It was a big day for a remote village of Bihar. Sonauli was finally getting an intermediate college. The local politician was supposed to inaugurate the English medium Abdus Samad Khan Memorial Intermediate College but he refused to come at the last minute citing family emergency. In his place, Munawwer Khan, the grandson of Abdus Samad was coming all the way from the USA. His would be the only speech in English. This excited some who never got the opportunity to hear much English in this remote village.

Spread over 1.6 acres of land donated by the Abdus Samad family, the college was a dream come true for the villagers who had waited several decades for it. More than 300 invitees to the inauguration ceremony were feted to 80 kilos of freshly caught fish and other delicacies specially prepared by the village chef.

Talking to Arab News on the phone from Sonauli, Dr. Ibrahim, the village doctor and the director of the school said that the college was much needed. It took students four hours to commute back and forth to the closest intermediate college. It was very difficult for boys and almost impossible for the girls to get an education past middle school.

Dr. Ibrahim said that one third of the 300 students were girls. "There is very little opposition to girls’ education here. Educated girls get better marriage proposals so parents want to educate their daughters.

Thirteen-year-old fourth grader, Shagufta Parveen, spoke to Arab News with a lot of enthusiasm. She loves her school and wants to be a computer engineer. She proudly said, “We have computers in the school and even have a laptop at home. She has four other sisters. She said her father worked as a coal miner. She hoped to make her parents proud by becoming an engineer.  

Ajit Kumar Pundit is a fifth grader who loves cricket and Rohit Sharma and wants to be a doctor. He said his parents had high hopes for him and he hoped that the college would be helpful in making their dreams come true.

Ghufran Malik, a former principal of Netar Haat agriculture praised the efforts of the Abdus Samad family in always serving their ancestral village in the field of education and health care by opening schools and dispensaries. 

The intermediate college is named after Abdus Samad Khan a well-known educationist of his time. He hailed from Sonauli and the villagers are still proud of his achievement.

He was the first Muslim DPI (director of public institutions) of Bihar and a principal of the prestigious Patna science college. He was also a recipient of the C.I.E (companion of the Indian Empire award which some in the village misunderstood to be the seyahi (ink) award thinking that he got it as he was always writing.

Munawwer Khan gave a motivational speech outlining the struggle and ultimate success of his grandfather a poor villager from Sonauli. “He achieved that by hard work and education. If he could do it, so can you."