Modern Hyderabad (Deccan)/Chapter 12
CHAPTER XII.
Education.
The education problem occupies a large place in the minds of His Highness's government to-day, and no stone is being left unturned that is likely to hide under it the secret of the illiteracy of the masses in the Nizam's Dominions.
Says the new Census : — "The proportion of literates per one thousand persons in Hyderabad State is 28, which compares very unfavourably with the figures for the Central Provinces and Behar, and the Bombay and Madras Presidencies, and the Baroda and Mysore States.
Hyderabad . . . . 28
Bombay . . . . 70
Madras . . . . 75
Baroda . . . . 101
Mysore . . . . 63
Central Provinces and Behar 33
Not long ago His Highness's government engaged the services of an English educational expert from British India, and after spending two years in studying the problem of education in Hyderabad State, this gentle- man published a long report that does not seem to have given much satisfaction. Now a learned and academic Mahomedan gentle- man is in charge of the Education Department, and of him it was said to me by a gentleman from Bombay, to whom he had offered a post in the Hyderabad educational service, "His ideas are alarmingly magnificent."
I do not suppose that my opinion can be of much value, but I will say that while travelling in the districts, it seemed to me that in a country like Hyderabad, where roads are so badly needed and where, in consequence, the people do not mix freely or have much intellectual stimulus, education must be made popular among the Hindus before it can become general. I do not think that the figures given in administration reports include missionary schools, in fact, a missionary who is in charge of large schools for boys and girls told me, "We avoid the Education Department as much as possible," but missionaries have assured me that the Hindu children whom they teach seldom show much intelligence. There is, in fact little to rouse the intelligence of Hindu children in places far from a railway station and reached only by a fair-weather road or a cart-track, and it seems to me that if the Hindu religion were not so much neglected in government schools, there might be a desire on the part of parents to let their children learn the things that the Education Department is so anxious to teach them, for with Hindus religion is not only a duty but, also, a stimulus.
As it is now, parents in the districts want to make money by their children as soon as the boys and girls can earn a few annas, and they prefer to send their sons to the so-called "bazaar schools," where pupils come and go as their parents please, no regular hours are insisted upon and, above all, there are no examinations. Government schools are too strict as regards clothes and cleanliness to suit illiterate parents, and they prefer to pay a few dubs to a Hindu school-master, who in some small, ill-ventilated room will teach the boys to repeat by heart some well-known Hindu legends, and to do a little bazaar arithmetic.
There is no gainsaying that while the government is most anxious to educate the masses, employers, in country places, are just as desirous to keep them in slavish ignorance. The sowcars, too, hinder education all they can. Said to me a sowcar : "If a Hindu speaks English, I have no use for him."
And then it is just possible that the language of the ruling community is made too prominent in government schools, and that Telegu, Marathi, and Canarese do not receive sufficient attention, for we find that the percentage of Mahomedan boys who go to government schools is much higher than that of Hindus. The following figures were given to me by the Education Department for 1322 Fasli (1913 a.d.) ; and it must be remembered that there are in the State 11,620,146 Hindus and only 1,380,990 Mahomedans.
Total number of pupils attending government schools of all grades, and percentage :
Mahomedans . . 28,715 percentage 41.2
Hindus . . 37,143 „ 53.3
Christians . . 2,706 " 4.0
Parsis . . 119 " 0.1
Others . . 991 " 1.4
The Census says : "There were in 1901 in the elementary schools 80,743 scholars, and in 1911 there were only 76,065. The youngest generation is being practically kept away from schools to a far larger extent than was the case ten years ago." And it contrasts the present with the previous Census as follows : —
1901.
Population under 10 . . 2,808,521
Literate under 10 . . 14,937
1911.
Population under 10 . . 3,618,680
Literate under 10 . . 9,493
Secondary education has, however, during the last decade made conspicuous progress, and while in 1901 the number of scholars attending secondary schools was 13,826, the number had risen in 1911 to 16,326. Higher education is provided for by the following institutions :
The Nizam's College, which has an English Principal, and is affiliated to the Madras University. To this College a Madrassa-i-Aliya or School department is attached, also hostels for the accommodation of students who come to the capital from a distance.
The Dar-ul-uloom or Oriental College, in Hyderabad city, where students study Islamic theology, law and literature and are trained to become Moulvis and Munshis.
Twenty-one High Schools, 9 Vernacular, 7 English under government management, and 5 English under aided agency.
Fifty-eight Middle Schools, 31 managed by government, 4 by the Sarf-i-khas department, 17 by aided, and 6 by unaided agencies.
By giving scholarships and in other ways the Hyderabad government does its utmost to encourage learning and to assist students of both sexes, but the results are not very encouraging at the present time.
Says the Census : — "The statistics of University examinations show a considerable falling off in the number of candidates, who matriculated in the year 1911. Out of 26 candidates only 2 passed, the corresponding figures for 1901 being 112 and 18 respectively. This large decrease in the number of students entering the University course of study is but the reflex of the general retrogression in the lowest stages during the decade. There is no change in the figures relating to the Intermediate examination. The number of candidates for the B.A. examination also showed a considerable decline. Altogether higher education must be said to be languishing." A Civil Service class has lately been opened again at the Nizam College, and of this, the Finance Minister said in the preface to his Budget Note for 1323 Fasli (1913-1914) : "If there were no other reforms of any kind to record this year, the institution of a regular Civil Service would render the year remarkable. The first batch of students has now been selected after examination, they will go through a course of two years' training at the Nizam College and of one year's practical training in British India."
It may also be mentioned that a technical class in connection with the government workshops at the Mint has been opened, on a small scale, and that it is hoped to provide thus, later on, technical education of a serviceable type.
Having seen that the attendance at school is much higher among Mahomedans than Hindus, it is not surprising to read in the Census that per 1,000 inhabitants, 59 Mahomedans, and 23 Hindus are literate. And we read that of the Animists, who number 285,722 of His Highness's subjects, only 247 are literate. The figures given in the Census are said not to be very accurate as concerns the jagirs; but they go to prove that the jagirdars (taken en masse) are not anxious to see their ryots advance in education, and that they do little in the way of jagir schools.
The Census speaks of "the almost total illiteracy of the female population," but notices that the Mahomedans have a much larger proportion of women (as of men) literates than the Hindus. No mention is made of the zenana schools in the capital, which are said to be as good, if not better, than similar schools in British India. The Madrassa-i-Aizza Niswania School for the daughters of the official middle class, has been in existence for more than a quarter of a century, and in this institution over one hundred Mahomedan girls are prepared for the Hyderabad Middle School, and the Madras University Matriculation examinations. The education given in this school includes geometry, algebra, physiology, physics and chemistry, also Urdu, Persian, English and enough Arabic for religious purposes.
In the Mamhubia Girls' School, which was opened a few years ago for the daughters of the Hyderabad aristocracy, an elaborate attempt is made to cultivate the minds of the pupils and prepare them for the lives the}' will lead when married. And here the Indian and English ladies of Hyderabad meet once a month for recreation and improvement.
The non-purdah Methodist High School for the daughters of the lower middle classes is quite up-to-date, and has a large attendance.
In 1321 Fasli (1911 a.d.), the average number of girls under instruction in all the schools in the State was 6.017 — 2,097 Mahomedans, 1,962 Hindus, 1,068 Christians, and 45 Parsis.
I venture to disagree with a member of His Highness's government in his opinion that the illiteracy of the masses in Hyderabad State is largely due to the fact that the girls of the lower classes are kept totally ignorant. It seems to me that the whole environment of the people in the districts is at fault, and that a desire for more education will come when roads open up the districts, the jagirdars are brought to a sense of their great responsibilities as landlords, and some Hindu religious text-book is introduced into the primary schools. It is not, it seems to me, the educational system that needs to be improved, but what the Hindu pupils want in the primary schools is less red tape and more encouragement.