Mohammed Abdul Azeem – Founder, Shahbaaz English Medium School

Born on June 10, 1944, Mohammed Abdul Azeem was not a man who accepted the world as he found it. Educated in the government schools of Gulbarga at a time when English-medium education was the near-exclusive preserve of the affluent, he emerged not diminished by that inequity but determined to dismantle it. He was as much a man of ideas as he was a man of action. As a student at Osmania University, where he studied English Literature, he participated actively in both the Goa Liberation Movement and the Telangana Separation Movement. He represented Karnataka State in the NCC, attended the All India NCC Camp at Kodaikanal in 1966, and captained the NCC Karnataka Soccer Team.

His academic formation was thorough and wide-ranging. He obtained his Master of Arts in English Literature from Osmania University in 1969, and went on to become a Lecturer in English at CKM College, Warangal, before serving as Principal of National Junior College, Gulbarga. In 1977 he left for Libya, where he served under the Ministry of Education, Government of Libya, teaching English as a Foreign Language. It was during this period that he travelled to Canterbury, Kent, in England, to complete a formal course in the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language, a qualification that deepened both his pedagogical precision and his conviction that language was the great equaliser. He returned to India in 1982, and on 1st June 1983, opened the doors of Shahbaaz.

The school was, in every sense, the fullest expression of the man. Mr. Abdul Azeem held an unshakeable conviction that quality education was the birthright of every child: the girl child, the backward classes, the scheduled castes and tribes, and those at the margins of society. He never turned a child away. At a time when such a position was far from commonplace, it was for him simply the only way to run a school.

His standing in Gulbarga extended far beyond the school gates. A man of wide civic engagement and institutional commitment, he gave generously of his time and intellect to a remarkable range of bodies and causes throughout his life.

• Academic & University
  
• Syndicate Member, Gulbarga University, 1989–92
• Member, Academic Council, Gulbarga University, 1989–92
• Syndicate Member, Gulbarga University, 2000–03
• Chairman, Result Review Committee, Gulbarga University
  
  
• Public & Civic
• Life Member and Vice-Chairman, Gulbarga Branch, Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi
• Member, Advisory Committee, District Science Centre, Gulbarga, under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India
• Executive Council Member, V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India
• President, Gulbarga Educational Trust
• Speaker, Rotary Club Gulbarga
• Contributor, UNICEF Educate a Child Programme
  
• Founding Member – Al Badar Rural Dental College & Hospital, Gulbarga, Estd. 1992.
• President, Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu Hind, Gulbarga. Longest serving President of a non-profit dedicated to the propagation and preservation of the Urdu language.
  
  
• Professional Development
• Participated in an All India Level Advanced Course in English, Mysore University, 1974, sponsored by the UGC and the British Council
• Completed the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language course, Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom, 1982

In 1989 he stood as a Congress candidate in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections, a testament to the weight his voice carried in public life. He was a Member of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Gulbarga in the later stages of his life, and his counsel was sought across institutions of every kind throughout the region.

Yet for all the distinction of his public life, those who knew Mr. Abdul Azeem best remember something simpler: that he loved to teach. Whenever his many responsibilities permitted, he would return to the classroom to teach English and History. He was an orator of rare gifts, a man who could hold any audience in thrall.

Mr. Abdul Azeem passed away on 18 May 2012 in the school premises. Shahbaaz is his enduring legacy.