November 11 is the birth anniversary of independent India’s first Education Minister Maulana Azad which is celebrated every year as National Education Day. There are a lot of personalities like Jawahar Lal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi whose birthdays are celebrated as Children’s Day and Gandhi Jayanti, respectively. However, very few people know about Maulana Azad and his contributions to the education as well as independence of the country.
Reminiscing the great man and his legacy, let’s get to know some facts about the late Education Minister and Bharat Ratna Winner Maulana Azad.
- Maulana Azad’s full name was Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin. He was born in 1888 in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
- He was a multi-linguistic man and had command over various languages like Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Persian, Arabic, and English. He also attended tuition classes in the Mazahibs of Maliki, Hanafi, Shariat, mathematics, world history, science, and Philosophy.
- He was a bright student who ran a library, a reading room, and a debating society when he was less than 12 years in age. At 14, he began contributing articles to a literary magazines and by 15 he was teaching a classroom full of students who were twice his age.
- He was one of the few Muslims who always advocated a unified India. He even established a weekly newspaper called Al-Hilal aimed at encourage the Muslims to fight for the independence of India and promote Hindu-Muslim Unity.
- During his tenure as Education Minister, he emphasized on free and compulsory education to all children up to the age of 14. It was under his leadership that University Grants Commission and some prominent institutes were established in the country. These include-
- Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
- Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
- Faculty of Technology of Delhi University
- Lalit Kala Academy
- Sahitya Academy
Maulana Azad was a great visionary who had high hopes for the education status of India. It was in September 2008 when the Ministry of Human Resource Development announced that the entire country will celebrate his birth anniversary as National Education Day. On this day, the educational institutions organize activities like essay writing, seminars, workshops, and rallies to spread the awareness of education and its importance.
