Rickshaw-puller builds 9 schools for poverty-stricken children

A rickshaw-puller from Assam's Karimganj district has built nine schools so that no poverty stricken child ever has to refrain themselves from Education.

Realising that his soon to be born child might not have proper education like him due to privation and penury, Ahmed Ali decided to build the schools for the generations to come.

Ali feels that it was Allah's blessings and support from the locals that he was successful in his mission. Seeing children not attending school due to poverty pained him and reminded him of his childhood.

The rickshaw-puller hails from a village 300 kms away from Guwahati, who often ferried children to and from their schools for his livelihood. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also mentioned about his initiative in "Mann ki baat" programme.

In all, he has opened three lower primary schools, five middle schools and one high school in Madhurband and nearby villages.

Ali established his first school in his village, Madhurband, in 1978. For establishing the first school, he sold a portion of his land and donated another portion on which the building now stands. The funds for the schools were also arranged by him from his savings, daily earnings and some from charity. To ensure fund flow, he used to pull his rickshaw in the morning and cut wood at night. The high school he had started in 1990 has 228 students today.

The school, he added, was even more important for girls as "boys get a chance to go out and get an education, but girls do not".

Ali urges PM that all the schools be government-recognised so that funds were never an issue. He would also will also ask for a junior college and a college, if possible, said Ali.