Rickshaw driver gives up earnings and opens nine schools: the story of Ahmed Ali
He is from the State of Assam. The next goal is to bring the university into its poor village. He says: "I no longer want to see children forced to leave school".
New Delhi (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Day after day he has deprived himself of part of his income and thus managed to build nine schools: This is the story of Ahmed Ali, a rickshaw driver of Assam of humble origins. He did it for his son but also for future generations, less fortunate than he, who could not study.
Speaking to the IANS agency he says: "I did not go to school because I was poor. The people in my village are poor and it made me very sad to see that their children could not attend school for the same reason. I no longer want to see children forced to leave school ".
Ali is originally from Madhurband, about 300 km from the state capital Guwahati. To earn a living, he drives a rickshaw and often finds himself accompanying students who go to school. The desire to do something for poor children came to him when his wife was expecting their first child. At that moment he realized that, given the humble origins, the child could never have had a quality education. The man tells: "I understood that it was a wish of Allah and thanks to the blessing of the people of the village I managed to achieve what I wanted".
In 1978 the driver opened the first school in his village of origin. To finance the construction, he sold a piece of land he owns and was given another part where the structure stands today. The other schools have been financed by his savings and some charitable organizations. To make sure the facilities had adequate funds to guarantee teaching, Ali worked as a day driver and wood cutter at night for years.
In all, he built three primary schools, five intermediate schools and a high school in Madhurband and in neighboring villages. Inaugurated in 1990, today 228 young people are enrolled in high school. According to him, studying is an important achievement especially for girls: "Boys can also go to study away from home, but little girls do not".
His next goal is to open a college. In fact, he adds, "after the 10th class the pupils do not have the possibility to receive a higher education. The nearest college is 15 km away ". Finally, the greatest desire is for all schools to be recognized by the government. "So raising money will no longer be a problem" and poor children like his son will have the security of being able to study.
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