The records of the period from the beginning of British rule in the 18th century up to the end of the first quarter of the twentieth century show that most of the decisions which apparently should have been academic were dictated under political considerations.
First, there was a kind of organised boycott of the new (Western) educational institutions. This was an expression if the Muslim fear that the new education, especially learning of English, would undermine their faith and alienate them from their traditions.
There was also the feeling - not always clearly articulated until the great Revolt of 1857 - that participation in Britain's educational reforms might strengthen Britain's hold on what was at least technically until the middle of the nineteenth century, a Muslim empire. But the boycott could not be pursued for long, for the Muslims soon realised that it was weakening them and ruining their chances of employment and economic rehabilitation.
In the decades that followed, the Muslim community cast about for a formula which while providing them with access to economic opportunities would also afford them reassurance as to their cultural safety. They wanted a system of education based on reconciliation of the old and new values.
This was by no means easy to achieve. They found to their cost that in demanding to be spared those aspects of Western education which appeared to militate against their traditions, they were risking the rejection of Western science and philosophy which were hailed as the key to progress.
Many of the Muslim leaders, especially theologians, were rather confused. When they renounced English as the vehicle of a new Satanic culture they overlooked the fact that it was also the only contemporary medium available by which the new sciences of Europe could be studied. Some of the theologians were frankly opposed to everything Western, language, culture, science and philosophy; they saw no connection between economics and science and philosophy on the one hand and language on the other. Nor did they understand the causes of Muslim decline. Those who were enlightened enough to realise how stagnation in science and philosophy accounted for the failure of the Muslim to meet the challenge presented by the British found themselves baffled by their inability to convince the masses of the truth.
Contemporary Hindu India faced the same problem. But there had arisen among them earlier on, leaders like Rammohan Roy who knew where the choice lay. In a famous letter to the Governor-General, he insisted that what India needed was not the revitalisation of her traditional education which taught how men lived to sixty thousand years and flew on magic carpets but the new science and philosophy which were revolutionising the life of Europe. No Muslim scholar of comparable stature could say the same thing without the risk of being deeply misunderstood by his community. It was not until Sir Syed Ahmad (1817-1898) appeared on the scene in the middle of the nineteenth century that the real need for Western education was impressed on the Muslims in an idiom which they understood. Even so, because of the difference between the cultural background of Hindu and Muslim communities the Muslims were anxious to avoid a clear break with the past in the manner recommended by Rammohan Roy.
One of the reasons for greater Muslim conservatism was the fact that until the sixteenth century at least, science among the Muslims had not reached the point of stagnation which it did from the second half of the seventeenth. Pride in Muslim achievements continued to sustain an afterglow long after the Muslims had lost creativity. The Hindus, on the other hand, had no comparable history.
They could at best look back to the mythical past mirrored in their ancient epics.
Be this as it may the attitudes of both communities towards education were guided by an anxiety to adjust to the new political context, by desperate efforts to win a place in the sun for themselves.
When the syllabuses proposed for Muslims either in the madrasahs or in the schools were considered against the above background it would be seen ho they reflect the kinds of contemporary politics. The interesting feature of the situation is the greater boldness and success displayed by the educational reformers in proportion to purely political reforms.
Although the situation has changed a great deal the basic factors behind educational policy among Muslims are still the same, ie the desire to assimilate modern knowledge and at the same time preserve as much of the past cultural heritage as possible.
TRADITIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEM IN INDIA: The old system of education which the British proceeded to replace goes back to the thirteenth century when Muslim rule was first established in Bengal in 1197/1207 A.D. by Ikhtiyar al-Din Bakhtiyar Khalji and which continued in this country for more than 600 years. the Muslim rulers of Bengal were distinguished patrons of arts, science, language, literature and architecture. Education had foremost place in their state policy.
"The first Muhammadan conquerors were noted for their patronage of learning at home and the great sovereigns of their race, while they lavished honours on indigenous talents, spared neither pains nor expenses to attract to their courts from their neighbouring countries men of high literary attainments. There was not a mosque or an imambagah in which professors of Arabic and Persian were (not) maintained."
The exact number of madrasahs which were established during Muslim rule is not known to us. But when the country passed under British rule in the latter part of the eighteenth century, there were found 80,000 madrasahs in Bengal on an average one madrasah for every four hundred persons, functioning effectively and maintaining high standards of teaching. Adam estimated even as late as the 1830's that the number of these schools in then Bengal was 100,000.
That means there was in Bengal "on an average a village school for every sixty-three children of the school-going age.
The curricula and syllabi followed in these madrasahs were almost similar to those prevalent in the principal universities and educational institutions of many other Muslim countries of the time. The subjects of study were divided broadly into two categories.
(a) Al-'Ulum al-Naqliyah - traditional sciences, otherwise called Al-'Ulum al-Shariyah - religious sciences, and (b) Al-'Ulum al-Aqliyah - speculative sciences.
"The nature of the instruction given in these institutions," says Adam, "may be in some measure estimated by the subjects of the works used a school or text-books. In the Arabic schools the course of study takes a much wider range. The grammatical works were numerous, systematised and profound; complete courses of reading on rhetoric, logic and law are embraced; the external observance and fundamental doctrines of Islam are minutely studied, the works of Euclid on geometry and Ptolemy on astronomy in translation are not unknown; other branches of natural philosophy are also taught and the whole course is crowned by the perusal of treatises on metaphysics deemed the highest attainment of instructed scholars.
Perhaps we shall not err widely if we suppose that the state of learning amongst the Musalmans of India resembles that which existed among the nations of Europe before the invention of printing.
In the beginning British policy on education was to leave the traditional modes of instruction undisturbed and to continue to give them the support which they had been accustomed to receive from the Indian rulers. But as the official language was Persian and the administration was run according to Muslim law and jurisprudence, the East India Company realised the need for an institution which would train officers qualified in Muslim law and jurisprudence and which would also produce well qualified officers, judges and assessors for the Courts of Justice.
In consequence Warren Hastings in 1781 established the Calcutta Madrasah, the first Muhammadan College under British rule. The generally prevalent course of studies, known as "Dars-i-Nizami" after Mulla Nizam al-Din Sihalavi (1673-1748) was introduced in this Madrasah and was followed till 1790 A.D.
The main characteristics of this course had been that one or two concise books on prevalent subjects were described as textbooks, emphasis being laid on grammar, logic, philosophy, mathematics and astronomy. In 1791 drastic changes were made in the madrasah curriculum and 'ulum-i-naqliyah like hadith, tafsir and usul al-Fiqh were excluded from the list of compulsory subjects. Thus by 1791 the curriculum was as follows - natural philosophy, theology, law, astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, logic, rhetoric and grammar. This was a seven-year programme.
As long as a knowledge of Persian was a passport to posts of honour and emoluments the education imparted in the Madrasah was very useful. The Madrasah splendidly fulfilled the intention with which it was established, and its alumni monopolised posts of trust and responsibility and were otherwise profitably employed.
ENGLISH EDUCATION AND THE CALCUTTA MADRASAH: But with the inauguration of the English system of education in 1835 and the substitution of Persian by English as official language in 1837 by the Act XXIX of 1837, the Madrasah lost it importance as a recruiting ground for public services.
Objections against the discontinuance of Persian as the language of Judicial and Revenue Proceedings were made from different Provinces of India, eg Bengal, Bihar, North-Western Province (U.P.). But the Hindus, to whom Persian was no more than a means to worldly emoluments, having been for long habituated to learning the language of the rulers, easily drifted into the study English, and the Sanskrit College gradually rose to its present status.
On the other hand, the Muslims, having been so suddenly thrown out of Government patronage, were taken aback and could not give up the study of a language so vitally connected with their social and religious life; and consequently the Arabic department of the Calcutta Madrasah, continued to run on the old lines with the result that it lost much of its utility.
Under these circumstances, the Madrasah graduates were reduced to the necessity of either becoming religious scholars (mullas), living mainly on the charity of others, or becoming imams and muezzins (mu'addhins: callers for prayers) attached to some mosques on starvation wages.
So Madrasah education stood in urgent need of modification as its course failed to serve the special purpose which no longer existed. In its basic conception, it differed from the traditional Islamic course pursued in the seats of Islamic learning both in India and abroad, where hadith and tafsir formed the pivot of the whole course.
"The period of study coved seven years and at the end of this period or earlier, the successful student obtained a certificate. The course of study was: first year- Law and General literature, including grammar; second year - Law and Arithmetic; third year - Law and Geometry; fourth year - Law and at the option of the student, either Logic, Rhetoric, Metaphysics, Natural Philosophy, Astronomy and theology; fifth year - Law including the regulations of Government and any one of the foregoing subjects which the student might select.
The studies of the sixth and seventh years of the course were apparently on the same lines as those of the fifth year. On the secular side the course had very little to offer; even the very vernacular of the province did not find a place in it; History and Geography were omitted; Arithmetic up to the Double Rule of Three and only one book of Euclid were taught."
It as obvious that the course outlined above was as defective on the Islamic side as it was on the secular side. Thus cut off from hadith and tafsir, the fountain-head of Islamic institution, and without any provision for the vernacular, it failed to diffuse through its alumni that Islamic light and culture which has ennobled the history of Islam and contributed so much to the civilisation of the world itself.
In the beginning of the nineteenth century serious thought was given to the problem of changing the curriculum of the Calcutta Madrasah. But as is always the case the Muslims were crushed between two extremes. The Orthodox section of the community was opposed to any innovations. Even hadith and tafsir were not introduced.
The so-called advanced section of the town, out of touch with the interior and unacquainted with the instincts of a religious people like the Muslim masses of Bengal, thought, as at present, that shut out from worldly. Prospects the madrasahs would soon be deserted by Muslim students who would flock to the English system of secular education like the Hindus. At this stage two important scholars from the Muslim community appeared on the scene.
They were Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and Nawab Abdul Latif. Both tried their utmost to reconcile the two systems. Thanks to the Aligarh Movement started by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan during the late seventies of the nineteenth century to dissimilate Western culture directly along with the religion of Islam, the Muslims took to English education in earnest. From that time Muslim boys started studying Arabic along with other secular subjects taught under the English system of education. At the other end of India, in Bengal, Nawab Abdul Latif aimed at combining English education with Arabic and Persian learning so that with the benefit of modern knowledge the cultural heritage could also be preserved. His task was to change Muslim aversion to English education and work to adapt the educational system to the practical as well as religious needs of the Muslim community.
In 1850, there were three departments in the Calcutta Madrasah, (i) Arabic, (ii) English, which was introduced in 1820, and (iii) Anglo-Arabic. The English department suffered from the shortage of teaching staff as only one teacher taught all classes up to the junior scholarship examination. What was taught by way of English, therefore, was of little practical value to Muslim students. Nawab Abdul Latif sought to improve this state of affairs. An enquiry committee was set up which recommended the addition of an Anglo-Persian department to the Madrasah. The new department came into being in 1854.
It provided some instruction of English along with the old courses. "But this half-headed measure, did not go far enough to solve the problems that the Muslims were faced with.
The situation was aggravated by the fact that the other community, that is the Hindus, who had realised right from the beginning that the only way in which they could establish themselves materially was by mastering English and the new knowledge which it brought, had gone very far forward. All statistics of the period show a wide disparity in employment between Muslims and Hindus. This continued until the great uprising of 1857 which made things much worse."
With the foundation of Calcutta University in 1857, a new epoch in the history of English education in Bengal was ushered in. But the new system of education did not appeal to the Muslims, divorced as it was from religious instruction. There was no provision for the teaching of Arabic and Persian in the new university system.
Though the famous Despatch of 1854 included the Muhammadan madrasahs in the list of institutions "worthy of being affiliated to the Universities", neither the Calcutta Madrasah nor any other madrasah was included within the Calcutta University scheme. The Calcutta University Commission was of the opinion that had the Madrasah system been included in the university as a result of the despatch of 1854 "the whole subsequent history of the problem of the education of the Musalmans of Bengal might well have been very different."
A section of the Muslims, however, thought that the Calcutta Madrasah with all its branches should have been incorporated with the university system with such modifications as might have been needed for the purpose".
It is noticeable that from the middle of the nineteenth century efforts were frequently made to bring the Calcutta Madrasah and with it the affiliated madrasahs throughout Bengal into line with Government and private arts colleges, but the most that was conceded was the introduction of English as an optional subject into the Arabic department and the formation of an Anglo-Persian department, devoted to the modern school course of study. With the introduction of Anglo-Persian department the character of the madrasah was not very much changed.
The Government came to realise, after 36 years in 1873, that the Muslims were not attracted to English schools and colleges, as they did not supply the course of education which "the Musalmans desired their sons to receive". "A system of purely secular education is adapted to very few nations (but) it is certainly altogether unsuited to the illiterate and fanatical peasantry of Mohammadan Bengal".
By 1873 three more madrasahs were established at Dacca, Chittagong and Rajshahi on the model of the Calcutta Madrasah. "Thus was organised round the Calcutta Madrasah and brought within the pale of the Central Board (instead of the University as suggested in the Despatch) a powerful system of Madrasah education, without modifications to suit the requirements of this world and without connection with the fountain-head of Islamic light and culture, to serve the needs of the next world, unable to produce men fit to take part in the various activities of the public life of the country." None of these madrasahs was ever included in the scheme of the Calcutta University.
"Had these madrasahs, in all their branches been incorporated with the university system, with modifications as might have been needed for the purpose the Musalmans," says Sir Azizul Haque, the first Muslim Vice-Chancellor of the Calcutta University, "would not perhaps have been so backward as they are today."
Thus the Muslims were left behind with their madrasah and oriental learning which was ill-suited for the requirements of the modern period and turned out a class of people who for the most part degenerated into useless members of society but who, it may be added, were a power in the interior and wielded immense influence upon the inert masses, and who preached against the English system of secular education; while the other community moved ahead with new ideas of education and educational development.
ATTEMPT AT SYNTHESIS: This feeling that pupils who have been taught in this fashion become useless members of society gave rise to a strong desire to modernise the courses and to combine with instruction in Islamic Studies a thorough grounding in the English language. Some Muslim leaders of Bengal like Nawab Abdul Latif and Justice Ameer Ali during the last quarter of the nineteenth century made sincere efforts for popularising the English system among the Muslims without compromising their religious and cultural identity.
It was in the beginning of the twentieth century that the attention of the leaders of the community, like Nawab Sir Salimullah Bahadur, Nawab Saiyid Nawabaly Chaudhri, Nawab Sir Syed Shamsul Huda and subsequently the Provincial Muhammadan Educational Conference was drawn to this system as an important factor in the general educational progress of the community, odrisisterit with all that the community held so near and dear to its heart. When the conference met in 1906 a resolution on the general reform of madrasahs was moved by Nawab Sir Syed Shamsul Huda and it was unanimously adopted.
The All-India Muhammadan Educational Conference, held at Dacca in at the end of that year (1906), unanimously reiterated the resolution. Sir Bampfyde Fuller, the governor of Eastern Bengal, encouraged the idea.
Alarmed by these moves, the so-called orthodox section of West Bengal, headed by Nawab Abdur Rahman and supported by Dr Ross and others, prevailed upon the Government of West Bengal to hold a conference under Sir Archdale Earle on the subject of (i) the institution of the title course and (ii) the revision of the orthodox course to make room for English as a compulsory subject. The conference devoted a considerable amount of attention to the question whether English should be made a compulsory subject in madrasahs - a matter on which there was great diversity of opinion.
"The eastern Bengal members of the conference were greatly dissatisfied with its results" and eventually a representative committee was appointed at Dacca under the presidency of Sir Henry Sharp, the then Director of Public Instruction, as President to consider the question.
"In 1909-1910, a conference, representative of Muhammadan opinion in Eastern Bengal, was held in Dacca to consider the proceedings of Earle's conference of the previous year. A committee appointed under Shamsul Ulama Abu Nasr Waheed in 1909 to consider various questions, drew up a revised syllabus of studies for Madrasahs."
He had already visited the centers of Islamic learning in Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Turkey, the oriental institutes in Budapest, Vienna, Berlin and the Ecole des Languas Vivantes of Paris.
The scheme he drew up was a comprehensive one and had a very high standard of Islamic learning and culture, as the goal. It modernised as far as practicable even the courses in Arabic and Islamic studies and included English and other secular subjects. To effect these improvements it was proposed that the whole course from maktab upwards was to extend over 18 years and Persian should be omitted.
The maktab course was extended over four years and it was thought necessary that, "the course should approximate as far as possible to the lower primary course."
The Junior Madrasah Course extended over seven years and was sufficiently secularised to allow a boy to pass on to class VII of the modem high school if he so chose.
The Senior Madrasah Course extended over five years and was also sufficiently secularised to approach the high school standard. "The advanced course in Islamic Studies was so framed as to reach a high standard."
The scheme was considered by some to be a most ambitious one, as if aiming at a Muslim University. Sir Henry Sharp considered it to be a "revolution" in the system of madrasah education in India and was unwilling to make any recommendations to Government unless reputed ulema of Upper India, as well as the leading Anjumans of the province, were consulted and their opinion obtained in writing.
Shamsul Ulama Abu Nasr Muhammad Waheed was placed on deputation for the purpose. He wrote to the Secretary of the Government of Bengal: "From the masses of opinion collected by me from the orthodox ulema and Anjumans of Eastern Bengal and Assam, while on deputation in 1909 in' connection with the Madrasah Reformed Course, which has subsequently been adopted by the Dacca University Committee, as well as from those collected recently from the managing committees of the senior private madrasahs and submitted to Government by the Honourable Nawab Saiyid Nawabaly Chaudhuri, Khan Bahadur, it is clear that the demand for the orthodox course is not so felt, at least in Eastern Bengal.
Shamsul Ulama Maulana Shibli, Shamsul Ulama Moulvi Mufti Muhammad Obaidullah and Shamsul Ulama Abdul Hakim considered it useful and modern. They said, "it is expected that by following these courses competent knowledge will be acquired in every subject.
Maulvi Hafiz Abdul Awal of Jaunpur also supported the scheme and said: "The books included in the curriculum afford excellent means for providing for high instruction in various modem and old branches of learning and for acquiring a sufficient stock of knowledge in the requirements of the time.
So the syllabus duly supported by the ulema of Upper India and the various Anjumans of the province was submitted to the late Government of Eastern Bengal and Assam by Sir Henry Sham in August 1910. Sir Henry pointed out that the revised curriculum attempted too much and contained a heterogeneous mixture of subjects. He was, therefore, unable to recommend its general adoption at the outset, but suggested that it should be tentatively introduced as an experimental measure in to private madrasahs. At this point Sir Robert Nathan took up the case.
The position which he assumed was that the revised curriculum should be as simple as possible and should be introduced into as many madrasahs as financial consideration would permit. With this object in view, a Conference was held at Dacca, in March, 1912.
These revised proposals were under the consideration of the Government of Eastern Bengal and Assam at the time of redistribution of the territories (after the annulment of partition of Bengal) and before any decision could be arrived at the Government of India announced their intention of establishing a residential University at Dacca. Before the formation of the new Presidency of Bengal in 1912 Lord Hardinge visited Dacca to receive the deputation of the leaders of doomed province (Eastern Bengal), which was organised by Nawab Sir Salimullah Bahadur and headed by Nawab Saiyid Nawabaly Chaudhuri Bahadur.
Not only the question of the reform of the madrasah system was thrashed out by successive committees but also that of its incorporation with the University system formed the foremost prayer of the deputation.
The Government of India subsequently in their letter of April 1912 announced the decision to establish a University at Dacca and suggested the inclusion of a "Faculty of Islamic Studies as an integral part. The Dacca University Committee was appointed and they considered the scheme in the light of the above suggestion of the Government of India.
This Committee which had four highly placed Mussalman gentlemen of Bengal on it with Sir Robert Nathan as President was assisted in their work by men of All-India and international reputation in the field of Oriental -learning like Maulana Shibli Nomani (Nu'r Tiani) of Nadwah (Lucknow), Maulana Shah Sulaiman of Phulwari Sharif, Nawab Imadul Mulk, Syed Husain Bilgrami, and Dr J. Hotowitz, Professor of Arabic in the M.A.O. College, Aligarh, and others, and recommended that a Department of Islamic Studies should form an integral part of Dacca University, the subjects being Arabic language and literature, the various branches of Islamic learning and English.
As the University course must necessarily be an extension of the studies of the madrasah, the Committee recommended a modification of the madrasah curriculum by adopting as far as possible the course laid down by the Madrasah Reform Committee, but reduced the length of the school course in Arabic and Islamic Studies by about two years, in view of the much longer period of subsequent study which it proposed to introduce.
The Committee endorsed the opinion that "a student thus trained will have the opportunity of becoming a ripe scholar and a man of culture who should make a good Government offier or suitable recruit for a learned profession. They recommended that the degrees in Islamic Studies should be styled Bachelor of Islamic Studies (B.I) and Master of Islamic Studies (M.I.) and should be regarded as equivalent to the degrees of B.A. and M.A. for Government employment and admission to the B.L. courses. The Committee further earnestly recommended that "Government should take up the question of the reform of madrasahs at once, in order that, during the interval that would elapse before the constitution of the new University, some progress may be made in preparing pupils.
Accordingly, in their resolution No. 450-T.G. dated the 31st July 1914, the Government of Bengal, in anticipation of the establishment of Dacca University with its Islamic Department, sanctioned a scheme for the reorganisation and reform of madrasahs in the Presidency of Bengal, with the object of producing "cultured Moslems fit to enter one or other of the careers open to educated men, and to play their part in the various activities which go to make up the public life of modem India."
So the Government Resolution of July 1914 sanctioned the Reformed Madrasah Scheme as "well calculated to serve the highest interests of that community." The scheme came into force in 1915. On the 31st March, 1915, ie, just before the introduction of the Reformed Madrasah Course there were 214 madrasahs of which 11 were Senior and 203 Junior. Four of the Senior Madrasahs were directly managed by Government, six were aided and one unaided. Of the Junior Madrasahs one was Government, 129 aided and 73 unaided. The Reformed course
was introduced in the Government Senior Madrasahs at Dacca, Chittagong- and Hooghly and the Junior Madrasahs at Rajshahi. Of the six aided Senior Madrasahs five adopted the reformed scheme and the majority of the non-Government Junior Madrasahs adopted the reformed scheme.
According to the Momin Committee Report, "the following measures were taken to introduce the Reformed course." With a view to the fulfilment of the object defined in the Government Resolution of 1914, the Reformed Madrasah system, of education was evolved, having as its base, a network of thousands of maktabs bound up with hundreds Junior and High Madrasahs with the Islamic Department of the Dacca University at is apex thus giving partial effect to the suggestions contained in the Despatch of 1854.
By means of a revised curriculum the maktabs or the primary schools on an Islamic basis, were "brought into line with the ordinary primary schools." By Government Resolution No. 1011 Edn. dated 7th May, 1921, madrasah education, both intermediate and secondary, was placed under the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dacca, to be made a part of the scheme of general education. As the Reformed Madrasah Course was designed to lead up to the Department of Islamic Studies of the Dacca University. It was necessary to establish Islamic Intermediate colleges in order to teach the Intermediate Course which was a link between the High Madrasah Course and the curriculum of the Department of Islamic Studies. First year Islamic Intermediate class was opened in the Dacca Madrasah in July 1919 and the second year class in 1920.
Islamic Intermediate classes were also opened subsequently in two other Government madrasahs and five aided madrasahs to meet increased demands. A public examination at the Senior Class VI of Reformed Madrasahs was instituted in 1916. The Junior Madrasah examination was held in 1917. A scheme for the institution of an Islamic Matriculation examination from 1919 and of an Islamic Intermediate examination from 1921 was sanctioned by the Government in April, 1918. The Islamic Intermediate examination was held for the first time in 1921.
There were three stages of the Reformed Madrasah scheme leading up to the University, ie Junior Madrasah stage, High Madrasah stage and Collegiate stage (special Intermediate).
JUNIOR MADRASAH OR MIDDLE ENGLISH SCHOOL: The Junior Madrasahs under the Reformed scheme teaching up to Class VI, but not beyond, were for the purposes of recognition, prescription of courses, examination and general control, under the control of the department. They corresponded to the middle English Schools, but the course was heavier.
The pupils learned four languages: English, Bengali, Arabic and Urdu; but these institutions were popular and had grown in number. It was more popular in rural than in urban areas. There were Junior Madrasahs in all districts of Bengal. Even Bankura and Darjeeling where the Muslim population was practically insignificant, had got one each. Some of the districts, Mymensingh, Tippera, Bakerganj, Rangpur, Noakhali, Dacca, Bogra and Khulna had a large number of Junior Madrasahs of the reformed type. The syllabus of studies in force in Junior Madrasah the reformed type is given in great-detail in the Bengal Education Code, 1931.
The subjects for the Junior course were Qur'an (first two classes), Handbook (first two classes), Compulsory Urdu (first four classes), Vernacular (Bengali or Urdu), Arabic, English, History, Geography, Mathematics and Drill. This syllabus of studies for Junior Madrasahs has remained unchanged since 1918.
The course of studies for class VI only was revised in 1928. This was done with a view to raising the standard of attainment in English, Bengali and Arithmetic to what is reasonably expected of students reading in class VI of High schools.
The syndicate of Calcutta University at their meeting held on the 13th November 1925 decided that the High Madrasah examination of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dacca, should be regarded as equivalent to the Matriculation examination for the purpose of admission of successful candidates to the Intermediate classes of Arts Colleges under the Calcutta University. At meeting held on the 29th August 1927, the Board also accorded the same privilege to the High Madrasah passed students as regards admission to Intermediate colleges under it.
Such equivalence necessitated the prescription of a standard for the Junior Madrasah examination as equivalent to the standard laid down for Class VI of High English Schools. From that time the textbooks for the Junior Madrasah examination were notified annually by the Director of Public Instruction in accordance with the standard laid down for Class VI of High Schools so far as they related to subjects other than Arabic and Urdu.
HIGH MADRASAH OR HIGH SCHOOL: The High Madrasahs were practically High Schools on an Islamic basis, combining religious and secular education. When the Reformed Madrasah scheme came into force in April, 1915, the Government Senior Madrasahs at Hooghly, Dacca and Chittagong were converted into Senior Madrasahs of the reformed type. The scheme was also introduced in the Rajshahi Government Junior Madrasah.
This institution became very popular; but after completing the Junior course many of the students had to give up their studies in any institution nearby." The local Muhammadan Association felt the necessity for a High Madrasah. In 1922, in reply to an address presented by the said Association, the Governor of Bengal was pleased to hold out hopes in the following words: "They expressed their desire to see the school raised to the status of a Senior Madrasah. I sympathise with their intention and hope that before long it may be realised."
As a matter of fact, a scheme for raising the status of the Rajshahi Madrasah was administratively approved in 1927, and by the year 1931 the institution became a full-fledged High Madrasah.
ISLAMIC INTERMEDIATE COLLEGES: The Reformed Madrasah course had a twofold aim as outlined in the following quotation from the Government Resolution No. 450-T.G. dated 31st July, 1914: "From one point of view the reformed madrasah course may be regarded as preparatory to the Islamic Studies of the Dacca University; it is, however, complete in itself, and students who wish to pass from a madrasah to any University course other than that of Islamic Studies will not find themselves hopelessly handicapped by reason of their lack of knowledge in general subjects."
In pursuance of the first aim institutions known as Islamic Intermediate Colleges were established. This was a college of the "C" type contemplated by the Calcutta University Commission. So Islamic Intermediate Colleges owed their development from High Madrasahs to their present status to the recommendations of the Calcutta University Commission. These were really the Intermediate Classes of the Reformed Madrasah system and directly led to the courses in Islamic Studies in the Dacca University. There were three of them, viz; Dacca, Serajgonj and Chittagong. The colleges at Dacca and Chittagong were Government institutions and that at Serajgonj which acquired this status in 1923 was an aided institution. The Dacca Islamic Intermediate College consisted of six classes, viz. Classes VII-X of the Dacca High Madrasah and the two Intermediate Classes. Classes I-VI of the Dacca Madrasah was constituted as a Junior Madrasah which was held in a part of the College building whereas each of the other three Islamic Intermediate Colleges at Chittagong, Hooghly and Serajgonj consisted of ten Madrasah Classes and two Intermediate Classes.
As regards the other aim, it may be observed that students passing the High Madrasah examination were allowed to take the Arts Course of the Calcutta University or of the Dacca Board. The First and Second Year Islamic Intermediate Classes were opened at the Dacca Madrasah in July 1919 and 1920 respectively. College classes were opened at the Serajgonj Madrasah in 1923 and 1924. Islamic Intermediate Classes (First and Second Year) were also attached to the Chittagong Madrasah in 1927 and 1928 respectively.
The First Year Islamic Intermediate class was opened at the Hooghly Madrasah in July 1939 and the Second Year Class in July 1940. With other Intermediate Colleges and High Madrasahs, the colleges at Dacca, Serajgonj and Chittagong were under the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dacca, in terms of paragraph 11 of Government Resolution No. 1011-Edn., dated 7th May, 1921. They conducted courses which included, besides English and Vernacular as in Intermediate Colleges, subjects like fiqh and usul, hadith, logic, Qur'an, kalam and Islamic History, and formed (group) "C" of the Intermediate courses of the Board.
We shall now proceed to examine the effects of the measures upon Muslim education, viz, whether they were designed to produce cultured men as contemplated in the Government Resolution No. 450-T.G. dated 31st July 1914 already referred to and whether the system evolved under it has so far contributed to the educational advancement of the Muslim community.
For more than three decades since its introduction in 1915, the Reformed Madrasah system had a tremendous success in the province of Bengal as it created "an unprecedented educational awakening among a large section of the Muslims" who did not so long approve of godless English education imparted in the schools. The results of the Junior and the High Madrasah examinations will show the popularity of the scheme among the masses. Not only had the number of pupils in the Junior Madrasah and High Madrasah classes risen, even the number of madrasahs had increased. The total number of High Madrasahs under the Reformed Madrasah course increased from 18 in 1928-29 to 34 in 1933-34 and 42 in 1938-39.
The new system also stimulated private enterprise so much so that, "of the 1074 High and Junior Madrasahs in East Bengal during 1947-1948, only five were Government managed while the rest were private institutions. Again, out of a total of seven Islamic Intermediate Colleges only two were Government and the remaining five were managed by the public which but for this system, would not have seen the light of education."
This process of expansion continued even after the achievement of Pakistan. The number of Reformed Madrasahs with a large number of pupils in them during the decade from 1938-1939 to 1947-1948 shows this continuation of the expansion.
It will thus appear that, as compared with the figures for 1938-1939 for undivided Bengal, even those for East Bengal during 1947-1948, show a considerable increase in the number of Reformed Madrasahs as well as their pupils. An idea of the popularity of the scheme may also be obtained from the fact that the scheme was introduced in 1915 from Class IIIas suggested in the Government Resolution, and within this short period, 636 madrasahs of the Reformed type were started, not even half of which were aided, besides others which were unrecognised or undeveloped. Three Islamic Colleges were started to serve as connecting links with the University where there was a continuous flow since the Islamic I.A. examination was instituted. "Within this short period 72 candidates from three Islamic Intermediate Colleges took their B.A. degrees including 32 M.A.s', while four more appeared at the M.A. examination and 19 are preparing for the ensuing B.A. examination."
The tremendous expansion of the Muslim education under the Reformed Madrasah scheme can also be gathered from the list of pupils who got themselves admitted in the Islamic Intermediate College and also appeared in the Islamic Intermediate examination.
It will be seen from the Table that out of 374, 465, and 407 students who passed the High Madrasah examination held in 1936-1937, 1937-1938, and 1938-1939 respectively, only 245, 289 and 329 students got themselves admitted into the Islamic Intermediate classes in 1937, 1938 and 1939 respectively. So it appears from the Table (see no 42) that excluding the 33 students admitted to the First Year Class of the Hooghly Islamic Intermediate College started in July 1939, the total number of students admitted to the other three Islamic Intermediate Colleges increased from 164 in 1938 to 296 in 1939.
It is a clear indication of the popularity of these institutions among a large section of the Muslims who preferred that their children should get a good grounding in Islamic education along with the secular, in preference to the "Godless" education imparted in general high schools. This remarkable growth was generally unaided from public (govt.) funds.
The reasons lying behind this phenomenal growth and popularity of the scheme among the masses are thus given in the Seventh Quinquennial Report on Public Instruction: "that the community desires these separate institutions and that they are popular cannot be denied. One must sympathise with some of the underlying motives - especially with the conviction that only in separate institutions can the traditional and revered ideals of Islamic culture and Islamic piety be preserved."
So the Reformed system had appealed to the Muslim heart and had worked its way into the inert masses who formed the bulk of the population. It had touched the powerful "instinct of the Musalman heart" - which, as Sir William Hunter lamented, the secular system had so long ignored. The secular system was tried for about a century but was found wanting so far as the bulk of the population was concerned.
"And now that the Reformed scheme has been making progress among those people who always run with biased impressions turned round and assign the causes of failure (of the secular system) to the popularity of the reformed system. The Assistant of Schools for Muhammadan Education, Presidency Division, writes: "As the reformed madrasahs combined secular and religious education, they have become popular with the Muslims. These madrasahs on the one hand prepare boys for high madrasahs and on the other hand equip boys for education in high schools. In spite of all agitations and political movements which affected the high schools adversely, the Junior Madrasahs remained loyal to this purpose. These madrasahs have attracted Muslims to send their children for education who otherwise would not have seen the light of education. Thus, we see that the Reformed Madrasah scheme offered a great opportunity to the Muslim masses to get their education without losing their faith.
In spite of manifold difficulties and great disadvantages under which the Reformed scheme had to work, the achievements of this scheme cannot be minimised. During the short period of its existence it has turned out a large number of graduates including 32 M.A.'s Shamsul Ulema Abu Nasr Waheed in reply to the questionnaire drawn up by the Moslem Education Advisory Committee, 1931, stated, "During the last three years the Islamic department had been winning the Raja Kalinarayan Scholarship for scoring the highest number of marks amongst the all Honours graduates of the Dacca University.
Its students have been taking an active and prominent part in all the various activities in the Hall as members of the Cabinet, Vice-Presidents and Secretaries of the Union, Cabinet members of the University Students Union, as Journal Secretary of the same, and also in the field and in the University Training Corps. On more than one occasion they won the first and the only prize for extempore speech in English as well as in Bengali open to all the students. One has recently received the call for medical examination on the results of the B.C.S. examination (1931). One has been appointed a Sub-Deputy Collector, three have been appointed as 'Sub-Registrars, one has recently passed the B.T. examination.
Several students have been preparing for the B.L. examination some having passed the preliminary. One has been appointed Protector of Pilgrims on the results of a competitive examination open to all. Several M.A.'s have been appointed to important posts in the Education Department, as Lecturers in general and Islamic Colleges and in the Dacca University, and in other institutions. One has been appointed as Sanitary Inspector in Barisal after receiving a course of training in Calcutta. Some have joined medical and engineering courses. An Islamic student proceeded to England for a course in engineering and has already obtained a diploma.
This is no mean record shown within such a short period of a decade and a half. It is all the more hopeful and promising if you consider that the regular batch of students, beginning from class III in 1915 completed the course up to the M.A. standard in 1929. It may also be noted that two Islamic M.A.'s appeared at the Indian Civil Service Examination, 1930, one standing record among Bengali Muslims; one appeared at the Indian Audit and Accounts Service Examination, 1929, standing first among the Muslim candidates from Bengal.
But this scheme which produced so many talented persons and which fulfilled the long-felt need of the Muslim community - combination of modern subjects with Islamic ideas - was suddenly abolished in the first part of the sixties of the last century; no reason was given for the abolition. It is yet to be ascertained how the Muslim community of the then East Pakistan reacted to this development. Those who abolished the scheme precipitately had presumably arrived at the conclusion that it had served its purpose. There was no longer any resistance to Western education except among a tiny minority who had ceased to command any influence.
The fear that the Western education undermined faith had also largely disappeared, partly because there was a general decay of faith all around so that the decline of religion was no longer attributed to the spread of modern education; and partly because the majority of those who graduated from schools and colleges did not turn out to be atheists or agnostics. Notwithstanding all this, however, the question whether a proper integration of Western and traditional Muslim education had been so achieved as to render the continuance of a special system of education unnecessary, could not be answered fully and affirmatively.
The fact is that no matter what adjustments were attempted the basic difference between the Islamic approach to education as an exploration of certain given premises and axioms and Western education as an advance towards an unknown goal, a ceaseless enquiry without positive assumptions, remained. In practice, in many fields, the two approaches met, but in so far as natural and social sciences and their scientific assumptions were concerned, proper research has to be carried out.
The synthesis which Muslim educationists attempted would have been broadened and pushed further if at the next stage more scientific subjects had been introduced into the curriculum. Hitherto the synthesis such as it was had been limited to the humanities and social sciences. The Reformed Madrasahs had by the sixties, with the emergence of a large Muslim educated class who were emotionally attached to their traditions, reached a stage when science subjects could be sought to be integrated with traditional learning.
The abolition of the New Scheme at this point abruptly put an end to a process which had begun to have an impact on Muslim educational thought. Its premature disappearance before the attempted synthesis could be broadened to include the sciences, points to the danger at some future stage of the old controversy erupting in a new form.
(The writer is teaching at the Islamic Academy at Cambridge.)
Comments
Comments are closed.