DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68024#0288
280
some support for the proposition which I am presently to submit to the Government of India,
will be found in the enclosed copy of a letter from the Director of Public Instruction,
No. 5609, dated the 9th September. Mr. Croft, who early in 1881 reported adversely to
the establishment of a Muhammadan college in Calcutta, now doubts whether the policy pursued
by Government with regard to Muhammadan education is not mistaken. In the present rapidly
changing circumstances of tbe Muhammadan community, and as a guide to the future, the
Director of Public Instruction suggests that the true course to follow at this juncture is
that indicated in the 24th paragraph of the memorial, namely, the appointment of a Com-
mittee to ascertain the views and wishes of the Muhammadan community on the question of
higher English education. To the appointment of such a Committee in itself the Lieutenant-
Governor has no objection, and in a matter of such importance the course indicated would,
under ordinary circumstances, be a prudent one to adopt. In this particular instance, how-
ever, the feeling of the Muhammadan community has been so fully declared that the appoint-
ment of a fresh Committee seems superfluous. If thought necessary by the Government of
India, the matter might appropriately be referred to the consideration of the Education Com-
mission, but even this step is, in the Lieutenant-Governor’s opinion, hardly required. The
elevation of the Calcutta Madrissa to the status of a college seems the necessary outcome of
the agitation on this subject, and a legitimate concession to the reasonable demands of those
interested in it. The Lieutenant-Governor has no doubt that such a measure would be pro-
ductive of the best results on Muhammadan feeling generally, and on the progress of education.
He is not convinced of the usefulness of the Madrissas, which at Chittagong, Dacca, Raj-
shabye, and Hooghly are supported from the Mohsin endowment. During his recent tour
Mr. Rivers Thompson had an opportunity of inspecting the Madrissas at Dacca and Rajshahye,
and the result of his observation has convinced him that neither from an educational nor
political point of view is it advisable longer to maintain these institutions. The instruction
conveyed in them is unsuited to the wants of the Muhammadan community of the present day,
being rather calculated to inspire useless regrets for an irrevocable past than to prepare boys
for the competition and trials of modern life. The Lieutenant-Governor believes that the
desire of the Muhammadan community generally at the present day for education of a purely
oriental type has been overrated. However strong that desire may once have been, it now shows
manifest and growing signs of decay. The quickening of yzmd-national feeling apparent in
the Presidency town which finds every hope for Muhammadan regeneration “ in the spread of
English education and the diffusion of Western ideas through the medium of the English
language” is not without its response in the interior of the province. The abolition of the
mofussil Madrissas, and the appropriation of the funds on which they subsist to the support
of a Muhammadan college in Calcutta, would, the Lieutenant-Governor believes, be hailed with
satisfaction by all intelligent Muhammadans, and he would be glad to learn that any action
taken in this direction would meet with the approval of His Excellency the Viceroy in Council.
15. It only remains to say a word on the desire of the Association that steps may be taken
* The fund especially mentioned in in order that the income of educational endowments generally,
the article in the Nineteenth Century. an(] of Mohsin Fund* in particular, should be applied
with due regard to the intention of the founders. So far as the Lieutenant-Governor is aware,
there is no need for greater care in this respect than is already taken in regard to all funds
under Government control. It is possible that this portion of the Association's appeal is due
to the idea that the Mohsin Fund was not well administered. A reference to the letter of the
Director of Public Instruction, to which allusion has already been made, will show the errone-
ousness of any such idea. A real necessity does, however, exist for the exercise by enlightened
Muhammadans of pressure on their less forward co-religionists who administer funds of this
description, and, to the same end, it is greatly to be wished that the members of the National
Muhammadan Association should use their powerful influence to counteract the retrograde policy
adopted by those who oppose the spread of English education. It is only by the cordial ac-
ceptance of the advantages which our administration offers that the Muhammadans in India can
hope to regain tbe position which they have certainly lost by their past indifference; and
as Government service as well as positions of unofficial emolument and influence are open
to public competition, it is worse than useless for Muhammadans now to plead that Government
should show any favour to a particular class or section of the community. In every depart-
ment of the Government of this Province the want of qualified Muhammadan candidates alone
prevents the wider employment of persons of that faith. Where such keen competition exists
for every vacancy, it is not surprising that in the interest of administration the fittest should
be selected irrespective of creed or race.
some support for the proposition which I am presently to submit to the Government of India,
will be found in the enclosed copy of a letter from the Director of Public Instruction,
No. 5609, dated the 9th September. Mr. Croft, who early in 1881 reported adversely to
the establishment of a Muhammadan college in Calcutta, now doubts whether the policy pursued
by Government with regard to Muhammadan education is not mistaken. In the present rapidly
changing circumstances of tbe Muhammadan community, and as a guide to the future, the
Director of Public Instruction suggests that the true course to follow at this juncture is
that indicated in the 24th paragraph of the memorial, namely, the appointment of a Com-
mittee to ascertain the views and wishes of the Muhammadan community on the question of
higher English education. To the appointment of such a Committee in itself the Lieutenant-
Governor has no objection, and in a matter of such importance the course indicated would,
under ordinary circumstances, be a prudent one to adopt. In this particular instance, how-
ever, the feeling of the Muhammadan community has been so fully declared that the appoint-
ment of a fresh Committee seems superfluous. If thought necessary by the Government of
India, the matter might appropriately be referred to the consideration of the Education Com-
mission, but even this step is, in the Lieutenant-Governor’s opinion, hardly required. The
elevation of the Calcutta Madrissa to the status of a college seems the necessary outcome of
the agitation on this subject, and a legitimate concession to the reasonable demands of those
interested in it. The Lieutenant-Governor has no doubt that such a measure would be pro-
ductive of the best results on Muhammadan feeling generally, and on the progress of education.
He is not convinced of the usefulness of the Madrissas, which at Chittagong, Dacca, Raj-
shabye, and Hooghly are supported from the Mohsin endowment. During his recent tour
Mr. Rivers Thompson had an opportunity of inspecting the Madrissas at Dacca and Rajshahye,
and the result of his observation has convinced him that neither from an educational nor
political point of view is it advisable longer to maintain these institutions. The instruction
conveyed in them is unsuited to the wants of the Muhammadan community of the present day,
being rather calculated to inspire useless regrets for an irrevocable past than to prepare boys
for the competition and trials of modern life. The Lieutenant-Governor believes that the
desire of the Muhammadan community generally at the present day for education of a purely
oriental type has been overrated. However strong that desire may once have been, it now shows
manifest and growing signs of decay. The quickening of yzmd-national feeling apparent in
the Presidency town which finds every hope for Muhammadan regeneration “ in the spread of
English education and the diffusion of Western ideas through the medium of the English
language” is not without its response in the interior of the province. The abolition of the
mofussil Madrissas, and the appropriation of the funds on which they subsist to the support
of a Muhammadan college in Calcutta, would, the Lieutenant-Governor believes, be hailed with
satisfaction by all intelligent Muhammadans, and he would be glad to learn that any action
taken in this direction would meet with the approval of His Excellency the Viceroy in Council.
15. It only remains to say a word on the desire of the Association that steps may be taken
* The fund especially mentioned in in order that the income of educational endowments generally,
the article in the Nineteenth Century. an(] of Mohsin Fund* in particular, should be applied
with due regard to the intention of the founders. So far as the Lieutenant-Governor is aware,
there is no need for greater care in this respect than is already taken in regard to all funds
under Government control. It is possible that this portion of the Association's appeal is due
to the idea that the Mohsin Fund was not well administered. A reference to the letter of the
Director of Public Instruction, to which allusion has already been made, will show the errone-
ousness of any such idea. A real necessity does, however, exist for the exercise by enlightened
Muhammadans of pressure on their less forward co-religionists who administer funds of this
description, and, to the same end, it is greatly to be wished that the members of the National
Muhammadan Association should use their powerful influence to counteract the retrograde policy
adopted by those who oppose the spread of English education. It is only by the cordial ac-
ceptance of the advantages which our administration offers that the Muhammadans in India can
hope to regain tbe position which they have certainly lost by their past indifference; and
as Government service as well as positions of unofficial emolument and influence are open
to public competition, it is worse than useless for Muhammadans now to plead that Government
should show any favour to a particular class or section of the community. In every depart-
ment of the Government of this Province the want of qualified Muhammadan candidates alone
prevents the wider employment of persons of that faith. Where such keen competition exists
for every vacancy, it is not surprising that in the interest of administration the fittest should
be selected irrespective of creed or race.