Sadia Rashid
d/o Shaheed Hakim Mohammed Said
President, Hamdard Foundation Pakistan

Too many people today seem to equate education with the acquisition of a certificate, diploma, or degree. It is this misconception which is, alas, at the root of half the problems besetting the education scenario in our country, and perhaps the world.

But education is a lot more than a piece of paper handed out at the end of a course of study. It is the nurturing and channelling of the natural curiosity which is inborn in all of us. It is to encourage an inquiring mind. It is learning how to learn – even when you have left any or all educational institutions. The ultimate aim is to be enlightened.

Books, syllabi, teachers, tests, examinations: these may all be part and parcel of it, but they are not the be-all and end-all of it. Education is what you have absorbed, and it is an on-going process. In the words of an astute sage: ‘Education is what is left, when you have forgotten what you learnt’!

At all Hamdard educational institutions – of which perhaps the school is the most important, as it lays the foundation – the aim is to provide the best possible facilities: a fine faculty and up to date equipment – but to not forget to take the best of the old and the new, to teach not just the price or value of things, but also their worth, to be not just satisfactory students but good, solid citizens.

When you choose Hamdard, you choose quality and standard.