On National Education Day, 11 November 2026, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu paid solemn tribute to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad — freedom fighter, towering scholar, and the architect of independent India's education system — on the occasion of his birth anniversary.

Posting in Telugu, Naidu wrote: 'The services of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad — a freedom fighter, a great educationist, and a noble soul who made extraordinary contributions to the development of education in India as the country's first Education Minister — are eternally memorable. His life and ideals will forever be an inspiration to future generations. On the occasion of this great soul's birth anniversary, I offer my heartfelt tributes.'

The man who built India's classrooms from scratch

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1888–1958) served as India's first Minister of Education from 1947 to 1958 — an unbroken eleven-year tenure that coincided with the most formative period of the republic's intellectual infrastructure. He was the driving force behind the establishment of central universities and the foundational framework for the Indian Institutes of Technology, institutions that would go on to shape India's scientific and economic identity for generations.

Azad was not merely an administrator. A prolific Urdu scholar, Islamic theologian, and a close confidant of Mahatma Gandhi, he was among the most articulate voices for a composite, pluralist India during the independence movement. His insistence that education — modern, universal, and secular — was the bedrock of a free nation drove every major policy decision he made in office.

National Education Day: a tradition born in 2008

National Education Day has been observed on 11 November every year since 2008, formally recognising Azad's birth anniversary as a moment to reflect on India's educational journey. Schools, colleges, and institutions across the country mark the day with seminars, debates, and programmes centred on expanding access to quality education — the cause Azad gave his ministerial life to.

Chief Minister Naidu's tribute follows the well-established practice among Indian political leaders of publicly honouring freedom struggle icons on their birth anniversaries — a gesture that carries particular resonance on a day dedicated to the value of learning itself.

Azad once wrote that the destiny of India was being shaped in its classrooms long before it was settled on any battlefield. That conviction, more than seven decades on, still sets the terms of the debate.