“My biggest achievement has been to get people to embrace, as well as pursue education. I don’t believe in giving alms. To provide education is the best weapon to fight any evil.”
Dilafroze Qazi (born 1962) is the founder and Vice-Chairperson of Srinagar School of Management (SSM) College of Engineering & Technology & Management in Jammu and Kashmir, India. Despite hailing from a poorly literate family Dilafroze studied at a free government school and has a double Master’s Degree in Education and economics. She completed her Bachelor of Law (LLB) program from the University of Kashmir. To help the girls and homemakers of the society she started the small venture in rented premises in 1988, named ‘Srinagar School Of Management’ where he taught them vocational courses like cutting, cooking, stitching, and shorthand.
Nationalist violence, life threat calls couldn’t shake her determination to serve the society. She battled lack of security, harsh weather conditions, aggression, state insecurity, armed separatist, close shave with deaths from community members, and kidnapping of all her family members including her father, brothers, and husband. She was even warned that if she didn’t give up her cause or anyone who dared to unlock the college doors would be killed. However, she stayed true to herself and never gave up. She relocated the college to a safe place in Srinagar but again she got threat calls from locals- on behalf of religious leaders stating to agitate against her work in educating women. But she knew that every problem is an opportunity in disguise which brings you closer to your goals and she never looked back. Gradually she added a 3-year Diploma course in civil engineering to the college. Today, she is vice-chairman of SSM College of Engineering and Technology, which has 4,000 engineering and management students on its rolls. The college is also offering degrees in civil, mechanical, electronics and communication. The college also has a branch at Gudhrana in Palwal district of Haryana. She also started a free primary school in 1996 in the village Divar Parihaspora in Baramulla district. In 1998, she started another school in the village Sumbal in Dangarpora and opened a free primary school at Kunan Poshpora in the Kupwara district in 2001. In addition to the contribution in education she is also running handicraft centers has helped to establish a self-help group for the underprivileged especially widows and poor women and has been involved in organizing medical camps and rehabilitation programs for women. Even after three decades, she receives threat calls but her approach is the same she believes that every basic human right should be systematically given to women.
In 2005, she along with 90 other women from India was nominated for the 1000 women for the Nobel Peace Prize, supported by the Swiss government, UNIFEM and UNDP. In 2011, she was awarded the ‘Peace Star’ award for her efforts in building communal harmony by Association for Communal Harmony in Asia at a function held in New Delhi.