National education day

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Last Updated11/11/2021

National Education Day is observed every year on 11 November to celebrate the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first education minister of independent India.
Maulana Azad was an eminent educationist and served as the first education minister of independent India from 15 August 1947 to 2 February 1958.

Maulana Abul Kalam was a scholar, activist and leader of the Congress party.
He served as the Education Minister for eleven years.
As a freedom fighter, Azad was the leader of the Khilafat Movement and helped organise the non-co-operation movement in 1919.
Azad was a follower of the Gandhian philosophy.
He also served as the President of the Congress party in 1923 and then from 1940 to 1945.
Maulana has authored several books including India Wins Freedom and Ghubar-e-Khatir.

As one of the founder members of the Jamia Millia Islamia at Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, he helped in shifting the campus of the university from Aligarh to New Delhi in 1934.
A steadfast believer in the power of quality education, Maulana Abul Kalam helped established the University Grants Commission (UGC) on December 28, 1953.
As education minister, he is credited with the establishment of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT).
He also helped establish IISc and School of Architecture and Planning, Sangeet Natak Akademi (1953), Sahitya Akademi (1954) and Lalit Kala Akademi (1954) to promote education and culture in the country.
On September 11, 2008 Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) decided to celebrate November 11 as National Education Day annually.
MHRD also gives the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad National Fellowship in the form of financial assistance to students from minority communities to pursue M Phil and PhD.