Maryam Ajmal Women’s College of Science and Technology at Hojai. Telegraph picture

Hojai, Dec. 2: Ajmal Foundation has decided to set up a line of modern educational institutions for Muslim women across Assam to do away with their stereotype image of traditional homemakers in orthodox circumstances.

Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, MP and managing trustee of the Foundation, told this correspondent that according to the Quran and Prophet Mohammad, seeking knowledge is mandatory for all Muslims, irrespective of the gender. He said it would be a disrespect to the Quran if women were not allowed to go to schools or colleges.

“It is high time for society to fight for education of Muslim women. The Foundation had established Maryam Ajmal Women’s College of Science and Technology at Hojai in 2006 with only 20 students. The college has grown in leaps and bounds in academics as well as in infrastructure. It now has 400 girls from Assam and neighbouring states. We have plans to set up more such colleges across the state to impart education to each and every woman,” he said.

Ajmal spoke to this correspondent last evening on the sidelines of an education conclave of the Foundation at Hojai, a small town in Nagaon district.

The conclave, attended by eminent educationists from across the state, discussed in detail how to spread education among Muslim women and empower them so that they are treated on a par with their male counterparts in different spheres of life.

Justice M.S.A. Siddiqui, chairman of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions, who attended the conclave, said Islam was a misunderstood and misinterpreted religion, especially in case of women’s rights.

Gayatri Goswami, head of the education department, Gauhati University, who too attended the conclave, appreciated Ajmal Foundation’s initiative to educate women.

The Foundation also has plans to set up a medical college in Hojai and a university in Guwahati, Ajmal said. It has already submitted applications to the Assam government to convert the existing Haji Abdul Majid Memorial Hospital and Research Centre at Hojai into a medical college.

“I am personally in touch with the Medical Council of India to set up the medical college. The 250-bed capacity of the existing hospital has to be increased to 360 beds for it to become eligible for a medical college tag,” Ajmal added.