education.

President of Helping Hand Foundation Mr. Mujtaba Hasan Askari, said “the representation of Muslim students in post-graduation is also abysmally low at 2- 3%. And in order to boost the post graduate students, SEED, a US – based charity partnered with Helping Hand Foundation provided Rs 10.5 lakh worth of Scholarship to 36 students from Hyderabad. Out of which 7 students were given scholarship for PhD, 15 students for MBBS and 14 for other PG courses like M.A., M.Com., M.Tech among others.”

SEED USA for Girl Students

Seed along with Helping Hand Foundation has provided scholarships to 147 underprivileged students at a cost of more than 70 lakhs. It’s working across 13 states in India with educational grants of more than 1.75 Cr in a year.

Mrs. Mahapara Ali, Educationist advised Muslims to step out from the persecution complex and achieve their goals based on merit and work to integrate themselves into mainstream.”

Secretary of MESCO Dr. Md. Fakhruddin welcomed the guests. He congratulated Dr Mazhar for raising one million dollars in charity to help educational programs through SEED in India. 

Earlier, Mr. Khan called upon Mr. Syed Mazhar, SEED to comprehend meritorious scholarships for three top performing students of TMREIS from amongst nearly 91,000 students who will be competing school education in about a year’s time. He proposed SEED USA to award prizes to top 3 students in intermediate education with coveted prizes.1

Notable among the beneficiaries was a young girl from old city who is pursuing her 3^rd year in MBBS. She’s a sole bread earner of the family and stays in a single room with ailing father. She lives with a Post graduate Communication engineer from BITS Pilani, who was also another beneficiary.

More About SEED USA For Girls

At the national level SEED, USA which works on empowerment of the marginalised sections through education provided scholarships to over 650 economically backward students. SEED also funded education of 19000 low income area children from Urban slums in over 70 schools in over 13 states of India every year and spent is Rupees 1.35 Crore on education aid in 2019.

Helping Hand Foundation along with a US based NGO had been helping patients with inadequate financial resources to undergo critical medical care. A one of its kind bracket centre had been established in Masjids where more than 10,000 people have benefited from this health centre setup at a masjid in Nawab Sahab Kunta slum and neighbouring 20 slums in the last 8 months.

Mohammed Ziauddin Nayyar, Secretary of Tameer e Millat, noted neurosurgeon, Dr. Farooq Nukande, Dr. Iftekharuddin and others were also present on this occasion.

Khalid M Raza