MUSLIM EDUCATION IN BENGAL 1837-1937

More documents

Recommendations

Info

192 SYED MURTAZA ALI trated in old cities like Murshidabad and Dacca. Calcutta which had become a city after British occupation did not have sufficient number of Muslim upper classes. The Hindu trader classes had flocked to Calcutta and derived considerable benefit from the commercial and revenue policy of the British. They had discarded their classics like Sanskrit and learnt Persian during Muslim rule. They now switched over to English and began to flock to English Schools with avidity. Ram Mohan Roy and other leading H.indus carried on an agitation against oriental learning and wanted English education to be spread everywhere. The Calcutta University neglected the education of Muslims from the start. The University discarded the recommendation of Education despatch of 1854 to offer facilities of amation to Calcutta, Hooghly and other Madrassahs. There were some well-to-do Muslims who were resident in Hooghly and its neighbourhood. They took advantage of the English education. The first Muslim graduate of India, Khan Bahadur Delwar Hussain Ahmed, was a resident of Hooghly. Syed Ameer 'Ali, the first Bengali Muslim to pass M.A., also came from Hooghly. 30. There were a large number of Muslim gentry in Dacca. Muslims were in the majority in the city of Dacca all throughout the British period. Unfortunately the Muslim gentry of Dacca did not take kindly to English education. Though Dacca College was amated to Calcutta University from its start no Muslim from Dacca city graduated before 1886. The Muslim gentry seems to have flocked round the old Nawab family of Dacca. The last Nawab of Dacca was holding court till forties of the last century. Thereafter the Khwaja family came to the forefront. Though Nawab 'Abdul Gani had started the Gani School, it did not thrive. 31. The first English Schools were started by Missionaries. For two reasons the missionaries concentrated near about Calcutta. They chose Presidence Division as their field of operation as it was near their seat of power. Secondly they knew their primary object of conversion would be more successful amongst the Hindus than amongst the Muslims. On account of the caste system the lower classes amongst the Hindus were under great hardship. They readily accepted Christianity to improve their social and economic conditions. The English Schools were mostly started in such urban areas where there were few Muslims. The best institution for imparting English education before the foundation of
<strong>MUSLIM</strong> <strong>EDUCATION</strong> 193 Calcutta University was the Hindu College. It got lavish patronage from the Government. Its doors were however closed to Muslims. Hence Muslims got no opportunity for higher education till Presidency College A was started in 1854. L 32. Another important point was that education in the early stages had to be imparted through vernacular. Through the efforts of missionaries like Carey, Marshman on one hand and the pandits of the Fort William College on the other, the whole character of the Bengali language was changed. It was denuded of all words of Arabic and Persian origin. These were replaced by words borrowed from Sanskrit having Hindu ideology and mythology. The Bengali language thus developed was unintelligible and repugnant to the Muslims. In United Province and Oudh where education was through Urdu Muslims promptly took advantage of the English education. Unfortunately Bengali Muslims were divided as to whether they should declare Bengali or Urdu as their varnacular. The upper class Muslims like Nawab 'Abdul Latif, Syed Ameer 'Mi, Nawab Salimullah had Urdu as their mother tongue. The rural masses did not understand Urdu. Their needs were overlooked. Nawab 'Abdul Latif drew attention to the fact that many of the Bengali text books were repugnant to Muslims. In his speech delivered at the thirteenth Session of Mohammadan Educational conference at Calc~~tta under the presidency of Syed Ameer 'Ali, Nawab 'Ali Choudhury also forcefully drew attention to this fact. Farsighted Rev Adams had recommended in 1835 preparation of special text books to suit the Muslim taste. It had not been heeded till the end of 19th century. Towards the end of 19th century passages or books objected to by Muslims were replaced and passages from Muslim authors were included. Muslims then took to English education without any hesitation. The absence of instruction in the tenets of their own faith and the injurious effects of English education in creating a disbelief in their religion, the economic condition of Muslim peasantry in Bengal were the main reasons for the backwardness of Muslim in English education. 33. The other factor was the decline of the artisan classes on account of replacement of handloom cloth by factory products. It is only when jute growing became profitable towards the end of 19th century that Muslims peasants in Bengal had sufficient money to educate their children. Statistics regarding progress of Education. 34. In 1870-71 Muslims who were 32'3% of total population were
Page 1 and 2: Islamic Studies (Islamabad) 10:3 (1
Page 3 and 4: MUSLIM EDUCATION 183 8312 Muslims i
Page 5 and 6: MUSLIM EDUCATION 185 The Court of D
Page 7 and 8: MUSLIM EDUCATION 187 tlon. It appea
Page 9 and 10: MUSLIM EDUCATION 189 down the Inter
Page 11: MUSLIM EDUCATION 191 (5) That Moham
Page 15 and 16: MUSLIM EDUCATION 195 In 1915 out of
Page 17 and 18: MUSLIM EDUCATION 197 they had commi
Page 19: 10. Journal of Pakistan Historical

MUSLIM EDUCATION IN BENGAL 1837-1937

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?