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Man with mission
 Syed
Firoz Ashraf, born in Hazaribagh, Bihar (now in Jharkhand) on 23 July
1943, a freelance journalist, script writer for television serials and a
dedicated social worker, has been running free tuition classes since 1997
for the children of watchmen, sweepers, tailors, hand-cart pullers, stable
workers, domestic servants and other poor, down-trodden, underprivileged
and neglected segments of society sans fee. It’s 4 O’clock in the
evening and the 58-year-old Firoz Ashraf’s two-room modest ground floor
apartment in Jogeshwari (West) swiftly gets transformed into an exclusive
tuition class.
Firoz Ashraf did his BSc from Ranchi University and Diploma in Journalism
from Mumbai-based Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan. From 1966 he has been regularly
contributing to various dailies, periodicals and magazines. He has been
writing the famous column ‘Pakistan Nama’ in Navbharat Times and Urdu
Times and has won an Award for excellence in Urdu journalism from the
Governor of Maharashtra in 1980. He was quite often seen reading or
writing at home. The watchman of the building thought him to be the right
person to approach for tutoring his children. The next to request was the
sweeper woman. Ashraf obliged them and became a tutor. He did not take
fees from the poor though they wanted to pay.
Thus began his free tuition classes. When the news spread among the
jhuggi-jhopdi dwellers around, the number of students remarkably
increased. His wife, Arifa, a BMC employee happily supported the community
service by helping her husband in teaching the students. Table chairs,
notebooks, pencils and biscuits sagacious uncle Firoz and his wife Arifa
provide the kids. They even help the children with medicines and free of
charge treatments from doctor friends. Ashraf has tried to sustain all
these from whatever his freelance writing fetches him. But Ashraf needed
financial support to arrange more teachers and spacious rooms for the
swelling number of students. Thanks to Razzak Allana, chairman of Allana
Foundation and the Vikas Adhyayan Kendra, other well wishers of the
society also came forward to help him continue his mission.
His first batch of SSC came out in 1998 comprising three students, Nilofer,
Raeesa and Rahimunnissa. They have successfully passed SSC, all wishing to
pursue higher education in their own choice subjects and willing to be a
teacher, a lawyer and a doctor respectively. The trio coming through with
flying colours are now pursuing their studies in Ismail Yusuf College,
Mumbai. They are also teaching other students. They have high hopes.
Neelam, a student of Ashraf’s class, after Kargil episode, wants to join
army.
A small teaching job of Ashraf on request of the building watchman went on
to become his mission. Besides Jogeshwari west, Ashraf has now started his
classes in Jogeshwari east and Juhugali (Andheri). This year 11 students
appeared in SSC exams.
Today Syed Ashraf has a sizeable number of students and interestingly
enough two thirds of them belong to poor non-Muslim families. But Ashraf
never minds as he is equally loved by all and fondly called ‘Uncle.’
His mission is to give light to poverty-stricken and slum dwelling
children to encourage them to step forward. As for his service he says,
‘In the smiles of these children I have found life.’ q |
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