Among the new institutions he established were the three National Academies viz the Sangeet Natak Academy (1953), Sahitya Academy (1954) and Lalit Kala Academy (1954), the Indian Council for Cultural Relations having been established by him earlier in 1950.
The Maulana felt that the cultural content in Indian Education was very low during the British rule and needs to be strengthened through curriculum. As Chairman of the Central Advisory Board of Education, an apex body to recommend to the Government educational reform both at the center and the states including universities, he advocated, in particular, universal primary education, free and compulsory for all children upto the age of 14, girls education, vocational training, agricultural education and technical education.
He established the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 1956 by an Act of Parliament for disbursement of grants and maintenance of standards in Indian universities.
His greatest contribution, however, is that in spite of being an eminent scholar of Urdu, Persian and Arabic he stood for the retention of English language for educational advantages and national and international needs. However, primary education should be imparted in the mother-tongue.
On the technical education side, he strengthened the All Indian Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT-K)was established in 1951 followed by a chain of IIT's at Bombay, Madras and Kanpur and Delhi. The School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) came into existence at Delhi in 1955.
Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, a Muslim theologian of international repute, was one of the earliest to join the nationalist movement and to lead it steadfastly, arousing the ire of his communal-minded co- religionists. He was perhaps the only one among our leaders who was jailed during both World Wars I (1914-1918) and II (1939-45) for campaigning for Swaraj.