Hidayatullah Saiyed
Nominated for : Empowering students who want to appear for
career-oriented exams.
Initiative - Education for students who can't afford private
coaching sessions.
Nominated for : Empowering students who want to appear for
career-oriented exams.
Initiative - Education for students who can't afford private
coaching sessions.
Education is the most powerful weapon, which you can use to change the world (Nelson Mandela). Hidayutallah Saiyed knows the might of education, first hand. And he has been using it to empower scores of students who want to appear for career-oriented examinations but do not have the financial means to secure admission in coaching classes. Saiyed offers his services free. His reward: a promise that they will pass on the kindness by helping other needy students.Saiyed belongs to a middle-class family. His father was a teacher. Saiyed completed college and decided to appear for competitive examinations but could not afford private tuitions. So he approached some people he knew who could help him. However, they refused to lend a helping hand. Saiyed, who now works as a program- mer with Life Insurance Corporation of India, could not forget this incident.
In 2006, he started coaching 22 Gujarat Public Service Commission aspirants in a rented house. Of these, 18 students passed the examination. This success boosted his desire to set up an institute where he could give free guidance to needy students. He spoke to several people but no one agreed to help him. Then Saiyed spoke to his uncle late peer Shahjimiya Chisti, founder member of Rah-e-Khair Higher Secondary School for Girls in Raikhad.
Impressed with the idea, Shahjimiya let Saiyed use two rooms in the school’s computer building for the endeavour, and Sarovar Education Society was set up in 2008.
His students were doing well in competitive exams, but Saiyed was not satisfied. There were no girls in his class.
Saiyed firmly believed that girls should be educated and independent so that they can provide education to their children in turn. Finally, he convinced his cousin Heena Kausar to study at the institute. Today, 60 per cent of his students are females.
Those who graduate donate reading material, computer, printer, and have even helped set up a well-equipped library for students. “My classes are open for anyone who cannot afford coaching. I give my cellphone number to students. If they cannot afford fees for competitive examinations, they can call or sms me. I help them in any way possible,” said Saiyed.
Despite this, Hidayatullah feels he has a long way to go. “A female student in my class had reached the final stages of a competitive exam when her parents decided to get her married. Two years later, she delivered a baby but her husband died in a road accident and she returned to her parents’ house here. She was shattered and aimless. I encouraged her to resume studies. She passed four competitive exams and works with Employee’s State Insurance Corporation today,” recollects the 45-year-old.
More than 400 students of Sarovar Education Society work in different departments of the central and state governments.
Many of them teach other students for free at the society’s branches in Raikhad, Kalupur and Juhapura. The society also holds career guidance workshops across the state.
In 2006, he started coaching 22 Gujarat Public Service Commission aspirants in a rented house. Of these, 18 students passed the examination. This success boosted his desire to set up an institute where he could give free guidance to needy students. He spoke to several people but no one agreed to help him. Then Saiyed spoke to his uncle late peer Shahjimiya Chisti, founder member of Rah-e-Khair Higher Secondary School for Girls in Raikhad.
Impressed with the idea, Shahjimiya let Saiyed use two rooms in the school’s computer building for the endeavour, and Sarovar Education Society was set up in 2008.
His students were doing well in competitive exams, but Saiyed was not satisfied. There were no girls in his class.
Saiyed firmly believed that girls should be educated and independent so that they can provide education to their children in turn. Finally, he convinced his cousin Heena Kausar to study at the institute. Today, 60 per cent of his students are females.
Those who graduate donate reading material, computer, printer, and have even helped set up a well-equipped library for students. “My classes are open for anyone who cannot afford coaching. I give my cellphone number to students. If they cannot afford fees for competitive examinations, they can call or sms me. I help them in any way possible,” said Saiyed.
Despite this, Hidayatullah feels he has a long way to go. “A female student in my class had reached the final stages of a competitive exam when her parents decided to get her married. Two years later, she delivered a baby but her husband died in a road accident and she returned to her parents’ house here. She was shattered and aimless. I encouraged her to resume studies. She passed four competitive exams and works with Employee’s State Insurance Corporation today,” recollects the 45-year-old.
More than 400 students of Sarovar Education Society work in different departments of the central and state governments.
Many of them teach other students for free at the society’s branches in Raikhad, Kalupur and Juhapura. The society also holds career guidance workshops across the state.
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