GUWAHATI, Nov 15 - The Ajmal Foundation has embarked on an ambitious programme to strengthen the education infrastructure in the backward and remote areas of the State in general and in the char (river islands) areas in particular.
The project, named �Ajmal National Rural Education Movement� (ANREM), is expected to be launched before the end of 2015. The pilot project of ANREM would cover 17 districts of Assam that have inhabited river islands where literacy percentage is extremely low.
Teams from Ajmal CSR have been visiting such areas and inspecting the available infrastructure in schools located there. Depending upon the immediate and long-term needs of these schools, the action plan of ANREM would be chalked out accordingly.
A close-knit support group consisting of NGOs working in the education sector, philanthropists, professionals, teachers and youth activists has also been formed for extending support to the movement.
Named �Friends of ANREM�, the support group held its third meeting in Guwahati on Saturday. Besides others, Komoruzzaman (Al-Ameen Janakalyan Samaj), Waris Choudhury (Minority Welfare Society), Prof A Mannan (Justice Equity Demand Society), Inam Uddin Ahmed (Assam Zakat Fund), Ahmed Hussain (Progjyoti Group of Educational Institutions), and Md Shams Ahmed (Human Welfare Foundation) took part in the meeting.
The unanimous suggestion emanating from the meeting was that the three priority needs of the schools in remote areas of the State were toilet facilities for students, clean and safe drinking water, and dedicated teachers, who would live in the area and serve with a commitment to society.
It may be mentioned here that another extracurricular educational programme conducted by Ajmal Foundation is the Ajmal National Talent Search Examination (ANTSE), in which more than three lakh students from the entire eastern India have taken part during the last few years.
