New Delhi

Aligarh Muslim University got its first woman Vice-Chancellor. Prof. Naima Khatoon. This is the first time that the 103-year university will be headed by a woman.

President Draupadi Murmu signed the decree of appointment of Prof. Naima Khatoon Gulriz on Monday night.

Her name was picked by a panel formed to select the new vice-chancellor of the university.

There seems to be a trend of appointing women as heads of the Universities under the present BJP regime. Earlier Prof. Najma Akhtar became the first female Vice Chancellor in Jamia Millia Islamia. JNU is also headed by a woman VC and so are many universities in the States.

The government had approached the Election Commission of India (ECI) for this appointment given the  Model Code of Conduct that is in force due to the ongoing general Elections.

"Naima Khatoon, principal of Women's College, has been appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of AMU for five years," the official notification said.

The AMU was established in 1920. Its first chancellor was Lady Begum Sultan Jahan while the first vice-chancellor was Raja Muhammad Ali Muhammad Khan of Mahmudabad.

Naima Khatoon was a Professor in the Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences. She has held positions of the Principal of the Women's College and Director of the Center for Skill Development and Career Planning.

She hails from Odisha.

Prof. Naima Khatoon received her Bachelor’s degree from AMU in 1981. She ranked at the third position in the merit list in the BA, Psychology (Hons) examination.

She did her PhD thesis on 'A Comparative Study of Patterns of Political Segregation and Socio-Psychological Correlations in Hindu and Muslim Youth' while teaching as an Assistant Professor at AMU since 1988.

Naima Khatoon has considerable administrative experience as Provost and Warden and Deputy Proctor of various halls.

She has also been a member of several important committees such as the Pay Equity and Fee Rationalization Committee. In 1999-2000 she also served as Associate Professor/Reader in the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the National University of Rwanda.

Naima Khatoon admitted that she was aware of the responsibilities that are placed on her, especially by women in the university and beyond. After being selected for the post of vice-chancellor she said as such there is no discrimination in the university but she would take positive action in favour of women. Naima Khatoon says she wants to become an example to women as far as their sense of achievement is concerned.

ALSO READ: Muslims must focus on cracking non-UPSC exams for govt. jobs: Zafar Mahmood

“Women are born multi-taskers, planners, finance managers, and the like. No woman should think that this task is beyond me,” she said while speaking to the media person.