MR. EHTESHAM NABI SYED – A BIOGRAPHY
Born Ehtesham Nabi Syed in 1947 in the State of Bihar, India, the youngest in a family of five children, he grew up in Pakistan to where his family migrated in the early 1950’s - his father having served the Pakistan Railway Corporation until his retirement in the late 1960’s.
Young Ehtesham acquired his entire education in Pakistan – all through from Primary school until his graduation; having received his degree in English Language. He later went on to attaining his Master’s in English Semantics – proving to be a well disciplined child/ student and a hard working adult; a trait he undoubtedly derived form his father.
Having attained desired qualifications he was determined to devote his active life to development of humanity through the advancement of education in Africa.
Quest for such desire brought him to Nigeria in the early 1970’s in company of the “Ahmaddiyya Muslim Missionaries”; who in 1975 established the Ahmaddiyya Grammar School in Ogbagi Akoko, Ondo State.
He was placed at the helm of affairs, having been appointed Principal. He also taught English Language to students; and with each passing year his resolve to become an educationist grew stronger. He was a religious man who abided by his Islamic faith.
He moved ahead one step at a time – to cover larger grounds within Nigeria; first, to the Azaure boys Secondary School in Bauchi for four years and next, to Kano – his final place of calling where he moored himself for life.
The Kano sojourn began with a posting at the present day College of Arts and Science (CAS) where he taught students vying for Higher School Certificates; and ended when he left Kano State Government service in 1986 – to fulfill his dream of founding his own institute of learning and which he did and came to be – “Crescent International School, Kano” on 5th January 1988.
Early into his tenure in Kano, Ehtesham the teacher, while offering tutoring services, found himself a life-partner in the person of Miss Shaheen Khan who bore him two children; Mohammad Wasim Syed and Maryam Adnan; and who in turn gave Ehtesham and Shaheen three grand children.
As founding father and Director/ Proprietor of Crescent International School, Ehtesham Syed steered an institution that started with a humble ‘head count’ of just seven (staff and students included) through choppy seas and turbulent waters – to what may be termed a ‘Juggernaut’ in the field of education; boasting of three fully functional sections (Primary, Junior Secondary & Senior Secondary) over three independent self-contained premises.
Our beloved Director died suddenly, on 14 February 2000 – in the prime of his life, at age 53. The leading light had extinguished but his noble dreams needed to be fulfilled and therefore, had to be kept alive.
Mrs. Shaheen Ehtesham Syed held the mantle as an interim Director of the school until Mr. Mohammad Wasim Syed took charge of both, the family and the institution.
Mr. Mohammad Wasim Syed carries forth the torch his father lit – and continues to spread the light and keep his late father’s dreams alive in thought, word and deed – glorifying the school’s motto his late father had so aptly worded: “Education with a Purpose”