By Nurul Islam Laskar, MM,
KOZHIKODE, 28 DEC 2014: The 23rd Annual International Convention on Education organised by American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin (AFMI) entered its second and final day on Sunday in picturesque Kozhikode city of Kerala. All together 122 rank holder students of class X and XII board examinations belonging to the minority communities drawn from 22 states of India received gold, silver and bronze medals at the Convention.
The Sunday events of the Convention were held at the Muslim Educational Society (MES) complex where an exhibition is going on as a prelude to the four-day programme from Jan 2 to 5, 2015 of the International Institute of Islamic Medicine to be celebrated in Kerala to showcase the contribution of Muslims in the sphere of healthcare and medicine.
Syed Azeemuddin, AFMI President Elect, delivered the inaugural lecture in which he highlighted the feelings of the NRIs who are successful in the West but long to do something useful for their brothers and sisters back home. This is the reason for which the members of the AFMI are doing their best to spread education in the areas dominated by the poor and backward sections of the Muslim community. Addressing the students who bagged medals at the Convention, he exhorted, “If you are educated, you can sell yourself very well. Education gets you acceptance and respect all over the world.”
Dr Hussain F Nagamia, Chairman, International Institute of Islamic Medicine; Dr A Raheman S Nakadar, Founder Trustee AFMI, Detroit USA; Dr Fakhruddin Mohammed, President, MESCO, Hyderabad; and Dr Suhaib Siddiqui, AFMI President Elect 2015-B addressed the audience in general and exhorted the young section of the community to work hard for their own success and for making India stronger in the years to come.
Two academic sessions were held on the first day of the Convention on Saturday. The third and final academic session on the topic ‘Empowering Women as key change agents in modern trend in world education’ was held on Sunday, moderated by Kamarunnisa Anwar and participated by Mrs S Siddiqui (Boston USA); Hasina Poonawala (UK); Shabistan Gaffar (Chairperson, Committee on Girls Education, NCMEI, Ministry of HRD, Govt of India); Mazhar Hussain (COVA, Hyderabad India); and Prof VU Ameera (Kozhikode).
The same Convention was held in Guwahati last year and hosted by Ajmal CSR. It was held in Ranchi, Jharkhand in the year 2012. It is held in a different city of India every year. The silver jubilee Convention of AFMI is likely to be held in Delhi in 2016.