JEDDAH, 28 December — Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave.
Seeking knowledge is one thing but to spread it is quite another and a very difficult task. However, there are people who are doing this job successfully and diligently.
Pakistan’s Abid Bukhari is one of them. His main ambition is to provide the best possible education to the children of the society irrespective of their color, creed and nationality.
In this context, Bukhari, a veteran educationist, chose Saudi Arabia to open a school with the help of the best possible teachers of different nationalities, including Saudis.
"I opened this school in the best interests of society, not on a commercial basis," said Bukhari, director of Jeddah’s Al-Nujoom International School, while talking to Arab News.
"My first priority is to provide education for the deserving and needy children who cannot pay their tuition fees for various reasons," he said.
"In the 1970s when I arrived in Saudi Arabia for treatment of my stomach diseases and stayed here, I found that children of expatriate families had no interest in education because of lack of proper schooling for them at that time. Due to this reason, I decided to stay here, and asked my wife to come and join me here, so she left her job as an administrative officer in Pakistan State Bank in Karachi and to date we are here," he added.
Regarding opening a school, Bukhari said, after finding expatriates children roaming the streets instead of going to schools, they decided to open a school where these children could get good education and become good citizens of the society. "So we patiently went door to door and asked the families to join us in this struggle. People responded and by God’s blessings today our school can compete with other schools in the Kingdom," Bukhari explained.
When asked about the system of education, Bukhari said: "We follow the British system which is recognized by Cambridge University. Our students can go to any college, university or educational institution in the world and get admission there. Even in Pakistan our certificate is widely accepted. We send our examination papers to Cambridge University for checking and with their markings we give grades to our students."
"Our results of grade 10 were marvelous as both boys and girls got A, A+ grades last year. When we started the school it was on a temporary basis or you can say it was illegal but today we are an authorized school under the license of Ministry of Education," he said proudly.
Al-Nujoom is divided into two sections, one for boys and the other for girls and boys are prohibited from entering the girls’ section.
"Around 250 out of 1,200 students in my school are unable to pay their tuition fees, so I take care of them. My school provides them all the facilities which other well off students are getting. There is no pressure on them to pay fees," he added.
In his message to the students, he said: "As the world has turned into a global village with the advancement of computer technology, I advise students to take the opportunity and develop their knowledge but in a positive way, and don’t mislead your parents and teachers."