 |
Bhopal: A book titled “Muslim Female
Education: From Veils to Moon” which has been authored by Dr. Rahat Abrar
- Aligarh Muslim University's Public
Relations Officer, was released at Aligarh in a programme
organized on “Various Aspects of Female Education” to mark the
centenary celebration of International Women’s Day.
The programme was organized by Centre of Adult and Continuing
Education, AMU, with the collaboration of renowned Hindi literary
magazine “Vartaman Sahitya”.
According to a press statement, after the release of the book Prof. Pradeep Saxena, eminent Hindi critic and former Head, Department
of Hindi, commenting on the book said that the book written on a
serious subject in easy language does not only seek to make an
entry in the elite class but it also satisfies the quest for
knowledge on the issue among common people.
Prof. Saxena reportedly said that the colonial mentality and
ideology is the biggest hindrance in social development, which
does not allow history to be analyzed rationally. The movement
initiated by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan sought to free education from the
colonial dogmas along with the promotion of modern education, he
observed.
He said that Dr. Rahat Abrar has written a very informative book
on the Muslim female education citing the history of Aligarh
Movement that witnessed the contributions of numerous Muslim women
of high order.
While presiding over the programme, former Principal of AMU
Women’s College and former Director of Women’s Study Centre, Prof.
Zakia A. Siddiqui said that the killing of female child before or
after death is still prevalent in our society. The dowry devil is
rampant causing destruction of a number of families and female
education in India is still a toddler. There is an urgent need of
another Sheikh Abdullah who could revive female education movement
in order to bring complete awakening in the society, she observed.
The editor, Vartaman Sahitya, Dr. Namita Singh said that women
need to be self dependent economically in order to be empowered
and get rid of the chauvinistic clutches of male dominant social
order, the release said.
The Director, Adult and Continuing Education, Dr. Mah Seema Masood
highlighted the features of informal mode of education and urged
the people to adopt a positive outlook to be optimistic in their
efforts.
The chief guest and MLC, Vivek Bansal observed that
discrimination against women is an international phenomenon, yet
India presents the brightest side of the picture that the
President of Indian republic and Lok Sabha speaker are women and
it has had a woman prime minister too.
Bansal said that women
have to be educated for all round development of the country.
Eminent social worker and educationist, Harnarayan Singh said
that a national survey should be made to find out how women’s
social status is largely determined by their economic condition.
Conducting the programme, Ajay Bisaria said that different
social organizations could lead a national movement for female
education. He also recited the famous couplet of great poet Majaz.
On this occasion, Salma Kanwal recited a poem dedicated to women.
The vote of thank was proposed by Dr. Rajiv Lochan Shukl.
(pervezbari@eth.net)
|