Sada-e-Watan Sydney ™
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Sir Syed Day 2008 - AMU Alumni of
Australia
Coverage to
Sada-e-Watan Sydney by Zamir Khan
· Global Establishments of the Alumni Associations.
Aligarians all over the world virtually consider themselves as members of one very large extended family and regardless of the country they live, they invariably form an association. In the Indian subcontinent the trend is to call ‘Old Boys Association’, whereas in North America and other western countries they are commonly known as the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Alumni Association.
· Sir Syed Day Celebrations/ Dinner
The most significant and popular event for any Alumni Association worldwide is to hold Sir Syed Day on an annual basis, as close as possible to his birth anniversary. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, most probably is the only founder of an educational institution in the world who is so conspicuously, enthusiastically and reverently remembered by the Alumni of Aligarh Muslim University all over the world on a regular basis.
· Sir Syed Day Celebration in Sydney
This year Sir Syed Day was celebrated on Saturday, 8th November 2008 at Parramatta Town Hall, 182 Church St Mall, Parramatta. As per AMU tradition the function started with recitation from Holy Quran verse 177 Surah Baqarah by Master Ali Ahmad followed by English translation by Master Ahsen Khan.
Mr. Zamir Khan, the Secretary of AMU Alumni of Australia (AMUAA) very diligently and elegantly performed the duties as a host of the programme.
This year the Alumni
invited High Commissioner of India, Honourable Mrs Sujatha Singh as the chief
guest and Professor Richard Henry, Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of New
South Wales (UNSW), as the Guest of honour and keynote speaker. The function was
attended by over 300 guests.
Mr Faiz Ahmad, the President of AMUAA comprehensively welcomed the Chief Guest, Honourable Mrs Sujatha Singh, Professor Richard Henry, Professor Kevin Maloney, representative from the University of Western Sydney, Trustee Mr. G.Q.Siddiqui, Patron Mrs Qamar Jahan Begum and all those who came along to graciously participate in the programme. He said it was a great honour for AMUAA to host such personalities of outstanding calibre in their areas of profession.
Mr Faiz Ahmad spoke very highly of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan by saying that he was a great visionary, social reformer and educationist of his time. The Muslims of the Indian sub- continent in particular immensely owe to him. The President emphatically said, “It is the vision of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan that drives the mission of the AMUAA”. In short, it is a mission with lofty vision; when someone is on a good thing, stick to it.
The President, AMU Alumni of Australia in his speech welcomed all the guests and sponsors for attending Sir Syed Day Function. Mr Faiz Ahmad also read the goodwill message for the Sir Syed Day from the Vice President of India Honourable Mr. M. Hamid Ansari.
Mr. Faiz Ahmad also presented a comprehensive report on various aspects of the Sir Syed Scholarship Project and its management. In reality the activities of AMUAA mainly revolve around scholarship project. Mr. Faiz Ahmad reported that currently more than forty-one scholarships are awarded to AMU and JMI New Delhi students for post- graduate studies in various disciplines for full term, and about 235 scholarships to primary, secondary and tertiary levels in Schools in India. The project is also helping schools in Indian villages and remote areas to build classrooms etc and to provide associated amenities. The President made appeal to the audience to donate for the university scholarship @ $300.00 annually and for school students @ $50.00 annually.
The AMU Alumni of Australia web site, ‘amualumni.org.au’ was launched by the President who informed that this web site will become a single source of information about Alumni’s activities, scholarship projects, upcoming events, news, payment of donations and membership.
The President expressed his desire to increase cooperation with other Associations of the Indian Subcontinent. He informed that this year AMU conferred the ‘AMU Aligarh International Award’ for literature to Mr M. Zakir Ali Khan an eminent educationist of Pakistan and an old boy.
· Address by Chief Guest
The Secretary, Mr Zamir Khan gave a brief introduction of chief guest Honourable Mrs Sujatha Singh. In her excellent and spellbinding speech, the Chief Guest Mrs Sujatha Singh thanked the Alumni for inviting her and commended the efforts of the Alumni in helping poor students achieve their dreams. She likened these efforts to the hard work that Sir Syed had done in his selfless service to the community. Mrs Sujatha Singh also mentioned in her speech about the Sir Syed Day celebration at AMU and the World Summit of AMU Alumni where her father His Excellency Sri T.V. Rajeshwar, Governor of Uttar Pradesh was the chief guest at the Sir Syed Day celebration at AMU and delivered the Commemoration Address. Her father, Mrs Singh said paid rich tributes to Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and informed that Sir Syed Ahmad Khan wanted to build a bridge between East and West by establishing the MAO college. Mrs Singh said her father and Vice President of India, Honourable Mr. Hamid Ansari also attended the two-day 2008 World Summit of AMU Alumni held at Aligarh on October 18 and 19. During world summit, His Excellency Sri T.V. Rajeshwar announced a contribution from Governor's discretionary fund of Indian rupees One hundred thousand to the AMU Alumni Fund.
She said that AMU Alumni in Australia was involved in very important work for promoting education in the remote and poor areas of India and creating a balance between Western and Oriental world. She remarked that there was need to have an Aligarh Old Boys & Girl Association instead of just Old Boys Association.
· MCCA and its significance
Mr Hadi of Muslim Community Co-operative Australia (MCCA) also spoke for a while, explaining the significance of MCCA its Philosophy and Methodology. MCCA is the major sponsor of Sir Syed Day Function and has played an important role towards the success of the AMU Alumni Scholarship projects.
· Keynote Address by Professor Richard Henry.
Mr Fasihuddin Khan, introduced Prof. Richard Henry Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), UNSW and requested him to address the guests. Key note speaker Prof Henry thanked Alumni and said that I am honoured to be your keynote speaker this year and praised Alumni’s scholarship program. Professor Henry then talked about the Role of Education for the Socially Disadvantaged and said that University of NSW is working to improve the access for students from poor economic background. At UNSW not only the best students are admitted but also the ones with highest potential. The UNSW’s winter school provides exposure to students from classes 10-12 to the life at UNSW. The University has undertaken an ASPIRE program to help local high school students reach their full potential by lifting their aspirations and seeking university education. There are mentoring services provided by UNSW students to help new school students. The University has the largest indigenous Australians enrolled due to UNSW initiatives to increase the intake of socially disadvantaged students.
Later, Mr Aley Ali, presented a vote of thanks. Mr Khursheed Anwar presented a melodious ghazal “Dil”. The program broke for the Maghrib prayers, following which the children presented three performances, A song by Nabila and Naida, Character Parade show and a chorus by children “I look I look I see”. Children’s Character Parade demonstrated renowned leaders from all over the world ranging from Yasser Arafat, Benazir Bhutto, Kevin Rudd, Manmohan Singh and other prominent past leaders and freedom fighters from India like Razia Sultana and Jhansi Ki Rani. As always, the children stole the show with their immaculate performances and set the field for further entertainment into the night. The famous AMU Tarana written by poet Majaz was presented by Alumni’s Tarana Team and was joined by other Aligarians.
Dinner was served after which Mr Zahid Jamil, gave away the prizes to young performers. The children’s program and prize distribution was conducted by Mrs Iram Rasheed.
The program concluded with an excellent Mazahiya Mushaira where Mr Zahid Fakhri of Pakistan, Mrs Rehana Qamar of USA, Mrs Kausar Jamal, President Urdu Society, Mr Abbas Gilani, Mr. Shuja Atif, Dr. Shabbir Haider, Mr. Abbas Raza Alvi and Mr Riaz Shah presented their poetries. The Mushaira was conducted by Mr Fasiuddin Khan. Alumni also conducted Children’s drawing and colouring competition.
