Nanded: Syed Tanveer Ahmed, Secretary of Markazi Taleemi Board (MTB), delivered a keynote address at the Educational Excellence Conference organised by Jamaat-e-Islami Hind in Nanded, urging Muslim communities to fundamentally rethink what quality education means and how it is pursued.
Opening his address, Syed Tanveer cited the story of Omar Moness Yaghi, a Palestinian refugee who grew up in a tent in Amman, shared a single room with siblings and livestock, yet went on to win the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Ahmed used the example to challenge the community directly. Muslims often complain that they do not win Nobel Prizes, he said, adding that the reason is a lack of struggle, a failure to prioritise education, and an absence of commitment to genuine learning.
Syed Tanveer pointed to a troubling statistic: only 8 percent of Muslim youth in India enrol in higher education, compared to 23 percent among Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. He noted that Muslim girls now marginally outpace boys at 9 percent versus 8 percent, but that girls frequently discontinue studies once a marriage is arranged.
The MTB Secretary argued that the community confuses quality education with a narrow set of outcomes. Parents consider education meaningful only when a child secures admission to MBBS or engineering. A child studying commerce, he observed, is described as “not studying at all.” This mindset, Ahmed said, directly suppresses higher education enrolment.
Drawing on Imam Ghazali’s concept of ilm-e-nafi, or beneficial knowledge, Ahmed offered a clear definition of quality education. Knowledge is only truly of quality, he said, when it benefits the individual, the family, the neighbour, and the wider society. A highly educated person who fights constantly at home, demands dowry, or litters outside while keeping the house clean has not acquired ilm-e-nafi.
Syed Tanveer also referenced Shah Waliullah’s framework, noting that genuine education strengthens the spiritual dimension of a person over the animal instincts, building self-awareness, emotional control, leadership, and critical thinking. He drew a direct parallel with India’s National Education Policy 2020 and Finland’s pre-school model, both of which emphasise social skills and holistic development over rote learning.
The MTB Secretary identified four circles of responsibility for improving educational outcomes: the system including government policy, school management, and teachers; parents; students; and the broader community. Parents, he stressed, carry enormous influence and must resolve domestic conflicts away from children, as parental discord directly damages academic performance and social development.
Syed Tanveer closed by calling on every attendee to treat the session not as a lecture but as a personal agenda for action, urging families to implement these principles within their homes, mosques, madrasas, and schools.
