Ajmal offers scholarships for toppers

Badruddin Ajmal adresses the media at Guwahati Press Club on Sunday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, June 15 : Ajmal Foundation — a Hojai-headquartered charitable trust — today announced merit scholarships for toppers of this year’s High School and Higher Secondary examinations in Assam.

Managing trustee of the foundation Sirajuddin Ajmal said they were instituting the scholarship scheme for the toppers as a gesture of inspiration to help them sustain and further nurture their talent.

He said all the rank holders of the High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC), the Higher Secondary School Leaving Certificate (HSSLC) and the Assam High Madrassa (AHM) examinations, 2009 would be covered by the scholarship scheme.

“The scholarship is tenable for a year and an amount of Rs 1,000 will be paid to each topper every month amounting to a total of Rs 16,32,000,” Sirajuddin Ajmal said.

Altogether 136 rank holders — 63 HSLC toppers, three AHM toppers and 70 HSSLC toppers — will be benefited by the scheme.

The joint managing trustee of Ajmal Foundation, Badruddin Ajmal, who is the Lok Sabha MP from Dhubri constituency, declared that all the students of Dhubri and Goalpara districts who have secured first division marks in this year’s HSLC, HSSLC and AHM examinations would also be felicitated.

He said all the first division holders of the two districts would be provided a certificate of excellence from Ajmal Foundation, gifts and Rs 1,000 each to students of the HSLC and the AHM and Rs 1,200 to each students of the HSSLC.

The felicitation programmes will be held at Dhubri, Goalpara and Mankachar soon and an approximate amount of Rs 16,50,000 has been earmaked for the same. Nearly 1,400 students of the two districts have secured first division in the HSLC, the HSSLC and the AHM examinations this year.

Badruddin Ajmal said they were extending a helping hand to the meritorious students of the state because they feel that the responsibility of the government and the society does not end only by felicitating them and more needs to be done to support their further studies.

Badruddin Ajmal, who is also the chief of the Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF), said that they were doing it under the banner of Ajmal Foundation and not the AUDF because they do not want to mix education with politics. “Nobody should politicise education,” he said.

Badruddin Ajmal, who was the MLA from South Salmara Assembly seat before he won the Lok Sabha polls from Dhubri, alleged that the ruling Congress government is creating hurdles for him in implementing various projects from his local MLA development scheme