At AMU, PM Modi bats for women's empowerment; 'Fundamental towards taking nation forward'

While addressing the centenary celebrations of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the topic of empowerment of Muslim women and self-reliance. He also praised the University as the number of female students has now gone up to 35 percent.

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'School drop out rate has reduced under the government'

The Prime Minister said that the school drop-out rate among Muslim girls has considerably reduced under his government. "There was a time when school drop out rate among Muslim girls was more than 70 percent and this situation persisted for 70 years. In these circumstances, Govt started Swachh Bharat Mission, built toilets in villages, and toilets for school-going girls. Now this rate has fallen to nearly 30 percent," he said. 

He further said that in the last six years, near one crore Muslim girls have been awarded scholarships by the government. 

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Women empowerment is fundamental towards taking any nation forward

While focussing on the importance of women empowerment, he explained, "Women empowerment is fundamental towards taking any nation forward as good education leads to financial empowerment, and economic independence leads to a woman making independent decisions, and that is key towards then taking both their families and the nation forward." 

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He appealed to all the educational institutions, including AMU, to admit more number of female students, not just for primary and secondary education but for higher education as well. 

At the event, he also released a postal stamp. University Chancellor Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin and Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank were present at the event. He referred to AMU as a 'mini India' as it has multiple departments across various fields, dozens of hostels, and thousands of teachers and students in it.