Entrepreneur and Chancellor of Maulana Azad University Zafar Sareshwala on Friday brought the who’s who of political fraternity, social elites, assorted educators, clergies & corporate honchos at the Bombay Stock Exchange premises (BSE) in Mumbai.
The occasion was the hosting of the event “Taleem-O-Tarbiyat” which translates as “education with moral character” of the Muslim minorities.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who was the chief guest of the occasion, stressed the need to modernise madrassas in India reaffirming his government’s commitment to inclusiveness.
Sareshwala, for his part, prodded the Muslim community to make education and moral character as indispensable parts of their lives.
He said that his flagship initiative consisted of bringing students of Islamic seminaries (Madrasas) at par with mainstream academics.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Maulana Azad University & Value Edutainment group in the presence of Jaitley. Sareshwala hoped that this will provide live streaming of English, Mathematics & Science at an elementary level to such students in the Madrasas (Seminary) eventually helping them mainstreaming and aligning their religious degree to the varsity academics.
Jaitley said that he was stunned by an inspiring case of Maulana Shamsuddin Kasmi who jetted all the way from Chennai to be part of the speaking troupe. Kasmi and his group run a free education programme for underprivileged children irrespective of their religion, caste and social background.
Jaitley asked the audience to hold an optimistic view of India’s economic performance. He said that the market volatility, political instability in the middle east and the forthcoming US elections should not affect India to a large extent as government had been rigorously planning to tackle any turmoil.
Renowned educationist Mohammed Aslam Parvaiz said, “Education stands incomplete without moral education. Urdu universities were the epitome of liberty and love during the freedom struggle, we must uphold & revive the spirit with such programmes.”
Rajeev Rishi, chairman & MD, Central Bank of India, said, “With this initiative, Central Bank is committed to ease up the student loan process across the social spectrum. No student should be deprived of education due to lack of funds.
Also, attending the event was Arun Tiwari, the chairman and MD of Union Bank of India.
He said, “UBI backs up and supports such campaigns which combines education and character.”