Sir Syed Day 2024: Expert confirms permissibility of HECS/HELP

During his keynote address, at Sir Syed Day celebrations in Sydney held on Saturday 9 November 2024, Dr Abulkhair Jalauddin rested the concerns of Muslims regarding the Islamic permissibility of higher education loans since they are indexed with CPI and WPI without involving interest.

Dr Jalaluddin, an Islamic financial expert, taxation advisor and a regular columnist of AMUST said that in Australia, higher education financial support is provided by the Federal Government through Higher Education Contributions Scheme (HECS) and Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) and since these are indexed to the rate of inflation and no interest is charged, there is no concern to be non-permissible in Islam.

“There have been issues raised in relation to higher education loan measures in the Federal Budget 2023-24 where the Government has made changes around how the higher education loans are indexed. This indexation is capped at the lower of the consumer price index (CPI) and wage price index (WPI) where the former refers to the general increase at the macroeconomic level prices and the latter measures the annual growth of salaries and wages,” Dr Jalaluddin said.

He further clarified saying, “This indexation rule has been back-dated to 1 June 2023 and no interest is involved in this indexation of higher education loans in the Federal Budget measures for 2023-24. The indexation rate is applied on 1 June each year to the balance of higher education debts that have been unpaid for more than 11 months.

Read his full article on this topic in AMUST:
https://www.amust.com.au/2024/08/is-hecs-permissible-under-islamic-principles/

He advised the organisers of Sir Syed Day, the Aligarh Muslim University Alumni of Australia to recommend to the government of India to introduce a universal loan scheme similar to the one in Australia, initially on a limited scale for minority groups instead of Indian higher education loan schemes often in partnership with financial institutions for interest subsidy.

Sir Syed Day is celebrated by Aligarians annually to mark the birthday of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the founder of Aligarh Muslim University in India, and commemorates his legacy by reflecting on his achievements and the emulation of his spirit in the field of education.

The 32nd Sir Syed Day 2024 organised by AMUAA was held at Don Moore Community Centre in Carlingford attended by hundreds of Aligarians, supporters and their families where the chief guest, Dr S Janakiraman, The Consul General of India in Sydney commended the long track record of AMUAA for its services to the community and specially its long running and highly successful scholarship project.

During his address, the President of AMUAA, Mr Riyaz Akhtar highlighted the achievements of three decades since the foundation of Aligarh Muslim University Alimni of Australia saying, “Today, we are gathered here, not only to reflect on our accomplishments over the past three decades, but also to plan effectively for the next 10 years. At this critical juncture in the history of this organisation, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s vision and how we have adhered to it, and how we will continue to shape it into the future.”

He further added, “For AMU Alumni of Australia to deliver its objective of promoting higher education among the backward communities and recognizing the achievement of our youngsters, effective involvement of all Aligarians is vital. New ideas for fostering good values among the new generations are required. Education is not just getting degrees. Real education is all about making good citizens who will respect their environment and value diversity.”

Mr Akhtar concluded his address by thanking the major sponsor of the event Human Appeal Australia as well as other sponsors including:

Infinitive Finance
BlueSky Immigration & Student Consultancy Services
Noble Clinical
Red Lea Chickens
Wishful Construction & Maintenance
Crystal Radiology
Australasian Muslim Times (AMUST)

One of the major ongoing projects of the Alumni is the Sir Syed Scholarship Project which has been responsible for the education of thousands of underprivileged students, and is instrumental in breaking the cycle of poverty and helping them achieve a better future.

Mr Zamir Khan, Coordinator, Sir Syed Scholarship Committee, presented his report giving a brief overview of the current projects including schoraship at Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia as well as presented the future plans of expanding community outreach and infrastructure and educational support in India.

The program also included colourful dress parades, songs and dances by Alumni children and the presentation of gifts for all by the chief guest Dr S Janakiraman.