P. K. Abdul Gafoor was the founder President of Muslim Educational Society (MES) and one of the pioneers of education amongst the Muslim community in Kerala. He was a medical doctor by profession and served as a Professor of Medicine at Calicut Medical College. In 1964, Dr. Abdul Gafoor and a group of young educated Muslims established MES at Calicut, with the objective of cultural, educational and economic upliftment of Muslims. The glorious vision of the ‘Dr. P K Abdul Gafoor Chair for the promotion of secular values is to honour the contributions of the great leader towards the educational development of backward communities and for appraising his ideology of secular values throughout his life. The objectives are to act as a forum for discussion on contemporary issues threatening the concept of secularism; conduct lectures and seminars on issues related to protection of secular values in India;and to honour people and organizations working towards the protection of secular values.