Home Welcome About Us Contact Us

 

Contribution to Education 

It will be appropriate here to talk about the community’s efforts in educating their children and then diverting most of their efforts towards establishment of education institutions for the masses. I will like to take you back to 1869. It was the year when Sir Syed Ahmed Khan visited Bombay for the first time on his way to England. According to “KHUD NAVIST SAWANE HAYAT” (Auto biography) of Sir Syed re-published in Pakistan a few years back, Sir Syed visited some Memon businessmen and noted that every well to do Memon family contributed and ran a Madressa where religious education was being given to children of all communities. This was the contribution to education by professional traders in those early days.

Until early 1930s, most of the Memon businessmen only had a working knowledge of Gujrati and English to read or compose telegrams but then they realized that future of the community lied in educating its youths. Sir Adamjee Haji Dawood who is known as Father of Education in the community saw education as a way of making sure that the Memons preserved their business skills. He said and I quote from “The Memons” by Mihir Bose:

 

            “Knowledge of Business is superior to all knowledge. It provides ample shape for the spirit for adventure, daring and honesty. It has no limits or boundaries. Our forefathers have gained superiority in general business with their primitive type signatures and have maintained them in top positions since two centuries. With assets consisting of Gadi Takya costing Rs. 23.00 and a safe costing Rs. 33.00 we are doing business of lacs of rupees only on our goodwill and honesty. Managers of Memon firms are getting higher salaries, than officers of civil service. All these things are alright until now. But if we see towards the future we can feel that we will have to face new challenges of industrialization and technology in near future. Our business will require modern know how and skills. Our real aim is to provide high education to Memon Youth but at the same time to keep them business minded.”

 

This was the vision of community’s elders as early as in 1928 and why not ? They were professional businessman and they knew what contribution they can and should make for the cause of education. This vision provided basis for three all India Memon Conferences held in Rajkot, Jamnagar and Manavadar and gave birth to All India Memon Education and Welfare Society in 1933 under the presidentship of Sir Adamjee Haji Dawood. The society liberally gave scholarships to Memon students all over India. The scholarships helped thousands of community members to acquire secondary and higher education and was responsible for many of youth becoming famous lawyers and doctors. After partition, the society was split into two societies and the Pakistan Memon Educational & Welfare Society came into being in 1948. It’s first President was Abubakar Zavery. Mr. A. Wahid Adamjee became the President of Society in 1949 and continued as such till 1968. Today the society is headed by a Memon Professional Mr. Hanif S. Kalia.

Memon community is a business community. It “earns to give”. A truly philanthropic community. Soon after migration it established  scores of educational institutions in Karachi, Hyderabad & Sukkur. There were over 100 schools run by Memon community in Sindh before they were nationalized. The prominent organizations, which established schools, included Memon Educational Board, Pakistan Memon Women Educational Society, Jetpur & Kutiana Memon Associations and many others. The Memon Women Society under the leadership of Hajiani Khatija Bai – a semi literate lady from Bantva established a chain of girls schools under the name of Rounk-e-Islam Girls Schools and Rounk-e-Islam Girls College. The beauty about these schools is that they were and

are open for all communities and charged nominal fees. In the field of higher education, the Memons have established many institutions. To name a few:

                    

  • Dawood Engineering College

  • Adamjee Science College

  • Rounk-e-Islam Girls College

  • Usman Institute of Technology

  • Ayesha Bawany Academy

  • Suraya Parekh College of Liberal Arts

  • Hussain Ebrahim Jamal Institute of Chemistry – Karachi University

  • Ahmed Bawany Academy

  • Dawood Public School

  • Hashmani Post Graduate Eye Institute

  • Memon Institute of Data Processing

  • Adamjee Institute of Information Technology

 

For promoting education, the large groups of Memon Businessman set-up Foundations & Trusts. Prominent among theme are Dawood Foundation, Suleman Dawood Dialysis Centre, Adamjee Foundation, Aziz Tabba Foundation, Aisha Bawany Waqf and many others. These foundations and trusts donated generously towards the establishment of education institutions throughout the country and gave generous scholarships to students of all communities for higher education.

There are a number of vocational institutions including Rangoonwala Centre, World Foundation Community Centre and many ladies tailoring schools. During last 3 years, the World Memon Foundation Community Center has alone trained 11,000 girls in different vocational subjects.

Apart from the efforts to promote education, the community has played an important rate in promotion of litrary activities in the country. Both the Dawood Foundation and Adamjee Foundation launched Dawood & Adamjee Prizes for Literature. Both the prizes were being awarded to best books of fiction and non-fiction nature and were administered by Pakistan Writers Guilde. The prizes were considered as a matter of great honour by literary circles. These prizes were discontinued in 1971.