Srinagar: Highlighting the purpose of education, Minister for School Education, Hajj and Auqaf and Tribal Affairs, Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali, today said the purpose of providing education to children is to shape them into complete human beings.
The Minister expressed these views at a Seerat Conference organized here by Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Kothi Bagh.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said the purpose of education in general and the department, in particular, is not only to grant degrees or hold examinations but to transform the children into complete human beings so that they could, later on, serve humanity in its true sense.
Deliberating on the life of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the Minister said, “Allah (SWT) has bestowed us with a holy book Quran, which is a complete book in every sense. If we will follow the holy book and teachings of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) we surely would be able to achieve all the success in our lives.”
The Minister said need of the hour is to give up “hypocrisy” and be one in what is said and what is being practiced. He explained that on one hand some of us pretend to be the followers of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), yet on other hand they do not show any respect towards their elders, especially their parents.
Urging the need to respect parents, Zulfkar said unfortunately present society is in a strange transitional phase, where children see their parents, who brought them up with all kind of difficulties, as a burden and not as a responsibility or as a holy duty.
“Instead of wondering around and seeking blessings from all kind of sources, it would be much better to serve your parents, especially your mothers as Prophet (SAW) has said heaven lies underneath their feet,” said Zulfkar.
He said to address these wrongdoings in the society the Government recently introduced moral education as an obligatory subject in its schools across State. He clarified moral education is not religious education, but it imparts education of values and etiquettes in our lives which are missing these days.
The Minister said, besides, fasting, offering prayers and reading Quran it is imperative that we understand the real essence of the holy month of Ramadan and put it into our lives.
He congratulated the school administration as well as students for hosting the programme. He also announced Rs 10,000 cash award for the winner of Seerat conference and Rs 5,000 for the girl, whose magazine was earlier released.
Earlier, the Minister also released the school annual magazine “Mashal”.
Secretary School Education Farooq A Shah, Director School Education Kashmir Dr G N Itoo, Director School Education Jammu Rakesh Sangral, Joint Directors School Education, Principal Government Girls Higher Secondary School Kothi Bagh Romana Qazi, Principals of various schools, dignitaries from various walks of life and students from different Government Higher Secondary schools were present during the programme.