BEGUM Azizun Nesa. Member. Bangladesh Public Service Commission (1977-82). Joint Director of Public Instruction (1969-77), Principal. Teachers' Training College for Women (1954-69) and the first female Dean of Dhaka University (1968) died a year ago on 12 December 1998. With her death the nation lost an cducaaonisLpaF excellence.

Azizun Nesa began her pro-f&siopalcan^T^pJ^cturer at'. Jlje Lady^ratpty-mj ^ColIegq, J Calcutta in 1942. Her brilliant academic career and a suggestion by Sher-e-Bangla A K Fa-zlul Huq. inspired tier to join one of the most prestigious educational institutions of India. Her tenure at the College was. however, short-lived as she had to return home to Klshoreganj few years later to attend to her ailing mother. The untimely and premature death of her mother coupled with the subsequent sickness of her father also meant the end of her career at Lady Brabourne College. She quit her job and became the Headmistress of S.V. Girls’ High Schoo). Kishoreganj (1944-46) an institution from where she had started her early education. She always remembered with pride her achievements at the school where she stood first in all the examinations including the Lower Primary. Higher Primary and Secondary Scholarship examinations. But the Gold Medal she won in 1930 at a Literary Competition for an essay entitled Women Education' gave her the greatest satisfaction.

Born in 1920 she was the fifth daughter of Moulvi Fazar Ali and Begum Khairun Nesa. A well-to-do law practitioner. Moulvi Fazar Ali soon realized the academic potential of his daughter. The liberal minded father and a firm believer in women's emancipation was in a dilemma whether to keep his young daughter in Kishoreganj or send her for better education to the district town of My-mensingh. Azizun Nesa. fondly called 'Buri' by her parents, recalled many a time how her mother, herself an educated women, persuaded her father to send her to Mymensingh. There was no looking back once she got admitted to Vidyamoyee Girls' High School, Mymensingh. Under the tutelage of the revered Headmistress of the school Mrs. B. Bakshi. Azizun Nesa duly passed the Matriculation Examination in 1935 with distinctions in Mathematics and Sanskrit. She subsequently passed the Intermediate Examination from the Eden Girls' College. Dhaka in 1937. Unable to decide on a future career. she came for guidance to Dr Mohammed Shahidullah — a family friend, the Head of the Department of Bengali and the Provost of Fazlul Huq Muslim Hall. Dhaka University. She got admitted to the Bengali De-Eartment. Dr Shahidullah was er local guardian. In 1939 she obtained a B A degree securing a first position and was second class first in the final M A examination in 1941. Azizun Nesa never forgot the parental roles played by Dr Shahidullah and Begum Shahidullah and was always eager to acknowledge their contributions in her career. Incidentally she was the first Muslim woman in the district of Kishoreganj to receive an M A from the Dhaka University.

In 1946 when she lost her father — a respected man whose death was honoured by a holiday in the town. Azizun Nesa no longer felt the urge to stay in

Kishoreganj any more. She accepted the Job of Inspector of School and moved to Mymensingh the same year. During the next two years she undertook tours of a large number of schools through the length and breadth of Mymensingh. Her first-hand information on the plight, the utter negligence, and above all the social taboos 1 attached "to'demales going to schools- shocked her. The urge ?SOWthing MlWl’ ; farmed tfre, nucleus, of her. future activities. The partition of India and the subsequent migration of people — especially the educated Hindus, created a death of teachers in all schools and colleges. Vidyamoyee School also bore the brunt of this exodus. Only three teachers remained to run the school. Azizun Nesa was then entrusted with the job of rebuilding the

school. For the next few years she spent all her energy in doing so and literally from scratch. While recruiting new teachers she also realized the importance of appropriately 'trained teachers' to the new tob. In order to fill the void she ierself decided to undergo the training course at the Dhaka Teachers' Training College in 1949. As usual she topped the list of successful students in 1950, thereby becoming the first female Muslim student to hold that distinction. While at the T. T. College she appeared and topped the Public Service Commission Interview and was selected to be the Professor of Bengali at the Eden Girls' College, Dhaka. Later she became the Vice-Principal — a job she held till the award of a Scholarship to study in the USA. During this time she served as the first Superintendent (now designated as Provost) of the Women's Hall of Dhaka University (1950-52).

For the next two years she made the best use of her stay at the State University of Arizona, USA. Besides obtaining a diploma in Secondary Education Administration, she also obtained an M A in Education. She visited twenty different states in connection with her practical work. She gave seminars to the faculty, talks over local radio and interviews on Local newspapers highlighting the conditions of the female students in East Pakistan. We were very young then, but still can remember how excited we were on hearing our names on the 45 rpm gramophone records sent us as presents by auntie from the State. She had this very novel idea of recording her American experience on gramophone records. We can still recall her describing the Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, the Empire State Building — on top of which the recording studios were located, the White House and her expert-

ences with a Red Indian family.

With full of enthusiasm and ideas Azizun Nesa returned home in 1954. A choice ofjobs awaited her — a return to Eden Girls' College or to accept the more challenging job of the Principal of the newly established Teachers' Training College for Women at Mymensingh — the first of its kind in East Pakistan. She chose the latter. The college, housed in the beautiful Palace bf the Maharaja of Mymensingh. was located at the center of the town near the old Brhmaputra River. From the day of her joining Azizun Nesa §ot down to the task of building le college. Over the years she recruited teachers of the highest caliber, built dormitories for students, residential quarters for teachers, staff and the principal. The number of students had also more than quadrupled by the time she left fifteen years later. Two persons (now deceased) to whom she always remained grateful for helping her build the college were Dr M O Ghani, the Vice Chancellor of DU and Mr M O Ghani, the Principal of Teachers' Training College. Dhaka. Her dedication, sincerity, untiring efforts and contribution to female education earned her a Tamgha-e-Quaid-e-Azam in 1966. In 1968 she became the Dean of the Faculty of Education, Dhaka University. She was then the first female Dean in the history of Pakistan.

In 1969 she was appointed Joint Director of Public Instruction for Women Education. As the first female Director she was entrusted with the Job of organizing the female education in the country. In that capacity she also served as Chairman/Member of various National Committees, important amongst which were the National Committee for Women Education. National Federation of Business and Professional Women. Mass Education Evaluation Committee. Governing Body of Viqarun Nisa Noon Girls' School and College, etc. Apart from these she also served at various time as Chairman/Member of Secondary and Higher Secondary Syllabus Committees; Faculty of Fine Arts, Faculty of Education, Academic Council of DU etc. During her long and eventful career starting with British India through Pakistan and ending with Bangladesh she represented her countries at various for a in the USA. UK. Japan. Iraq. Egypt. Saudi Arabia. Thailand. India. Pakistan. On retirement from active service in 1977, she was appointed a Member of the Bangladesh Public Service Commission for a five-year period.

Begum Azizun Nesa was an honest, sincere and hard working person who never allowed the beautiful things in life to be overshadowed by the odd and the ugly. We remember even during the last five years of her life that she was completely bed-ridden and in much discomfort. on inquiry, she would always reply with a smile 'I am fine'. A religious person, an Honorary Lire Member of the Bangladesh Koranic Society, she performed the Holy Hajj and Umrah in the 70s. The Editor of S M Hall Magazine while a student at DU. she loved Ra-bindra Sangeet and Nazrul Geeti and was a beautiful recitor of poems.

The writers are Professor qf Physics at the Jahangirnagar University and Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Dhaka University. respectively.