Mangaluru: Armed with only their master's degrees and a vision to impart higher education to underprivileged students by starting their own tutoring school, two Muslim girls from Puttur taluk overcame social and cultural barriers by taking the long route towards reaching their goal.
The achievers: Fouziya BS and Sameera KA
Fouziya BS from Athoor near Uppinangady and Sameera KA from Kadaba in Puttur taluk were relatively unknown to each other until they became roommates while pursuing their individual courses at Mangalore University nearly five years ago.
Sharing spaces and similar thoughts, their companionship grew during the academic year, as did the spark of their idea to begin imparting lessons for their lesser privileged counterparts in Athoor and Kadaba.
Once they completed their post-graduation at Mangalore University in 2012, Fouziya and Sameera, along with the latter's sister Sajida, began a coaching school mostly for dropouts from SSLC and PUC courses, in a room in a rented building. The very next year, they managed to start a degree college, which was established as a registered institution under AIM'S Educational and Charitable Trust, Kadaba. At present, there are around 180 students altogether, including school dropouts, pursuing SSLC, PUC and degree courses such as BA and BCom.
According to one of the founding members, Sameera, the idea to begin a degree college in Kadaba was conceived when they wanted to offer BA and BCom courses for students from lesser privileged families in Kadaba instead of having to travel almost 25 kilometers to the nearest town. Hence, AIM'S First Grade College was established in Kadaba in June 2013 offering BA and BCom courses for students.
Speaking to Coastaldigest.com, Sameera, who is also the principal of the college, said that the team initially began with 10 students who were dropouts from school, and the number grew to 25 by the next year with enrolment of the first batch of degree students.
“This is the third batch of students pursuing degree courses and there are around 180 students now, including those dropouts and evening college students. Since several students are unable to pay for their academic courses, the Trust funds their education.”
“Although there was discouragement from various quarters initially when we started the tutoring school, there has been equal support from social organisations and locals. A few NGOs and fundraising programmes have also donated to the school – not merely financial support, but donations in the form of textbooks, uniforms and other academic material required for the college,” she said.
MA holder in Political Science, Sameera said that starting a tutoring school had been challenging since women from the Muslim community were usually frowned upon from venturing into mainstream profession, but there had been tremendous support and encouragement from their respective families when the three had taken up the initiative to impart education to deprived students from in and around Kadaba. There are now other lecturers and staff members who also teach different subjects in the college, she said.
Fouziya, who is the president of the Trust, looks after the management of the institution, while Sajida, founder and vice-principal of the institution, also teaches different subjects for the enrolled students.
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