Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh: A single bamboo stick holds the thatched roof together, the discoloured floor serves as both bench and chair, the children sit in neat rows and a man sits on a printed mattress. It is from humble rooms like this that a quiet education revolution is unravelling in this eastern Uttar Pradesh district known not long ago for the alleged involvement of some of its youth in extremist activities.
Tanzeem Al Farooq, an NGO formed in 1987 with just Rs10 (69 fils) as initial capital by some youngsters, has set up at least 300 such primary schools in villages in Azamgarh, about 220km from the state capital Lucknow, and nearby areas that have a substantial number of Muslims.
The founding members, who were then working in the Gulf region, have managed to educate over 50,000 children who would have otherwise forever remained illiterate. Some of these members came back to India while some pledged their support sitting abroad.
One of the founders of Tanzeem Al Farooq, Asrar Ahmad, embarked on the idea of identifying micro-rural, small and unknown villages of the district that don't have schools or any other arrangement for primary education. These villages sometimes have as few as 15 houses.
The modus operandi is something like this: the NGO identifies a village, convinces the locals for the need of an educational institute, builds a school and then hands it over to a village committee.
Only those villages where government-run schools are rare and parents hesitate to send their children are chosen.
"It was hard to manage it all, especially in the beginning," Tanzeem Al Farooq president Maulana Obaidullah said.
"We start schools with our own expenses but try to educate and spread awareness among locals to take the responsibility further. We have established 300 such schools."
Though the project started with just Rs10 investment, close to Rs1 million is collected through public donations every year.
Sixty-year-old Islam Ahmad, a Class 4 pass-out and one of the founder members of the organisation, thinks it was the need of the hour.
"It is not mere building schools, it is an educational movement. Our aim is to motivate the villagers to teach their children and build schools to preserve their historical inheritance," Ahmad said.
