New Delhi: Jamia Millia Islamia is celebrating its 100th year. The university is all decked up to showcase the cultural programmes from morning to evening, a slew of events lined up at various venues following the guidelines of COVID-19 issued by the government.
Jamia Milia Islamia embarked its journey during the independence struggle of the country.
''The university was established with the aim of bringing freedom and quality education. During the Non-Cooperation Movement, Gandhiji had come to the Aligarh Muslim University and addressed the students and emphasized that we need to create an independent Institution. After that, about 300 students and teachers of Aligarh University together laid the foundation of Jamia in Aligarh mosque on 29 October 1920. It was inaugurated by freedom fighter Maulana Mahmud Hasan. In the first batch, 21 students graduated, in which 20 students got BA degree and one student got B.Sc. degree,'' said Sabiha Zaidi, Director of the Archive Department of Jamia Millia Islamia.
Zaidi said that the foundation of Jamia was laid in Aligarh Muslim University. But, on the third day of the beginning of Jamia, the British Government ordered the evacuation of the Old Boys Lodge, after which Jamia's second house became Krishna Ashram. Six rooms and tents were set up for the students to study. Due to the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1922 and the withdrawal of the Khilafat Movement in 1924, the university faced an economic crisis.
