Feb 12, 2002 07:03 AM
8914 Views
(Updated Feb 12, 2002 07:03 AM)
Jamia Millia Islamia is a great institution established by Zakir Saheb, as he is popularly known. The great Educationist Dr. Zakir Hussain, who was a staunch supporter of Basic Education, started by Mahatma Gandhi, established Jamia Millia. It had its humble beginning, but today, it is a large University unique in many respects. My mother-in-law wanted my wife to study at Jamia at the feet of Zakir Saheb, but in those days there was no co-education in Jamia. Eventually she studied in the Basic System. Jamia Millia Islamia sounds everything Muslim, everything Islam, but, it is not, it has students from many parts of India, it has many non-Muslim Academic Departments and it teaches courses on inter-religious worship. It has a very modern Mass Communication Department. Actually, in my opinion, is a misnomer. It would be better to say that it has a very modern Department of Video Production, second to none in Asia, except Japan. It has also a State Resource Centre for Adult Education for Delhi State, headed by my good friend Nishat Farooq. Nishat looks every inch a Hindu, extremely beautiful with a veil on her head. My good friend the late Jamila Kidwai, who headed the Video Setup, had a Hindu wife. Jamia Millia Islamia has been a venue of many national and international conferences. These and many other examples go to prove that JMI is the best example of Secularism.
