Destruction Of Panjabi Education System Post Annexation

[dalsingh101]

Another very interesting Pakistani article about the state of education under M. Ranjit Singh. Tried to find Leitner's book online (in google books) couldn't find it sadly.

Destruction of schools as Leitner saw them

By Majid Sheikh

Sunday, 31 Oct, 2010

The notion that with the fall of the Sikhs in 1849 the British East India Company ushered in the ‘modern age’ in the Punjab, especially in Lahore, is one that we need to revisit. What went wrong, and remained wrong subsequently, is a subject that we all need to reconsider.

When the Lahore Khalsa Darbar collapsed, the EIC, thanks mainly to the Lawrence brothers, set about trying to win over the Punjabis, especially the Sikhs. There was a cogent reason for this. The EIC, after a survey, discovered that education in Lahore, and the Punjab, was far superior to the education the British had introduced all over ‘conquered India’. In Lahore alone there were 18 formal schools for girls besides specialist schools for technical training, languages, mathematics and logic, let alone specialised schools for the three major religions, they being Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism. There were craft schools specialising in miniature painting, sketching, drafting, architecture and calligraphy.

The Company concluded that the Punjabis were years ahead in the field of education than the so-called ‘enlightened’ Europeans. Every village in the Punjab, through the Tehsilar, had an ample supply of the Punjabi ‘qaida’, which was compulsory for females. Thus, almost every Punjabi woman was literate in the sense that she could read and write the ‘lundee’ form of Gurmukhi. To overcome this, and yet keep the Punjabis ‘in line’, a deliberate campaign to burn all Punjabi ‘qaida’ was planned. The events of 1857 provided them this opportunity, even though it was because of the ‘loyalty and sacrifices’ of the Punjabis that the British regained India.

But how did the British rulers, now formally under the Crown after the EIC was dislodged after becoming bankrupt because of expense incurred in 1857, gauge the situation? Here we have an amazing book from the legendary G.W. Leitner, the founder of Government College, Lahore, and the Punjab University and undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest ever linguist, who studied ‘Indigenous Education in the Punjab’ in amazing detail in 1882. His conclusions make much better sense today, for they were ignored by the British during the years of their rule. Not that we today care for what the great man said then, yet it seems sensible to bring the matter to our readers’ attention.

In the ‘Introduction’ to his original 1882 publication, he starts off by stating: “… in spite of the best intentions, the most public-spirited officers, and a generous Government that had the benefit of the traditions of others provinces, the true education of the Punjab was crippled, checked and nearly destroyed … our system stands convicted of worse than official failure”. The Punjab has this tradition whereby the “most unscrupulous chief, the avaricious money-lender, and even the freebooter, vied with the small land-owner in making peace with his conscience by founding schools and rewarding the learned. There is not a mosque, a temple, a dharmsala that had not a school attached to it”.

This network the British set out to destroy. In the carnage of revenge that followed 1857, the British made it a special effort to search every house of a village and to burn every book. Even in the secular schools of Lahore which used Persian or ‘lundee’ as the medium of instruction, books formed the major bonfire than the British troops ‘cleansed’ the area. Leitner claims that before 1857 the Punjab had an estimated computation as he called it, 330,000 pupils learning “all the sciences in Arabic and Sanskrit schools and colleges, as well as Oriental literature, Oriental law, Logic, Philosophy and Medicine were taught to the highest standard”. Leitner claimed that after the events of 1857 the Punjab, by 1880, had, again a computed estimation, just 190,000 pupils. He says an entire tradition, far superior to what Europe had to offer, was destroyed.

To explain his claim, Leitner quotes from the Punjab Administration Report for 1849-51, paragraph 377: “The Musalman schools are nearly all connected with the village mosque, where the land is rent-free … the endowments are secular and religious to support temples, mosques, schools, village-inns … more of a monastic character”. An extract of report No. 335, 6th July, 1857, reaches the conclusion: “That elementary, and sometimes high, oriental classical and vernacular education was more widespread in the Punjab before annexation than it is now”. The report concludes that the events of 1857 destroyed the huge endowments that kept this ‘magnificent educational system intact’.

Here an amazing table brings the assertions of Dr. Leitner to the fore in his claim that the Punjab, and especially Lahore, was better off educationally in the days of Maharajah Ranjit Singh than in the British days before 1882, when his research was published. It shows that total revenue collected by Ranjit Singh in his last years, say 1838-9 as equalling 1.85 million pounds. The British managed 1.45 million pounds. Then comes the stunner. “The Sikh ruler, as a percentage, spent more on education than the Company from the revenues collected.”

In the Lahore District report of 1860, we see that it had 576 formal schools where 4,225 scholars taught. This being the case, if Lahore had so many scholars (teachers) in the year 2010, it could again become a ‘first world’ educational city and district. Dr. Leitner provides still more statistics. He says 41.3 per cent learn the Quran, 37.0 per cent learn Persian and Urdu, 8 per cent learn Nagri, 6.7 per cent learn Gurmukhi and 7 per cent learn Hindi or debased Nagri. “The teachers are all paid in grain by the local landlords, who also send in daily rations.” Special mention has been made of the extra amounts of grain sent to teachers in Sialkot. This probably explains the qualitative edge that Sialkot education has always maintained. Its manifestations in Iqbal and Faiz can easily be seen.

It would be of interest for us today to understand the schools of Lahore of those days. Schools opened from 7am and closed at midday. In no case was a class allowed to exceed 50 pupils. If any report of this number came forward, the ‘Subedar’ would send soldiers to arrest the teacher for trying to ‘destroy the future of our children’. Imagine! Can we ever imagine such care and love today.

Inside the walled city all the schools have been described in great detail. For example the Kashmiri Bazaar Mosque School had a teacher by the name of Allah Jewaya who taught the Quran and all subjects in Arabic. The Kucha Chabaksawaran School had a teacher by the name of Muhammad Abdul Aziz who taught in Persian and Arabic. In the nearby mosque of Faizullah, the teacher was Mahmood the Eunuch, who excelled in Persian and Arabic, and taught pupils how to learn the Quran by heart. In the advanced Arabic school in the Anarkali Mosque taught Maulvi Nur Ahmed, who taught grammar, logic, Muslim law and mathematics. In Suttar Mandi School taught Pandit Gauri Shankar, who taught mathematics, logic, medicine and Puran literature.

It is very clear that Lahore in the dying days of the Lahore Khalsa Darbar and the years before 1857 had a first rate educational system that was far superior to what the British had to offer. What amazes one the most is the fact that women were more educated than men, and this, Dr. Leitner observes, is what made sure that with every passing year, the literacy rate increased. Once this stopped, it progressively declined. What we are today is for all of us to think about. My way of measuring literacy, given the bias that a journalist would have, is the number of newspapers sold every day. In Pakistan the number barely crosses one million. For a population of 180 million, this means a Functional Literacy Rate of 0.55 per cent. Need one say more? The destruction continues.

A few years ago through this column we requested the Punjab government to rename Kutchery Road - from the District Court crossing to Nila Gumbad-Anarkali crossing - as Leitner Road. A ‘bright’ bureaucrat observed on the request “no one knows of this strange man”. Shahbaz Sharif agreed and dropped the request. I am not surprised. Luckily, he is not part of the 0.55 per cent figure, though he attended the institution Leitner founded.

http://news.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/local/lahore/destruction-of-schools-as-leitner-saw-them-100

Edited January 24, 2011 by dalsingh101

[SURYADEV]

wow thats quite a revelation.

And to think that western authors state that M Ranjit SIngh and his govt were made up of semi/illiterates, as was the State.

I'm pretty sure that potentially the same can be achieved today if it were not for the rampart corruption and nepotism in the education and public sector of PB. The infrastructure is almost all there.

[shaheediyan]

Thanks for sharing Dalsingh. Goes to show how plural and secular M Ranjit Singhs government and rule was when you look at the % of Urdu/Persian/Sanskrit etc that was studied and how all the 3 main religious groups enjoyed total religious/educational freedom.

[Mithar]

This article also shows that propaganda by some hard line Muslims about how bad Sikh raaj was and how intolerable it was was just propaganda and not reality. Dawn is a good paper, and enjoys credibility in Pakistan and internationally.

[dalsingh101]

Thanks for sharing Dalsingh. Goes to show how plural and secular M Ranjit Singhs government and rule was when you look at the % of Urdu/Persian/Sanskrit etc that was studied and how all the 3 main religious groups enjoyed total religious/educational freedom.

Funny how we can both look at the same thing and see two different things. Whilst religious plurality and equality seems to be the salient feature for yourself, I can't help but notice how Panjabis got shafted so very hard by the Anglo-Saxons (and their collaborators).

Is what we are reading about our own equivalent of when Mongols stormed Baghdad and set Islamic civilisation/education back to the dark ages? Sure there is less bloodshed but the net effect on Sikh society intellectually is something we can only guess. It does however go someway into explaining the pendufied nature of much of the panth today,

Edited January 12, 2011 by dalsingh101

[shaheediyan]

As you have evidenced, in the the 'take over' of a people, destroying their intelligence/art/culture/faith is and has always been part and parcel of invasion. That it was English and Punjabis is only a detail. What was meant to be was meant to be, it's history. What we can take comfort in, is that the 'Sikh Kingdom' had some great atributes, that is something to celebrate and hopefully replicate, be it at a macro level in our own lives (thoughts and actions).

:-)

[dalsingh101]

What is remarkable is how these historic events have such a pervasive effect on nations/peoples that long outlive the actual event.

[amardeep]

I think the education system in India is still higher than in Europe. Its often the case here that whenever Indian doctors settle here, they pull their kids out of public schools and attaches them to private schools because they think the level is to low compared to what they were used to back home. I've seen small indian kids skip grades because they had already learned most of it back home in india.

[dalsingh101]

It sort of makes sense in another way too i.e. how Indian kids statistically piss all over the goray here in academic achievement (only being beaten by the Chinese I think). Maybe people from the subcontinent weren't as ignorant and illiterate prior to British interference in the region as generally suggested by their narratives? How much does the ignorant, superstitious, half starved orientalist narrative really reflect what they encountered in Panjab and how much of this was plain propaganda and brainwashing to subdue our people mentally/psychologically?

Edited January 13, 2011 by dalsingh101

[amardeep]

How much does the ignorant, superstitious, half starved orientalist narrative really reflect what they encountered in Panjab and how much of this was plain propaganda and brainwashing to subdue our people mentally/psychologically?

The feature of the object reading what the anthropologists wrote about them is quite new, So i've read. Back in the days it was only the british masters who read what the anthropologists wrote, so their reports and findings could not be used as way of "subdoing the indians mentally"... But it might have helped the british to thinking it was be an easy war to win since these people were uncivilised and dumb..

Edited January 13, 2011 by amardeep

[dalsingh101]

The feature of the object reading what the anthropologists wrote about them is quite new, So i've read. Back in the days it was only the british masters who read what the anthropologists wrote, so their reports and findings could not be used as way of "subdoing the indians mentally"

That's not entirely true though is it. Look at Trumpp's work for example. It was disparaging and read by many Sikhs. Plus I think calling these people anthropologists is stretching it a bit.....

[HSD1]

I'm surprised that so many of you found this to be a surprise. Did you honestly think that a bunch of island monkeys from 5000 miles away would have our best interests at heart? Nope they came to steal our stuff. It really is as simple as that. They took our farm produce and fattened themselves on it whilst watching sikhs run around the world and fight their wars for them. Their 'anthropology' was just made up rubbish that they used to justify their ignorance and racism. All the people who disagreed were being murdered, tortured or imprisoned in Burma or Kali Pani etc. With evidence like this it adds ammunition to the believe that Punjabi society has stood still since 1849. SO what are we going to do? Languish in the last century or try to make up for 150 years of lost development? I personally believe that Punjab would have been a great power like Germany, Japan, Brazil etc if we hadnt been conquered by the brits and chained by the ankle to the dead body that is hindustan. We've made our bed and we are lying in it - how long we will let the nightmares last?

Thanks for sharing Dalsingh. Goes to show how plural and secular M Ranjit Singhs government and rule was when you look at the % of Urdu/Persian/Sanskrit etc that was studied and how all the 3 main religious groups enjoyed total religious/educational freedom.

The same schools that taught non-sikhs not to accept the rule of the Khalsa, which led to the collapse of the Sikh state and thousands of dead sikhs. Face it, multiculturalism killed the Khalsa Raj.

As you have evidenced, in the the 'take over' of a people, destroying their intelligence/art/culture/faith is and has always been part and parcel of invasion. That it was English and Punjabis is only a detail. What was meant to be was meant to be, it's history. What we can take comfort in, is that the 'Sikh Kingdom' had some great atributes, that is something to celebrate and hopefully replicate, be it at a macro level in our own lives (thoughts and actions).

So what is happening in iraq/palestine is fine then? Or Tibet? Or in the NWFP to sikhs? Or what happened in poland during WW2? I'm pretty sure if Sikhs did this to another people you would be the first to scream 'Nazi!, Nazi!'

[shaheediyan]

Who said it was fine/ok? May be stop reading what you think is written and try reading what I actually wrote.

Multiculturism has always been part and parcel of Sikhi, try reading the Guru Granth Sahib.

[HSD1]

Khalsa ordained multiculturalism or the western notion of superficial acceptance? There is a difference. As for the Khalsa Raj, it was Hindu Dogras and Muslim punjabis who helped the british take over and happily watched as the British did to us what the Germans were to do to Poland a hundred years later. The SGGS talks about tolerance but none of our Gurus talked about turning a blind eye to the machinations and plotting of people who wish sikhs harm.

[shaheediyan]

Like I said, read the Sri Guru Granth Sahib. It utilises music, poetry, Sadhus, folklore, religions, languages, concepts etc etc from a whole rainbow of cultures. No one is talking about tolerance, in fact Gurbani doesn't teach tolerance, it teaches love, there is a big difference.

To think the 'Raj' got shafted because there were Hindus and Muslims in high places is nonsense. You will find many Sikhs were to blame also. In any case, the multiculturism I was talking about was at a peoples level i.e. the subjects of the state and their freedom to practice/explore/study their beliefs/culture freely. This is what Amritsar was like before the onset of the British - a melting pot of schools of different faiths and learning centre for many languages.

[dalsingh101]

I have to say, I don't really agree with vast chunks of Shaheediyan's interpretations of things but I think he is somewhat right in the idea of the Khalsa state being somewhat of a multicultural one. This isn't to paint some utopian picture though because we know that sullay sometimes got it hard in the further outposts of the empire. And Ranjit Singh pushed an anti beef policy in his kingdom. The Islam that was patronised was the more liberal kind, exemplified by the Fakir brothers, not Wahhabi crap which probably sees that period as 'the dark days'.

Shaheediyan said:

As you have evidenced, in the the 'take over' of a people, destroying their intelligence/art/culture/faith is and has always been part and parcel of invasion. That it was English and Punjabis is only a detail.

I don't really agree with this. Even looking at our own narratives we find the projections of distinctions along classical Indic lines of asuras and devlok, devs and daints representing good and evil, the aggressors and the defenders etc. To me the actions of the British clearly fall into those of asuras and daints.

Truth is, in one way we got it lightly compared to say Africans or even South Indians, in that they weren't carting us off en masse in chains to slavery colonies to grow bananas or sugarcane. Also, they had to check their lustful ways in the Northern regions too, given the strong prevalence of 'izzat' culture which would have probably resulted in swift retaliation.

That being said, in some strange twist of fate those who are the descendants of slaves are now free with their own nation states, whilst those who are the descendants of a warrior people who carved out their own enviable nation despite serious opposition have now become a relatively powerless people in what remains of their looted homeland (those of us not scattered to the winds that is).

Edited January 13, 2011 by dalsingh101

[HSD1]

The SGGS JI takes many things from different cultures but it does not talk about openly pandering to the whims of others. Where do you think that the Dogras got their attitude to sikhs from? Why did the muslims openly revolt against sikhs during the anglosikh wars if we living in such a multicultural utopia? Look at who signed the peace treaties at the end of the first Anglosikh war - the majority of the signings are from non-sikhs. Britons present at the signing said that not a single one of them had any sense of love for their country.

Learning languages has nothing to do with multiculturalism. It is common sense to offer young people the chance to learn a wide variety of languages and about other religions. My issue is with what politics is preached. Can you honestly say that every madrassa preached tolerance of sikh rule and loyalty to the Punjab? I dont think so. You cant live in a proper multicultural state if some of those cultures are inherently against being equal rather than superior.

Edited October 26, 2011 by HSD1

[dalsingh101]

 

[dalsingh101]

 

[dalsingh101]

The impact of colonialism and roots of today's rampant penduism in the panth: