“Every Muslim Child needs Education..” that’s My Dream

Meher Tabassum is a Scientist working at the Division of Remote Handling and Robotics, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai,  India. She is a Government of India employee, with an official status of Class I Gazetted Officer. In an interview with TwoCircles.Net, she shares her aspirations and the importance of education for young Muslims today. “I was born in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, to a  highly educated Sunni Muslim family. Since my father was on a transferable government job, I traveled along with him to many places  all over India. At present I am residing in Anushaktinagar, a BARC residential colony in Mumbai. I am passionate about engineering,  travel, books, fashion and antiques. I hold a good collection of rare and old coins and stamps. My parents are my role models. I am  always grateful to my illustrious father, Mr. M. F. R Hyder, who diligently served the Geological Survey of India, as a Drilling Engineer till he retired and provided me with guidance and support all through my life. My mother Mrs. Paiker Jamal is a simple lady with exotic  knowledge of Islam, governance and general knowledge. She nurtured me with good moral values and inspired me to live a humble simple life. That makes me prefer to go on a bicycle to office and to keep my five times prayer a regular part of my life. I have an asset  of many supporting relatives and friends including my husband. My life also revolves around my small beautiful daughter Hana, who is  a very intelligent and creative girl. I attended St. Joseph Convent High School and St. Francis De Sales college, Nagpur for my 10th and  12th respectively. I received my Bachelors’ degree in the year 1995 from Nagpur University and my Masters in Electronics  Engineering from Aligarh Muslim University in the year 1998. Before joining BARC, I acquired Diplomain Nuclear Engineering from BARC training school. My first job as a lecturer was in Women’s Polytechnic, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, from April 1997-  May 1998. I taught subjects like Microprocessor and Computer to Diploma Engineering students. Presently I work as a Scientific  Officer in Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India, since 1998. My contribution is in the research and development of various Robotics and Mechatronics systems such as Automatic Liquid Scintillation Counting System, Remote Contact Perception and Force  Reflection for Parallel Manipulator, Telepresence laboratory, Mobile Vehicle with Slave Manipulator, Parallel Manipulator, Articulated 6 DOF DC Servo Robotic System, SCARA Robot Controlled Liquid Scintillation Detection System, Moderator Heat Exchanger Inspection System Project for NPC-NAPP, Narora, India etc. focusing primarily on their control electronics, embedded systems and programming. I am very active in sports and play badminton and table tennis, right from my school days and have won  many prizes. I held responsible positions from school to colleges taking keen interest in cultural, art and academic talent  competitions. I want to get involved in combating the new challenge of educating our young generation and establishing a think tank  to make the future generation of Indian Muslims motivated towards the pursuit of education. I have a dream of “No Muslim child in  India to be left behind for education”. The message I wish to give our young Muslims is to consider education, not just as a means to  conquer the outer space, but also the inner space, so that we must be able to conquer the atom as well as our prejudice. We must learn  to clean the pollution of the air and also not allow pollution of our souls and heart. We need young Muslims to be educated to make this  world more secure and peaceful, to understand and communicate more intelligently, to negotiate, to agree to disagree respectfully, to resolve mutual conflicts in amicable and civilized ways, to demand justice and human rights in a democratic way and also to learn to  compromise in the interest of peace and humanity”.