MUSLIM EDUCATION IN BENGAL 1837-1937

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196 SYED MURTAZA ALI 35. Nawab 'Abdul Latif and Syed Ameer 'Ali took lead in the education of Muslims. They both pressed for Urdu and did not cultivate Ben- gali. In the Muslim Literary Society of Nawab 'Abdul Latif speeches were delivered in English, Urdu and Persian. Nobody however spoke in Ban- gali. Titus Oates has calculated that at the beginning of the 20th century there were 2 corores and 22 lacs Bengali speaking Muslims as against 18 lacs Urdu speaking Muslims in Bengal. Yet the Muslim Assistant Inspector of School in 1889 reported that a large number of Mussalmans even of the lower classes preferred Urdu to Bengali as medium of instruction for their children. This happened chiefly because the Muslims in rural areas were suffering from inferio- rity complex. Though most of them were converts from Hindus and Bud- dhists and spoke the same languate as their Hindu neighbours they claimed to be descendants of Turks, Afghans and Persians who had come as conquerors and wanted to improve their social status by learning Urdu and Persian. Another reason why they wanted to avoid learning Bengali in schools was the highly sanskritised Bengali full of Hindu mythology which was in vogue at that time. The text books contained many mis- representations and libellous attacks on the Muslims. 36. Hunter Commissions's recommendations. Hunter Commission in 1882 recommended that Mohammedan inspecting officers be employed more largely. As a result in 1889 two Muslim Assistant Inspector of Schools were appointed 1 I. But these posts were abolished in 1901. This caused some set-back in primary education. The paucity of Muslim officers in education department in the end of the last century will appear from the following statistics. In 1893 out of 44 Deputy Inspectors of Schools in Bengal Presidency only two were Muslims, out of 181 Sub-Inspectors only 9 were Muslims and out of 279 teachers in Government High Schools only 11 were Muslims. Moulvi 'Abdul Karim pointed out 12 "The presence of even one Moham- medan teacher in a school inspires confidence among the local Mussal- mans, many of whom do not hesitate to send their children to the school in the hope that their morals and manners, to which Mussalmans attach great importance, will be properly looked after." 37. Mr. Taylor was appointed Assistant Director of Public Instruction for Muslim Education in 1909. Government soon realised the mistake
<strong>MUSLIM</strong> <strong>EDUCATION</strong> 197 they had committed by abolishing without sufficient thought the posts of Assistant Inspectors for Muslim Education in 1901. In 1914 they created the posts of five Assistant Inspectors for Muslim Education - one for each Division of the Presidency of Bengal. Muslims and Calcutta University 38. Calcutta University never countenanced the idea of linking Madrassah education with University. In the beginning the Madrassahs were not aiated to University inspite of Woods despatch. NO provision for teaching Arabic and Persian was made till 1871 when Lord Mayo drew the attention of Government to it. Sanskrit College was affiliated to Calcutta University and a student passed M.A. in Sanskrit in 1865 when M.A. Examination was started. The first Muslims to pass in M.A. in Persian from Bengal were (Nawab) Shamsul Huda and ZShid Suhrwardy who passed in 1889. It was in 1871 that Government of India directed that encouragement should be given to classical languages of the Muslims. In 1921 Shamsul Huda Committee recommended that the Calcutta Uni- versity should permit Madrassah students to appear in English papers in Matric, I.A. and B.A. Examinations. Unfortunately these recommendations were never given effect to. 39. While presiding over Bengal Provincial Muslim League in 1920, Mr. 'Abdul Karim (Later Member of Council of State) said "The interests of Mussalman in the Calcutta University had grievously suffered for want of adequate and effective representation, there being only 7 Mussalmans out of 110 Fellows, not one of them being a member of the Syndicate. Since the introduction of elective system in Calcutta University not a single Muhammedan has ever been returned, although competent candidates were in the field. As a result of the dominating influence of one particular community there was not a single Muhammedan out of 70 lecturers in the Law College, not a single Mohammedan (2 on Persian and Arabic excepted) out of a !arge number of University lecturers and only 9 Mohammedan out of 851 Examiners (the examiners in ~rabic, Persian and Urdu excepted) for the University examinations held during the previous year." 40. According to Momin Committee "The Calcutta University practically passed on by default of the Musalmans to the other community who naturally developed it into a Hindu temple of learning whose influence filtered through the several stages of instruction down to the primary schools".l3
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MUSLIM EDUCATION IN BENGAL 1837-1937

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