Remembering Maulana Azad on National Education Day

India observes National Education Day on November 11 to honor the birth anniversary of independent India's first education minister, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Born in Mecca in 1888, Azad emerged as a gifted scholar who mastered the Quran by age ten before entering politics during the 1905 Partition of Bengal and fiercely opposing the 1947 partition of the country.

Educational Legacy

As the nation's first education minister with a cabinet rank, Azad shaped India's academic landscape by helping establish major institutions like the University Grants Commission in 1956 and the first Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur in 1951, followed by campuses in Bombay, Madras, Kanpur, and Delhi. He also set up the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in 1950, along with the Sangeet Natak Akademi, Sahitya Akademi, and Lalit Kala Akademi, while advocating that education receive top budgetary priority right after food and clothing.

Context

National Education Day serves as an annual reminder of the foundational policies and institutions that built modern India's school and higher education systems after decades of colonial rule. Observing this day encourages stakeholders to evaluate current academic progress and strive for a stronger knowledge society.