Meet Ahmed Ali, the rickshaw puller who builds schools
- 12 March, 2019
After realising that proper education is a distant dream for his soon-to-be-born child, Ahmed Ali decided to not let the coming generation suffer from poverty and lack of education. Hailing from Karimganj district in Assam, this rickshaw puller cycled in the morning and cut wood at night to save money to build nine schools, ever since he had envisioned the need to education. Ahmed Ali established his first school in his village, in Madhurband in 1978. For establishing the first school, he sold a portion of his land and donated the other half towards the school’s building. He arranged the funds for building the school from his daily wages and some from charity.
He later opened three lower primary, five middle and one high school in Madhurband and nearby villages.
The high school which he started in 1990 has 228 students today. “I could only manage to make arrangements for students till class X. They don’t have a place to study Class XI and XII. I need the government’s approval and funds for setting up the higher-secondary school. While hundreds of students take the class X every year, they don't have the scope to higher education. There is no college nearby. The nearest college is 15kms away. I also want to build a college for students, but that will come at a later stage. First, we need a junior college" he said.
He was even mentioned in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Maan ki baath” programme.
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