Professor P.K. Abdul Azis, Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University exhorted Indians to re-launch the Aligarh Movement initiated by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the pioneer of Modern Education in India, who founded the Mohammadan Anglo Oriental College in 1877 to attain 100% literary and enrolment in schools, creating an educational revolution in India. He was addressing an impressive gathering consisting of eminent Oman citizens, leading NRIs including a large number of AMU Alumni working in the Sultanate of Oman. The function was arranged in the Indian Embassy Auditorium. Professor Azis was in Oman at the invitation of the AMU Alumni Association of Oman.
In his Sir Syed Memorial Lecture entitled “Educational Challenges in India”, Professor Azis told the audience that despite impressive growth and expansion attained by India, in the area of education, the given enrolment ratio was lower that the national average of 11% in the states like Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura and Jharkhand. Of the total 373 educationally backward districts, 3% had GER of less than 3%, 21% had GER between 3 and 6, 38% had GER between 6 and 9% and remaining 37% had GER between 6 and 11%.