Every year India celebrates National Education Day on November 11 to honour and celebrate the birthday of India’s first Education Minister, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
The day is also a reminder to improve and bring necessary changes to India’s education system.
So, as we celebrate the 128th birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, let’s know some of the unknown facts about the legend of India's education system.
He proposed establishing the IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology), and UGC (University Grants Commission) and also set up the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in India.
He is the one to set up India’s first IIT at Kharagpur.
Besides, being India’s Education minister, he was also an Indian scholar, freedom fighter, journalist, educator, and a famous poet.
Maulana Azad never attended a school and got all of his education from his father, private tutors, and self-taught, focusing on traditional Islamic learning as per his family background.
His real name was Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin, but he later became known as Maulana Azad, by adopting the pen name ‘Azad’ (Free).
Azad was the youngest person to serve as president of INC (Indian National Congress) at the age of 35 in 1923.
He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1992 posthumously.