A Great Teacher-Life & Work of Dr. Zakir Husain

Dr. Zakir Husain was one of the finest flowers of Indian renaissance, who believed that the instrument of national resurgence was not politics but reformative education, and that it was impossible to change humanity through political mechanism. His greatest contribution was his scheme to educate the masses of India. He is rated as the father of humanistitre educational philosophy, which aimed at taking man towards higher objectives of life. As a moralist, a rationalist, a nationalist and an optimist he chanelised his entire life in quest of new humanism and peace. The three dimensions of his educational pyramid were knowledge, skill and wisdom; the three organic elements of his educational structure were head, heart and hand; the three vital parts of his educational system were individual, society and State; and the three thrust areas of his educational activity were social change, national development and moral personality. He conceived of a Plan to lift India to higher heights through his reformative education, which had it been implemented in all sincerity, India would not have witnessed the present day scourge of ignorance, poverty, illhealth and misery. His words deserve to be remembered, "There can be no national integration unless we succeed in making of our national State demonstrably a moral entity".

Professor B. Sheik Ali, a renowned historian of India, is a product of Mysore University, as also of Aligarh and London Universities. Having served his Alma-Mater for over 35 years, he was called upon to be the founder Vice-Chancellor of two new Universities, Mangalore and Goa, besides being a visiting Professor in U.S.A. A widely travelled scholar he participated in many national and international Seminars and Conferences, in some of which he presided. He was the founder President of the Karnataka History Conference and the General President of Indian History Congress. An author of over 20 books and 100 research papers, he has been. the recipient of several awards, such as the Golden Jubilee Award of Mysore University the Mythic Society Award, the Canara Bank Award, and the Rajyotsava Award of Karnataka State, for being a distinguished historian and an educationist. But his greatest personal satisfaction is the social work he is at present doing in a slum area of Mysore City to remove the ignorance of the masses.

Dr. Zakir Husain was a great teacher who had a vision of man's destiny, which was to move towards higher objectives of life. This movement was to be through intellect, the greatest gift of God to man. The intellect yields knowledge, skill, wisdom and understanding, which should be transformed into moral energy in order to build a system of values that would help civilised life. His modus operandi for translating this idea into reality was the education of India's masses. He believed education alone held the key for human welfare and progress, and that a great social change could be brought about in India not through the narrow gates of politics but through the flood gates of reformative education. He was not happy with the system of education imposed by the Colonials, and he worked hard to build Jamia, which proved a national laboratory to evolve a new pattern of education which would suit the Indian needs.

Dr. Zakir Husain, a thinker, a builder, a leader, and more than all an educationist par excellence, was one of the finest flowers of Indian renaissance. He would live in history as one of the most creative educationists of modern times. He firmly believed that national resurgence could come not through the narrow doors of politics, but through the flood gates of reformative education. He presented a social philosophy which desired to resolve the crisis of the present age with the value system of the past, which was gifted to humanity by the Indian sages, the sufi saints and the western philosophers. He fought all his life against dehumanised, irrelevant and alienating type of education. His was a multi dimensional personality which aimed at promoting new values and attitudes in society, and fostering that knowledge and culture which would yield new humanism and peace. He regarded education as the core of human development holding the key to the welfare and progress of its people. No investment is greater than investment in people, no wealth is greater than knowledge, and no poverty is greater than ignorance. With this in view the passion of his life was to excite in his people creative thinking on which would depend national development, to inculcate in them a sense of social responsibility, a sense of hope, faith and pride in the future of this country, and to inspire in them a sense of urgency to live harmoniously and graciously with their own brethren.

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