The Jeddah-based Urdu Academy recently organized an inter-school elocution competition to celebrate India’s National Education Day and honor the memory of legendary freedom fighter and educator Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

Maulana Azad was India’s first education minister and his leadership of Indian Muslims before and after partition is widely acclaimed by historians.

The contestants shed light on his persona and his stand against the two-nation theory. Some of them highlighted his work as a journalist and writer opposed to the British colonialists.

Male and female students from nearly 16 international schools in Jeddah took part in the competition, which was overseen by a team of community members. The contests were in English and Urdu.

Indian Consul General B.S. Mubarak was the chief guest while visiting Indian journalist Syed Fazil Hussain Parvez was the guest of honor. Mubarak praised Urdu Academy President Syed Jamal Qadri and his team for their efforts to promote Urdu and Azad’s work.

“I am especially attached to the works of Maulana Azad because my first diplomatic assignment in Cairo was with the Maulana Azad Center for Indian Culture (MACIC). There I came in close contact with the Maulana’s teachings and seminal works,” said Mubarak.

“When I first came here I was a little surprised to see no focus on leadership training or communication skills among school students,” he said. “The Urdu Academy and other organizations have taken the lead and are helping children build holistic personalities,” he said.

Syed Fazil Husain Pervez said the Urdu Academy worked also in the south Indian city of Hyderabad. “Jamal Qadri and his team have helped provide school uniforms to many deserving students of Urdu medium schools in Hyderabad,” he said.

“I am a product of an Urdu school and I remember when we saw students of English medium schools in uniform we had a kind of inferiority complex,” he said. “Jamal Qadri and his team have done a great job in trying in their own little way to get Urdu students to overcome that complex. This is no small achievement.”

Prominent among those who attended the event were Educational Consul Raghib Qureshi, Faiz Al-Abideen, IISJ Vice Principal Farhadunnisa, Shaikh Ibrahim Shaikh, Syed Khaja Viqaruddin, Abdul Sami, Syed Ali Mahmood, Aijaz Ahmad Khan, Mirza Qudrat Nawaz Baig, Saleem Quadri, Saleem Farooqi, Mohammed Abbas Khan, Rita Sharma, Khalid Hussain Madani, Aleem Khan Falki, Syed Nasir Khursheed, Aqeel Jameel, Azhar Ali Zai, Samia Aqeel, Mohammed Haseebullah, Ahmed Abdul Hakeem, S.P. Singh, Ali Masry, Mahtab Qadr and Omi Notani.

The winners in the Urdu speech contest for boys were Abdul Rahman Abdullah (Al-Warood International School) in first place, followed by Nadeem Fayyaz (DPS Al-Falah International School) and Fahad Ayyub (Indian International School Jeddah or IISJ) in second and third positions. Yahya Sayed Viqaruddin (DPS Al-Falah International School) took fourth place.

In the Urdu competition for girls, the winners, from first to fourth, were: Dua Habib Majid (IISJ), Jameela Mushtaq (IISJ), Samia Akram (DPS Al-Falah International School) and Maria Emad (Al-Shati Al-Noor International School).

In the English speech contest for boys, the winners from first to fourth were: Aditya Andora (Al-Warood International School), Fadhil Basheer (IISJ), Affan Mohammed Nawaz (DPS Al-Falah International School) and Abdur Rahman Mohammed Ameen (Al-Shati Al-Noor International School).

In the English contest for girls, the winners, from first to fourth, were: Sayed Hafsa Hina (IISJ), Samia Maheen (DPS Al-Falah International School), Sandra Sanjeev (Al-Warood International School) and Shaheena Banu (Al-Mawarid International School).

Mohammed Faheem conducted the proceedings with aplomb.

Indian Consul General B.S. Mubarak, Urdu Academy President Syed Jamal Qadri and other guests and invitees at the National Education Day celebrations in Jeddah.

 
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