Friday, August 28, 2015

JOURNEY OF A VILLAGE BOY FROM POONCH: From a Rehbar- e- Talem Teacher to Vice Chancellor of a University



“ Manziley  Unhi   Ko  Milti  Hai, Jinke Sapno Main Jaan Hoti Hai ; Pankhon  Se Kuch Nahi Hota  bas  Hausloon Main Udaan Hoti Hai”. The famous Urdu quote is once again being proven by Dr. Shazad Malik.


Hard work and Humility made this Young Villager to Achieve the prestigious Post of Vice Chancellor.





Rehbar- e- Talem Teacher to Vice Chancellor: Long Jump from a Small Village !



Raman Sharma 

 ( Khari Kahri News Magazine , Aug/2015 EDITION )

Agra/Poonch: Dr. Shazad Malik a well known name in Agra and Uttar Pradesh , an inspiring figure for the millions of young Indians is a native of district Poonch, he is  Vice Chancellor of Sri Sath Univeristy in Uttar Pradesh, he is among a very few educationists in India holding the  privileged post of the Vice Chancellor at such a young age.

 At the age when most of  young boys and girls in India and especially in Jammu and Kashmir State are queuing in search of a government job, Dr. Malik became the founding Vice Chancellor of Sri Sai Nath  University in 2012 and that too  100s of miles away from his home town and state.

Dr. Malik just after completing his doctorate  from Chaudhary Charan Singh University, in 2006 joined SRI Sai Nath Group of Education and remained director of the SNGE for over a period of 6 years.  

Hailing from a very isolated and  backward village Kasblari in Tehsil Mendhar of district Poonch, Dr Malik achieved the top position in the field of education in one of the largest state in the country only because of  to his hard work, humility and passion for his goal.

 Khari-Kahri Team re-visited some untold inspiring  stories of this successful but humble educationist who never forgets to repay incentive of his success to his native State, yes it is only after the personal initiative of Dr. Shazad Malik that deserving students from Jammu and Kashmir State seeking admission in SSNU are also offered scholarship besides concession in admission and tuition fees. Till date over 150 students hailing from twin district of Rajouri and Poonch have obtained degrees in different streams from his university and even at present over 40 students continuing their courses.

On visit to  the  school where this young man  had studied till primary level astonishingly while comparing the  present position held by him with ragged infrastructure and building of this  Bagyote primary school, it is almost unbelievable to even think that he  had completed his early studies from this institution some 2 decades ago. Sharing some personal detail about with Khari-Khari team, Dr. Malik remembers that how difficult it was to write examination paper without a desk  at that time as the students had to sit on ground sometime even without any clothe (Darri) beneath them. The students there in the school had to bear the chilling winter and scathing heat in summer as there was almost nothing than pillar and a Kucha roof on the name of school building.

Vice Chancellor, credits his success  to parents, especially his father, a government employee in J & K forest department (now retired) who always supported him and never compromised with anything for his studies.

“It was my family support that encouraged me to move to Poonch city for high school and higher secondary studies till class 12th and then after to pursue graduation, my parents allowed me to join Purvanchal university, Jaunpur and Master degree from Rajsthan University” tells the Vice Chancellor.

After completing his MSc he returned back to Poonch and then as a kind of social work,  served as a Rehbar-e-Talem Teacher  in middle school Brela  for over a year on monthly honorarium of Rs. 1500 per month. Thereafter he again went out of the state for higher studies.

Dr. Shazad Malik who is  now head of the institution  tells, his job as Rehbar-e-Talem teacher helped him a lot to learn and  understand the difficulties at ground zero and now the experience gained there is helping him to perform his duties as an administrator.

On asking; how does as a young man hailing from a humble family background and backward village, he feels, after risen to such a prestigious post of Vice Chancellor, he owed it to his teachers and compared them as real heroes of his life.

In his opinion, the education is the only key that can help India’s diverse society to augment personal development of an individual and it is the only factor that can lead to the nation on the path of growth and development.

Vice Chancellor tells that the Youth of Jammu and Kashmir State are second to none and the only thing they need is support and opportunity, he tells all the students from Rajouri and Poonch district who were admitted on his personal initiative performed well in the results and their performance encourages him  to extend support to many other deserving students.
Willing to revamp the educational system in the state, Dr. Malik has a dream to provide quality education to poor chidren, he reveals his plan of opening a private school in some remote village in district Poonch having all the modern infrastructure and highly qualified  faculty members and in this school only the  poorest of poorer would be allowed admission. He also lays special focus on regular training courses for the teachers to equip them and for capacity building, in his idea teaching is not a simple and easy profession that can be adopted after acquiring higher qualification or good grades in academic discourse, the teacher should have the ability to learn and only then he can be a good teacher.

He believes, the quality of higher education in Jammu and Kashmir state is stagnant, without making any reference to any particular university of Jammu or Kashmir regions, he asks for over all revamp and called for emphasis on research based courses, for over decades  the education system in J & K universities is moving with snail’s pace and that needs to be changed. He suggests to turn university classes into workshops where the teachers allow fresh research based ideas of  pupil and then  both  spend time on it to find out the outcome for welfare of the society. Practical oriented courses should be introduced in the curriculum. He also calls for frequent exchange of faculty and students not only to different universities of the country but across the globe. Education is  a global phenomenon and we cannot confine it, it is time to open our minds and doors for exchange of ideas and there must be flexibility to learn new innovations.  


Commenting on the current political scenario in the country and in Jammu and Kashmir state, Dr. Malik Says he believe in Idea of ‘India’ without any bias with anyone on the name of religion, region, cast, creed and gender, everyone should be treated fairly and must be given equal platform to prove his abilities. 

He also says that there cannot be any compromise on nationalism and the idea of India, he says he is a proud Indian and his only appeal to the youth of the country to remain true to the allegiance and sovereignty of the country without any doubt in the mind. Dr. Malik admits that his idea of Nationalism does not go well with everyone and this has attributed some adversaries against him but he never give up what he strongly feels for the country. He says a good teacher is always a ‘Learner’ and he also learns from people, students, teachers and even from helping staff in the university. 
A good piece of advice  is not copyright of only so called elite class, it can be from anyone therefore I keep interacting with new people”. Asserts Dr. Malik..







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