All heroes don’t come with super powers, capes or quirky underwear. Sometimes, they are just ordinary people, leading ordinary lives but doing extraordinary things. One of them is Ahmed Ali, an 82-year-old rickshaw-puller from Karimganj district in Assam - who according to this report by The Better India, set up nine schools in his village with his personal earnings. Ali’s story of exceptional social service, first came to light when he was featured in the Prime Minister’s monthly podcast this March.
According to this report by the India Times, Ali who is a school drop out himself has been working towards his goal of providing education to the village children for the past four decades. In 1978 he sold a plot of his land and collected small amounts of money from other villagers, subsequently establishing a lower primary school. He then repeated this process many times, establishing as many as nine schools in Madhurband and nearby villages - three lower primary schools, five upper primary schools and one high school.
Despite coming from poverty and being a school drop out himself, Ali has an ardent ambition towards changing the education opportunities around his locality through his own resources. “I have a dream to establish at least 10 schools in my locality. I want to now set up a junior college without delay so that no student from a poor family has to abandon studies after passing out of Class 10,” he confessed to The Better India.
In a country where there is tremendous gap between the educational opportunities available for different stratas of society, initiatives like Ahmed are blessings to the future generation. Moreover considering Ahmed’s own financial constraints, his endeavours are one of rare philanthropy.
If you enjoyed reading this article we suggest you read: