From Free Coaching in Rural Kashmir to Rashtrapati Bhavan

Mohd Firdoos Malik received the MY Bharat National Service Scheme Award 2022-23 at Rashtrapati Bhavan in October 2025. President Droupadi Murmu presented the recognition. It mattered because the award placed his years of quiet community work among the country’s nationally recognised service efforts.

Since 2017, Malik has supported rural communities through free coaching, stationery distribution, health drives, digital literacy camps, and gender sensitisation workshops. He also explained government schemes to people who did not know those schemes existed. His work continued alongside his education and research plans.

The recognition followed other opportunities, including the 2019 Republic Day Parade in New Delhi and an International Youth Exchange in South Korea. The article identifies Malik as one of only 30 NSS volunteers recognised across India for 2022-23. His example connects education with community service.

The MY Bharat National Service Scheme Award recognises NSS volunteers for meaningful service to communities. The article presents it as a national honour, not as a reward for one isolated event. It highlights sustained action that addresses practical needs and helps people access opportunities or information.

Malik’s work illustrates the kind of service associated with the award. Since 2017, he has provided free coaching, distributed stationery, organised health drives, and conducted digital literacy camps. He also held gender sensitisation workshops and explained government schemes to people who did not know about them. These activities connected education, health, awareness, and inclusion.

The award’s significance is reinforced by its scale. Only 30 NSS volunteers across the country received recognition for 2022-23. The article does not list formal eligibility rules, but it clearly links the honour to consistent, community-focused service. Malik’s recognition shows how local work can gain national visibility.

Thirty NSS volunteers from across India received the MY Bharat National Service Scheme Award for 2022-23. That figure shows how selective the recognition was. Malik was not simply recognised at a local or institutional level; he was one of a limited group chosen nationally.

The award followed years of service in rural communities. Since 2017, Malik had provided free coaching, distributed stationery, organised health drives, conducted digital literacy camps, and led gender sensitisation workshops. He also helped people understand government schemes they did not know existed. These repeated activities formed the practical basis of his service.

The national figure also gives context to Malik’s recognition at Rashtrapati Bhavan in October 2025. President Droupadi Murmu honoured him there. The article does not provide the total number of nominations or selection criteria, but it makes the scale clear: only 30 NSS volunteers across India received the award for that year.

Malik’s rural service extended far beyond teaching children. He worked across education, health, technology, gender awareness, and public information. This matters because community needs rarely fit inside one subject. A child may need learning support, while a family may need health information, digital skills, or help understanding a government scheme.

Since 2017, Malik has organised stationery runs, health drives, digital literacy camps, and gender sensitisation workshops. He also explained government schemes to people who did not know those schemes existed. These efforts addressed immediate needs while helping people understand and use available opportunities. His service was repeated year after year, rather than limited to a single campaign.

The article connects this broad work to Malik’s education. He did not treat service as a detour from his research career. Instead, he used his knowledge as a tool for his community. That approach earned national recognition and shows how varied, consistent local action can support rural development.

Access to learning, digital skills, health information, and government schemes can widen the choices available to children and families. Free coaching may support school learning. Digital literacy can make online information and services easier to use. Health information can help people recognise resources and make informed decisions. Scheme awareness can connect families with benefits they might otherwise miss.

Malik’s work shows the mechanism clearly. He offered free coaching, ran digital literacy camps, organised health drives, and explained government schemes to people who did not know they existed. The support was local and practical. It brought information and assistance closer to rural communities instead of expecting people to find everything alone.

The source does not report measured outcomes for the children or families involved. Still, it shows the potential of sustained support: people gain tools, information, and awareness that can help them act on their own needs. Malik’s example suggests that education becomes more powerful when paired with community access and service.

Families may face difficulty accessing education, digital services, healthcare, or government benefits when information is unavailable, unfamiliar, or hard to navigate. Rural communities can also need support that is close to home and explained in everyday language. The article directly notes that some people did not know government schemes existed, showing how an information gap can block access.

Malik addressed these barriers through local action. He provided free coaching, ran digital literacy camps, organised health drives, and explained government schemes. Each activity reduced a different kind of access problem: learning support, technology skills, health awareness, or knowledge about public assistance. His repeated presence also made support continuous rather than one-time.

The article does not list every challenge faced by rural families or measure the results of each activity. It does show why local volunteers matter. They can translate information into practical help, connect people with services, and make education and public resources easier to reach. That role complements formal systems without replacing them.

Education can serve the public when knowledge is shared to solve common problems. It can help people learn, understand information, use technology, and find available support. This view treats education as more than a personal credential. It makes knowledge useful to people who may not have the time, access, or guidance to find answers alone.

Malik provides the article’s concrete example. While facing a PhD thesis and a research career, he continued serving rural communities. He offered free coaching, ran digital literacy camps, organised health drives, held gender sensitisation workshops, and explained government schemes. His key mechanism was applying his learning and skills directly to local needs.

The article calls this a shift from “what do I gain” to “what can I give.” Malik did not see social service as separate from education. His national recognition shows the reach of that approach, while his continued work suggests a broader implication: educated people can strengthen communities by sharing knowledge consistently.