Muhtarame Saida Faiz Sahiba (, ; 9 June 1925 – 14 September 2010) was an educationalist and social reformer from

Ghazipur Ghazipur, is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Ghazipur city is the administrative headquarters of the Ghazipur district, one of the four districts that form the Varanasi division of Uttar Pradesh. It is located on the Ganges (Ganga) ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. She actively participated in educational reforms, especially for women in Ghazipur.

Early life

Saeeda Faiz was the eldest among her other five sisters and two brothers. Her father, Mohammad Sulaiman Adami and her mother, Mariam Adami were natives of

Gorakhpur Gorakhpur is a city in the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the West Rapti River, Rapti river in the Purvanchal , Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometres east of ...

, Uttar Pradesh. Her father was a

freedom fighter A freedom fighter is a person engaged in a struggle to achieve political freedom, particularly against an established government. The term is typically reserved for those who are actively involved in armed or otherwise violent rebellion. Termi ...

and his patriotism made him popular in pre-independent India. Faiz grew up in an Indian society that still held on to discriminatory beliefs regarding female education and freedom. But amidst widespread social prejudices against women education, her parents were determined to provide her best of education.

Education

Saeeda Faiz acquired her higher education in

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University is a Collegiate university, collegiate, Central university (India), central, and Research university, research university located in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Kh ...

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Koil) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capital, New Delhi. ...

, Uttar Pradesh and obtained a degree of M.A., B.T.

Career

After completing her education, she worked as a teacher in Government Girls' School, Basti. Later, she served as a lecturer and after that as a Principal in many Government Girls' Inter Colleges of Uttar Pradesh and finally retired as Principal from Government Girls' Inter College, Ghazipur in 1985. In 1962, Saeeda Faiz was married to Shah Abul Faiz. After marriage, Faiz began her career as a Principal in Government Girls' Inter College, Ghazipur. Shah Abul Faiz hails from Ghazipur. He was highly respected in the city and achieved the position of an M.L.A. in 1974. He had a dream to start a school in the city, but he died in 1984 due to poor health. Faiz decided to fulfill the desire of her husband. She founded a small school beginning from classes L.K.G. to III near her own home, in Mianpura, Ghazipur in 1985. She named the school, Shah Faiz Memorial School, after her husband and later obtained its affiliation from the

Central Board of Secondary Education The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is a national-level board of education in India for public and private schools, controlled and managed by the Government of India. Established in 1929 by a resolution of the government, the Board ...

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. The school was later renamed to Shah Faiz Public School after its affiliation.

Honors and awards

Faiz achieved Best Educationalist Award-2009 by National Solidarity Council,

for the upliftment of the society and encouraging education in Ghazipur.

Biography

A book called ''Saeeda Faiz - An Inspiration'' was published in 2010 recording all the works and life of Saeeda Faiz by multiple authors describing her works, inspirations and experiences received from her in their own words. The book was published by Educational Development Forum, Ghazipur in 2010. Dr. Nadeem Adami is the patron of the book. The chief editor of the book is Dr.(Er.) K.P. Tiwari and the editor is Obaidur Rahman Siddiqui. There are six associate editors: Atia Adami, Dr. Meena Adami, Dr. Uma Sharma, Waqim F. Rahman, and Mohammad Saleen.

References