Azad: The fighter for freedom and enlightenment

Abdul Kalam Azad popularly known as Maulana Azad because of his scholarship and poetry was also a leading freedom fighter. He was free India’s first  education minister and his birth anniversary is commemorated as the National  Education Day as a tribute to his contribution in the field of learning.

By Rachana Ramesh | NT

Abul Kalam Azad,  independent India’s first education minister, was a man of many  professions in his fourdecade-long public life. He  is lovingly remembered as  Maulana Azad; the word  Maulana is an honorific,  meaning ‘our master’ along  with his adopted pen name, Azad, meaning free. Leaving behind a lasting legacy  in the field of education,  Maulana Azad was also a  freedom fighter, politician,  and journalist. His day of  birth, 11 November, is now  celebrated as National Education Day. Here are a few  interesting snippets relating to education and literature, from his much famed  public life:

Abul Kalam was  homeschooled

Born in Mecca, Saudi  Arabia in 1888, Maulana’s  father who was a Bengali  Muslim of Afghan origins  came back to Calcutta with  his family, when Abul Kalam was just two years old.  Azad was homeschooled  and pursued traditional  Islamic education. He  was first taught at home  by his father and later, by  appointed teachers who  had proven to be eminent  in their respective fields.  Along with languages  such as Arabic and Persian, he also learned the  subjects- philosophy, geometry, mathematics, and  algebra. Through selfstudy, he learned English,  world history, and politics.

Contributions to the  Constitution

The Seventh Schedule in  the Constitution of India  defines and specifies the  allocation of powers and  functions between Union  and States. Under British  rule, education had been  listed as a subject that  only provinces could enact legislation on. Maulana stood strongly against  the notion of education  being left to the states as  he believed education was  a matter of severe importance and that the central  government must hold  all the authority in order  to set a seal on a uniform  national standard of education across the country.

Although his stance was  embraced by Jawaharlal  Nehru and other famed  members of the constituent assembly, keeping in  mind the diversity that exists in a country like ours,  many were against the  stand. They believed the  decentralised approach  would work better, for  it would enable states  to structure laws pertaining to education according to the circumstances in their own respective  boundaries. In the end,  the issue was resolved by  retaining education in the  state list but including entries related to higher education under the union list.

Pathway to quality  education

Not only through the  times of his public life,  but education had also remained an issue of significance throughout Azad’s  life. While speaking at a  meeting on 16 January  1948, “we must not for a moment forget, it is a birthright of every individual  to receive at least the basic  education without which  he cannot fully discharge  his duties as a citizen”, he  had said. Azad was also responsible for establishing  ‘the board for adult education to facilitate education  among uneducated adults.

During his tenure as the  first education minister,  from 1947 to 1958, he advocated for free and compulsory primary education for  all children falling below  the age of 14 since he believed it was the right of  every citizen. He was also  one of the founding members of the Jamia Millia Islamia University, originally  established at Aligarh in  the United Provinces. Responsible for shaping the  modern education system,  the first IIT, IIsc, School of  Planning and Architecture, and the University Grants Commission were established under his tenure. Most of the prominent cultural, literary academies like the Sahitya Academy and the Indian Council for  Cultural Relations were  also built.

Power of his pen

In 1912, Azad started a  weekly journal titled AlHilal in Urdu, in order to  increase the revolutionary  recruits from the Muslim community. The weekly  was used as a weapon of  dissent and to question British policies. The publication reached heights  of popularity, to an exten