Renowned educationist Dr Ismail Saad passes away at age of 90

• Dr Saad played a pioneering role in establishing the Department of Special Education at Karachi University.
• He also served as the registrar at University of Karachi (1976-1979).
• Saad was arguably the first Pakistani to obtain a PhD in Education.

Renowned educationist and writer Dr Ismail Saad passed away at his residence in Karachi on Monday morning after a period of a brief illness. 

Saad, 90, played a pioneering role in establishing the Department of Special Education at Karachi University, where he served as the project director from 1988 to 1996. 

He also served as the chairperson of the Department of Education, Karachi University, from 1987 to 1990.

The deceased held distinguished positions in universities around Karachi, retiring in 2020 from the position of dean Faculty of Education and Learning Sciences, Iqra University, which he joined in 2005.

He also served as the vice-chancellor, Hamdard University, where he served as the dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. He had also served as the registrar of the University of Karachi from 1976-1979.

The deceased's wife, Geti Naseem Saad, 83, said his “biggest accomplishment” was establishing the department of special education.

Geti, who lost her best friend just 40 days after the passing of her older sister Shireen Islam, remembered the breakneck speed with which her husband worked, their house filled with educationists for a week designing the syllabus and putting the programme together. 

Saad trained the teachers and launched the department, Pakistan’s first at any university, in record time.

Born in Lucknow, December 28, 1931, Saad completed his BA from Jamia Millia Islami, Delhi in 1950. He moved to Karachi in 1953 after completing his MA in Economics from Meerut College. 

Besides Urdu and English, he was fluent in Persian and Arabic. His father Saaduddin Ansari was a teacher of Arabic who on principle took no remuneration for teaching.

Saad followed his father’s example, teaching voluntarily throughout his life even on evenings and weekends, working overtime for household expenses through consultancies and administrative positions, and his printing press, Saad Publications.

“We never had a free day,” said Geti, who worked closely with her husband on his projects.

One of his earliest passions was the Jamia Millia Institute of Education, Malir, where he taught philosophy, theory, Psychology of Education, supervised a practical teaching programme and teaching and clerical staff, besides editing the Jamia Quarterly journal.

The couple married in 1967, some years after Saad returned from the USA with a PhD in education and a minor in sociology from the George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1961, from where he also obtained his second MA in education with a minor in sociology in 1958.

Saad was arguably the first Pakistani to obtain a PhD in education. His thesis was on comparative educational philosophers in India and Pakistan.

He played a key role in the field of teacher training in Pakistan, with the Government College of Education, Qasimabad, Karachi from 1973-1976 where he also served as Acting Principal from 1976–1979.

He wrote and translated numerous books on education and philosophy. He will be remembered as a simple, hardworking, and devoted teacher with a quirky sense of humour.

Saad will be celebrated and remembered by his wife Geti, his two daughters, a son, seven grandchildren, and numerous students around the country and abroad.