It was a windfall for them – literally. Boys and girls who couldn’t afford the luxury of school bags, long books and course material walked off with them. And the best thing was they didn’t have to pay a pie for it.
This boon came to the lot of 5,015 schoolchildren on Wednesday when the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president, Asaduddin Owaisi distributed the kits to students of government Urdu medium schools. Students of classes VI to X numbering 2,075 in the Chandrayangutta Assembly constituency and 2,940 in Bahadurpura Assembly constituency were the beneficiaries. In the coming days, the MIM plans to distribute the educational kits to students of government Urdu medium schools in Charminar, Yakutpura, Malakpet, Karwan, Nampally and Goshamahal constituencies. A total of 13,000 students in 84 schools will get the kits costing Rs. 30.04 lakh this year. The vast ground in Darusalam was teeming with students and their parents who came to collect the educational kits. It was late Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, who started the scheme in October 2005.
Mr. Asaduddin Owaisi said the idea behind free distribution of educational kits was to raise the academic standards of poor students. His father considered education as the most effective weapon to empower the community. There was lot of hidden talent among the poor. They only needed to be given an opportunity to prove themselves. In this regard, Mr. Owaisi referred to Moulana Azad Model School where the students had put up a spectacular performance in the CBSE tenth class exam.
From 2005, the Majlis had given educational aid to 86,402 students at a cost of Rs. 1.93 crore.
The improved pass percentage in the SSC exam showed that the effort had not gone waste, Mr. Owaisi said. He wanted the government to allocate a major portion of the budget to education and health as these were two areas which mattered most.
Basic amenities
He felt provision of basic amenities like toilets and additional class rooms in schools would go a long way in improving the girls’ enrolment. “Without education there can be no progress,” the Hyderabad MP said and asked the students to study sincerely. The Majlis leader expressed concern at the poor literacy rate in Charminar Mandal and said his party would talk to the school authorities and try to address the problem.
