(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Instituting awards such as WISE and Katara Prize for Arabic Novel by Qatar to promote education and literary movements reflects the out-of-the-box thinking of the country's leadership, a former Indian official said yesterday.
"No other country thought about instituting such prizes, but Qatar took these initiatives to promote education in and outside the country," said Syed Shahid Mehdi, a retired Indian Administrative Services officer and former Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) vice-chancellor.
Mehdi, also an educationist, said, "I am glad to say that one of these prizes, which is considered equivalent to Nobel Prize for Education, went to an Indian organisation I am associated with."
In 2012, the Second $500,000 World Innovative Summit for Education (WISE) prize went to Dr Madhav Chavan, the founder of 'Pratham' (the first) that reaches out to about three million underprivileged primary school children in India every year.
Mehdi is the founding board member of Pratham's Delhi Chapter.
During his stint as vice-chancellor (2000 to 2004), he took decisions that improved quality of education, including new programmes such as Peace and Conflict Management and Faculty of Architecture and Ekistics in Jamia Millia Islamia.
He was a chief guest at the 94th Foundation Day Celebration of JMI, organised and attended by over 200 alumni working here in various fields. The number of participants this year (second edition of the event), witnessed a three-fold jump compared to last year.
About the Indian community in Qatar, Mehdi said, "I am happy that India is playing an important role in the construction and reconstruction of Gulf countries, including Qatar. Our relationships with Gulf states are very old and traditional, based on symbiotic and mutual benefits."
He said the region not only meets India's energy needs but also a significant portion of India's foreign exchange comes from this region through remittances.
He said given the huge contribution by moderate workers, the Indian government should acknowledge their services during NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) events instead of only focusing on big businessmen living in Western countries.
"The contribution of moderate workers in terms of remittances is much more than big NRI businessmen in the US and Europe, so that should be adequately recognised," said the former Indian representative to Food and Agriculture Organization office in Yemen.
Present were Hasan Chougule, Guest of Honour and Chief Patron of DPS-MIS (Doha), Syed Arif Mehdi, Guest of Honour, Najmul Hasan Khan and Shadab Khan (Founders and Patrons of JMI Alumni Association) and guests.
Chougule, the Doha-based Indian educationist, called upon the audience to comply with latest education standards set by Qatar.
"We must upgrade our facilities according to latest standards. In case anyone facing genuine concerns or problems they can seek time to comply with that instead of expecting things to remain static."
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.