Dr. Maqsood Ahmed’s Nizamia Education Group Seeks to Eliminate Discrimination

Dr. Maqsood Ahmed

As an education hub, India ranks third in the world in terms of the number of students, next only to developed countries like China and the US. In the past few decades, India's Higher Education sector has witnessed considerable growth following the establishment of several Universities and Colleges to give the Indian population better access to higher education.

However, India is also the land of greater social inequalities where a large chunk of students struggle to get access to quality higher education because of their financial backgrounds. Dr. Maqsood Ahmed is an education consultant and social reformer who is working constantly to bring underprivileged Indian students closer to higher education and a prosperous future with his Nizamia Education Group(NEG).

Belonging to a remote village from the border township of Poonch, Dr. Maqsood has a close acquaintance with the kinds of hardships Indian households have to undergo to give their children access to higher education. Despite the massification of higher education, many students are still left out of the inner circle of higher education. Due to the inequality in higher education, these students from low-income families and rural areas fail to harvest any professional skills and continue to live in their family's poor living conditions. Dr. Maqsood-led Nizamia Education Group seeks to change this picture of Indian society from top to bottom. They are on a mission to guide students so that they can enrol in India's best professional institutions. Dr. Maqsood does not only teach the students how to dream big but also equips them to realize those dreams.

Founded in 2012, Nizamia Education Group(NEG) has been dedicated to the widening of access to higher education among the underrepresented groups. They provided coaching and education consultancy services to the disadvantaged students while choosing a university and especially an undergraduate score. They also conduct Nizamia Scholarship Test (NST), a merit-based scholarship exam, every year aiming at imparting scholarship to right and meritorious candidates without any discrimination.

When asked about his vision, Dr. Maqsood shares, "Unequal access to and participation in higher education among different socioeconomic groups of the population are greater concerns for the Government. The role of higher education in national development is undeniable which is why we should focus on the inclusiveness of our higher education system. Nizamia Education Group is just a platform for those talented students who require a little support and guidance to expand their horizons."

Based out of Jammu & Kashmir, Nizamia Education Group has spread its operations to the states of North-Eastern India and Bihar. They have already shaped the future of more than 10,000 students and plan to provide education to 1,00,000 students by the year 2025. Students from other South Asian countries and Africa have also taken the advantage of the NEG platform to pursue their career dream. With a human development approach, Dr. Maqsood has fixated on his goal of fostering higher autonomous citizens who will come out of their underprivileged backgrounds and embrace alternative lifestyles.