While there is demand of protecting Marathi medium schools in Maharashtra, an Indian in Qatar did not just set up two schools which teach Marathi as a subject, but also ensured that the language is taught in three other schools in Qatar.
Hasan AK Chougule in Chiplun on Sunday attending the 86th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan. He participated in one of the seminars titled ‘Videshatil Marathicha Jagar,’ which was attended by Anil Nene from London, Santosh Ambike from Singapore and Mandar Joglekar from USA among others.
Chougule is an industrialist who heads the Emadi Group and Doha Grand Group, hails from Baharoli in Khed in the Konkan region. He has lived in Doha, Qatar for 36 years and has been felicitated with number of awards, including the Pravasi Bharatiya Award and the Global Personality Award in the recently concluded Konkan festival in Mumbai.
“Literary meets like these are essential as we can connect to our roots. I am proud to be associated with the Konkan land. It has been 36 years since I left India, but I can still speak fairly well in Marathi,” he said.
He founded the Modern Indian School, which is a branch of Delhi Public School, and the Ideal Indian School in Doha.
Chougule is the president of the Indian Overseas Congress’ Qatar chapter. Apart from at two of his own schools, he has ensured that Marathi is taught in three of the nine schools in Qatar. He has been actively involved in the Ideal Foundation and also the Kokan Sarvangin Utkarsh Mandal in Mumbai. He is associated with a number of social initiatives in Qatar and India, in addition to winning the Human Rights Award from the Qatar National Human Rights Commission.
