Former madrasa teacher cracks UPSC exam, says madrasas can contribute civil servants
Thiruvananthapuram: A former madrasa teacher from Kerala, who never had opportunity to attend a mainstream school, has proved that tenacity eventually triumphs. 28-year-old T Shahid, a native of Thiruvallur village in Kozhikode district, has cracked the UPSC examination in his sixth attempt and ranked 693.
The civil services exam, Shahid said, was a way to tell the society that madrasas are not a breeding ground of terrorism. “There may be stray issues or controversies, but madrasas in Kerala can contribute civil servants also,’’ he said.
Son of madrasa teacher Abdul Rahman Musaliyar and homemaker Sulekha, Shahid said he was forced to opt for a Muslim religious educational institution, run by an orphanage at Kappad in Kozhikode, due to financial crunch.
After 12 years of religious education, Shahid bagged the religious ‘hasni’ degree, a course which equipped him to become a madrasa teacher. While studying for hasni, he completed Class X and Class XII, and finally got a degree in English — all through distance courses.
Shahid said, his perspective towards life changed when he worked at the Malayalam daily Chandrika, managed by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). “Working as a journalist made me look at the world outside,” Shahid told.
Shahid opted Malayalam literature as an optional subject in UPSC. He said the coaching classes in Delhi, sponsored by IUML’s students’ wing MSF, helped him in cracking UPSC exam.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
