Khak-e-Taiba Trust Jeddah Center executive members pose for a group photo with the board-of-trustees, including Syed Khaja Viqaruddin, Aleem Khan Falaki, Aijaz Ahmed Khan, Dr. Mohammed Haseebullah and Mohammed Shameem Kausar. — SG photo by Abdul Rahman M. Baig JEDDAH — Khak-e-Taiba Trust (KTT) conducted its monthly board meeting jointly chaired by the forum President Aijaz Ahmed Khan and the visiting Hyderabad-based Board-of-Trustee Dr. Mohammed Haseebullah. The meeting gained significance in the backdrop of the announcement of its proposed annual inter-school elocution competition. Director for education and personality development, Aleem Khan Falaki in coordination with the General Secretary and Trustee, Syed Khaja Viqaruddin, informed members that KTT will hold its annual elocution competition in the last week of December to synchronize the forum's literary event with the school's year end vacations. According to Viqaruddin, notification to the schools would be sent shortly, and the event will be held at a state-of-the-art facility. Khan welcomed the members for their usual cooperation and support in making the KTT events attain new heights of success. He said: "Every small effort of yours counts the most and I give full credit to each individual member for their keen enthusiasm in promoting our programs." Haseebullah recited a few Qur'anic verses before he commenced his speech. Speaking about the agenda of the KTT project report of Hyderabad centers, Haseebullah informed the members that the flagship project of Muhaddis-e-Deccan School (MDS) Misrigunj is being transformed into a full-fledged educational institution with due government accreditation obtained for running and conducting higher examinations, in addition to evaluation of test papers in-line with the specified governed rules. Highlighting the salient features of the school, Haseebullah said, the school would soon introduce "bag-free concept" of education, where students would be given supplementary coaching classes immediately after the regular schooling hours, "so that when a student goes home, he or she should feel-free from homework and further burden of learning." Referring to the extra-circular activities, Haseebullah said, recently Nehru Zoological Park of Hyderabad commemorated its golden jubilee celebrations, where students from a few prominent schools like HPS, DPS, and Stanley among other, staged 15-minute shows. "Believe me MDS raced well ahead of others and ranked second in the inter-school competition," he said. He also answered a few queries put forward by members with regard to setting up Islamic funerary provisions at the cemeteries for the mortal-remains with shrouds and bathing facilities, establishment of polyclinic and health awareness programs at the slum areas and opening of interest-free banking system. "All your suggestions are well taken and I acknowledge that these schemes will certainly be beneficial for the community, so within a due course of time it will be taken up on a priority basis and the same would be informed to you all." The I.T. Director, Imran Kausar, while presenting his computer center report of Jeddah, pledged computer endowments for establishing a computer training center at the Hassan Nagar slum area of Hyderabad city, the largest slum-dwellers of around 200,000 families considered to be one of the biggest shanty areas of Asia. Chief Patron Mohammed Shameem Kausar notified to members about KTT plans to spread its wings to the nearby Arab regions of UAE, Sultanate of Oman, Qatar and to a few cities within the Kingdom. Stressing upon the importance of expanding the membership, Falaki said: "Aziziya dist. of Jeddah alone, comprises almost 10,000 Indian community members who I suppose are willing to associate themselves to any socio-educational organization, and for this we need to have a meticulous approach to encourage them to join KTT." Earlier, the program commenced with a recitation from the Qur'an by the Vice President Abbas Khan followed by a Naat by Yousefuddin Riaz. — SG
