The office-bearers of Indian Community Benevolent Forum (ICBF) deserve special appreciation and accolades for organising the Hajikka Memorial Essay writing contest for school children. About 200 children participated in the recent event which was covered by Gulf Times in its April 17 edition. The selfless services rendered by Hajikka will be remembered forever by the people who had the privilege to know him. He was a social and charitable activist well known for his humanitarian services spanning 40-odd years in Qatar.
ICBF’s efforts and initiative in conducting the Hajikka Memorial Essay-writing contest since 2014 to spread awareness on benevolence and humanity among schoolchildren are truly welcome. Children should imbibe such noble qualities at an early age itself.
Publicity-shy Hajikka left behind a legacy with an invaluable message. Words cannot describe the noble services rendered by him ceaselessly until his last breath. He worked hard to repatriate the bodies of people who died in Qatar. Hajikka was conferred ICBF’s Humanitarian Award for 2003-2004, which he richly deserved. The interest that he took to complete the formalities that have to be met before the repatriation of bodies from Qatar was truly selfless and highly laudable.
As an HR personnel in Qatar for almost 15 years, I had interacted with him and sought his assistance and guidance on many occasions and he was always ready to help, even at odd hours.
V Kalyanaraman
Doha
Tuition centres mushrooming
Dear Sir,
There has been a steady growth in the number tuition centres for Indian students following the CBSE curriculum in Qatar. Many new centres were started last year also. It is found that all of them got enough children and some of them have up to 45 pupils per batch. There are also school-specific batches.
It is a fact that private tuition adds to the financial burden of parents, who have been struggling to pay the school fees. The practice also puts additional strain and stress on the children. One fails to understand the reason behind the mushrooming of so many tuition centres. One possible reason could be the lack of confidence in the quality of education imparted in schools, many of which in my opinion do not have enough qualified and talented teachers.
Schools are not interested in employing good teachers as they are expensive. According to the official norms, fees are based on the facilities and the quality of education provided by each school but many children of the schools which charge hefty fees are seen going to private tuition centres in the hope of securing good results.
(Name and address provided)
