Muslims must look inwards and accept change in order to better their condition and must come out of isolation and give impetus to primary education and female literacy, Vice- President Hamid Ansari said in his inaugural address at the first World Summit of Aligarh Alumni. “We failed to appreciate that educational advancement cannot be sectional, nor can it be attained in a vacuum divorced from social change,” Ansari, a former AMU student and V-C, said. About 800 alumni from all over the world participated in the three-day event that began with Sir Syed Day on October 17.
Ansari said the concerns and complaints of the condition of the community were valid, however, that should not have deterred the community from taking the initiative to create educational opportunities. He referred to other communities that had undertaken creative ventures in the field of education without government assistance. The Muslim community could emulate them and adapt to face the challenges of a knowledge society, he said.
India’s Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education remained at 11 per cent and compared poorly with China’s 22 per cent and 54.6 per cent of the developed world, Ansari said. While the government proposes to raise it to 15 per cent by 2012 and 21 per cent by 2017, the onus was on the Muslim community as well to ensure its participation and involvement. Unless they did so, they would remain marginalised, he said. The need for higher and technical education for the community still existed, Ansari said. He called upon the community to take the initiative and follow a seven-point formula including ensuring all children attended primary school, all girls and boys complete at least eight years of education and after that either go on to class 10 or continue with some kind of vocational training and enter universities. “Every challenge is also an opportunity. What can and should be done by the Aligarh fraternity at this juncture? Could it become a catalyst?,” he said.