NEW DELHI: A United States (US) NGO has lent a helping hand for Muslims, a religious minority in India, for education in Andhra Pradesh, a state on the eastern coast. A US-based NGO has already built 60 schools and has plans in place to put up 40 more in most remote villages of the state. The edifices for the basic one-teacher schools have been built by the US based Indian Muslim Relief and Charities, who have also appointed well trained teachers who speak the local language Telugu. The schools will be run by the US-based Charity for two years and thereafter local Muslims will be selected to take over their management, according to Ahsan Syed, who is on the Charity's board. The initiative was launched three years ago, when the organization conducted a survey of Muslims living in villages of Andhra Pradesh and was appalled by its findings of utter illiteracy, poverty and inequality in the socio-economic conditions of Muslims. Interestingly, despite the offer of 100-percent funding by the US-based charity, there were no takers forcing them to implement the program themselves. Some local individuals who volunteered were however taken on board, Syed said. The mosques-cum-schools are equipped with libraries and the organization will also provide the students with free food and clothing. Medical camps will also be organized at these centers. Each school has cost the organization around $ 2000 and the money has been raised through contributions from individuals in the US, Syed an engineer formerly working with the US Army Corps of Engineers, said. The organization also proposes to give poor Muslims in Andhra Pradesh micro loans to run small businesses, Syed who had left Hyderabad for a career in the US over four decades ago, said. He is also a trustee of Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), which informs the US President and Congress of Muslims' conditions in India.
