MUSLIM EDUCATION IN BENGAL 1837-1937

198 SYED MURTAZA ALI
Reformed Madrassah Scheme
Had the Calcutta University done in 1857 what Punjab University
did in 1882 the history of Muslim education in Bengal would have been
different. This mistake was corrected in 1914 when the Reformed Mad-
rassah Scheme was promulgated.
41. According to Dr. Saghir Hasan14 "Reformed Madrassah Scheme
played the most important role in promoting Arabic and Islamic studies in
~en~al.' The main object of the scheme was to combine Western Education
with Arabic learining and to bring about a synthesis of the old Madrassah
system of education and that of modem universities. Schamsul
Ulema Abti NZsir Waheed was the originator of the scheme. Prominent
Muslim leaders of ~en~al like Nawab 'Ali Choudhury, Nawab Ser'ijul
Islam and the renowned Muslim historian and Arabic scholar Shibli
N'um'ini of Nadwatul 'UlarnZ' were among the members of the Committee
formed by Government of Bengal to draw up a comprehensive scheme for
the reform of the Madrassahs. It (Reformed Madrassah Scheme) turned
open the door of the University to Madrassah students with the result
that in East Pakistan the gulf between the western educated and the
Madrassah educated is not as wide as in the other parts of the subcontinent
and in contrast with the strange practice of keeping Islamic and
Arabic studies apart which is prevalent in the Universities of West Pakistan
and is detrimental to both the disciplines, the University of Dacca
has kept them correlated and makes it compulsory for a student of Islamic
studies to be a scholar of Arabic as well".
Notes:
1. Madrasahs & Muslim Education - M. Fazlur Rab. M.A. 1941. P. 28.
2. Report of Madrmsah Education Committee, 1941. P. 149.
3. British Policy and Mus1k.s of Bengal. P. 201, A.R., Mallick 1961.
4. Moslem Education Advisory Committee 1934, P. 7.
5. British Policy & the Muslims of Bengal P. 183.
6. British Policy & the Muslims of Bengal P. 178.
7. Journal of Pakistan Historical Society, 1966.
8. Edrrcation in Modern India by Amth Nath Basu. P. 6.
9. Moslem &cat- Advisory Committee, 1934, P. 7.