Daughter of Muslim Sanskrit teacher tops

VADODARA: Since 1998, her father teaches Sanskrit along with English at MES Boys’ High School in minority-dominated Yakutpura area of the city. On Monday, this teacher - Aabid Saiyad – also became a proud father as his daughter Izmabanu Saiyad topped the city with 583 out of 600 marks spreading joy in the family in the holy month of Ramadan.
After scoring 97.16% with 99.99 percentile, Izmabanu, a student of New Era Girls High School at Bhutdi Zhampa, now wants to become a MD gynaecologist.
“My mother Sehmidabanu recently had to undergo operation. Most women in our society and especially in our community face several gynaecological problems. So, I want to become a MD gynaecologist to help such women,“ said Izmabanu, who ended her fast in the evening with `iftaar'.
Izmabanu, a resident of Hathikhana, said her father has always been a great support.“While I did all the studies at my own, my father has always wanted me to excel,“ she said.
Interestingly , it is because of teachers like Aabid that the number of Muslim students learning Sanskrit have witnessed a rise in Yakutpura.“Earlier, there were only 40 students who used to take up Sanskrit. Now, of the 300 students that we have in the school, nearly 160 students take Sanskrit as an option. This students select Sanskrit as an option even as we provide them other options like Persian and Arabic,“ said Aabid. Another girl ­ Krina Patel ­ a student of Jai Ambe Vidyalaya, also made her mark by scoring 582 out of 600 marks with 97 % and 99.99 percentile.
“After pursuing science in standard11 and standard12 with maths, I want to pursue my career as an IT engineer from one of the prestigious IITs of the country ,“ said Krina, whose father Shailesh Patel works as a civil engineer in a private firm while mother Urvashi Patel is a housewife.