Srinagar: The Vice Chancellor Kashmir University Prof Talat Ahmad made a strong plea for proper education of the youth from minority communities and mainstreaming them in various service sectors including Indian Civil Services and other competitive fields. Speaking at a webinar, “The Untold Story of Jamia Millia Islamia’s Residential Coaching Academy (RCA) growth”, organized by faculty of Commerce, Aligarh Muslim University.
Prof Talat paid rich tributes to the vision of Jenab Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the torch bearer of the mission education for Muslims and the minorities of the subcontinent.
Remembering his days at AMU, as student, he recalled the belief that “if you have not studied at Aligarh you have not studied at all”. He appreciated the efforts of RCA at Jamia Milia, especially its former Director M F Farooqui, for laying a strong foundation of facilitating minority participation in the civil services.
Prof Talat recalling his tenure as Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia, said, “I had the good fortune of encouraging innovative ideas of Farooqui for creation of facilities including hostel, library, reading room, attracting and selecting the best students without any influence, mentoring, teaching and regular testing of students besides mock interviews involving the best available brains in the country. This has yielded good results”.
Prof Talat made an emotional appeal to all the participants of the webinar to help students and scholars from minorities and economically weaker sections, to achieve their full potential. “We were fortunate to get opportunity to reach the highest seats of academic leadership, now the time has come to give back to our community and help our youth enter the mainstream as officers, engineers, doctors and successful entrepreneurs. The time has also come to give full responsibility to younger lot, encourage and guide them. That will make them more accountable and productive”.
The VC, KU also made an appeal to the RCA to facilitate and increase participation of students from Kashmir in their coaching programmes. He also advised students to stay focused on their career choices and strive hard to achieve their potential.
Speaking on the occasion M F Farooqui, former Director RCA, JMI while listing the growth and functioning of RCA, appreciated the contribution of Prof Talat Ahmad, as VC JMI, for his contribution and guidance. He said that Prof Talat used to set very high targets for RCA which forced them to work harder and achieve better results. “He encouraged free and fair discussion on every detail that propelled the growth of the academy” added Farooqui.
The others who spoke during the webinar included Prof Imran Saleem, Dean Faculty of Commerce, AMU, Prof Shabir Bhat, Director UGC HRDC Centre at KU. The speakers laid stress on expanding the base of greater participation of minority students from different parts of the country in coaching programmes for civil services and other competitive exams. This will result in mainstreaming and higher precipitation of minority youth in decision making for nation building. Dr Roopa Hassan from RCA, JMI presented a vote of thanks.

KR Desk