Maulana Azad National Urdu University ropes in UN arm to help madrasas

Gachibowli: Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) on Friday took a leap forward towards its mandate of reaching the unreached by entering into a partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to implement a pilot project on Adolescence Education Program (AEP) in Madrasas of Bihar. 

A formal launching ceremony of the project was held on Friday morning at the Conference Hall of Administrative Building in MANUU Campus. Dr Mohammad Aslam Parvaiz, vice chancellor, presided over the programme and exchanged documents with Venkatesh Srinivasan, assistant representative at UNFPA in India.

Addressing a gathering, Dr Aslam Parvaiz described the project as a new beginning for MANUU. The endeavour to empower Madrasa students is part of MANUU’s mandate, he said. Collaboration with UNFPA shall continue to streamline the marginalized sections. Inclusion and dissolution is important for the smooth functioning of the society, Dr Aslam Parvaiz remarked.

Srinivasan stressed the need to engage educational institutions with national bodies and professional organizations. He offered more collaborative ventures to MANUU, including a new project on Media with the involvement of Department of Mass Communication and Journalism. Dr MA Sikandar, registrar, described the pilot project as a mission and something which is in complete consonance with university’s mandate.

Earlier, Dr M Vanaja, project coordinator, welcomed the guests. Prof. Mohd Shahid, project director, briefed about the proposal. He said that MANUU is keen into the project by the virtue of the exigency to get into such projects to empower Muslim community, especially adolescent Muslims.

He explained the demography of Purnia Division, which is considered as one of the backward regions of Bihar. Dr Nadeem Noor, UNFPA member in Patna, conceptualized the whole situation of marginalized communities in the country and the associated stigma of mainstreaming Indian Muslims. In the context, he expressed his views on taking adolescent students of Madarasas to an extent where they can develop life skills to become an active citizenship.