From perfume to politics, Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) president Badruddin Ajmal has travelled a long way. And exploring another field, the Ittar tycoon set up a public school here on Sunday. Shiksha Public is a day school affiliated to the CBSE.Ajmal and his four brothers have carved out an empire for themselves by dealing in the lucrative Ittar trade. However, this is not the first time that they have set their hands on education. The Ajmals run a number of educational programmes under several banners, most of which were initially aimed at benefiting the Muslim community. “While Markazul Ma’arif, an NGO headed by Badruddin Ajmal, runs around nine schools in different towns of Assam, the Ajmal Talent Search Examination selects 100 students every year for various school-level scholarships,” said Shariffudin Laskar, the executive trustee of the school.Cutting across all religious lines, now they want to set up an international school in Guwahati, with students coming from different countries of the world. “We would like to set up a school like the Sharad Pawar International School in Pune — one that has students from as many as 30 countries,” said Laskar. What’s more, they have already acquired a 15-acre plot outside the city for the purpose. “We don’t intend or need to make money by running schools,” says Sirajuddin Ajmal, one of the brothers. Following the footsteps of his elder brother Badruddin, Sirajuddin too joined politics and was elected an MLA in last year’s by-election.Since last year the Ajmal Trust has also been supporting five students, who have cleared their prelims for the UPSC exams. “We don’t believe in religious discrimination and you’ll be happy to know that all five students selected for this scholarship are Hindus,” Shariffudin said. Ajmal Trust scholarships are now also being extended to students of engineering, agriculture, medical sciences and management. The Trust also supports orphanages and special boarding schools for Muslim girls.The Ajmals are also trying to empower the modern-day Ulemas through English and computer education. “Though the Ulemas know Arabic and are able to comprehend Islam directly from the original sources, they are unable to communicate with the intelligentsia as they lack proficiency in English. As a result, they are not only unable to present Islam to others, but also to communicate with the educated people of their own community,” says the Ajmals’ website.As a result of their efforts, traditional institutions like Darul Uloom (Deoband), Jamiat Shabab-ul-Muslimin (Lucknow) and Markaz-e-lslami (Ankleshwar) have also started introducing these courses, with MMERC providing them the basic materials and programmes.
