The history of Kashmir’s education system is vibrant. Many texts talk about the fact that travelers from across India, China, and Tibet would travel to Kashmir to learn and engross the literature and philosophies [1]. Many Kashmiri Pandits and Kashmiri Muslims taught these philosophies. Before the outreach of European culture, there were many pathsalas and madrasas across the state of Kashmir[2]. The Dogra rulers, though swayed away from the basic educational process of Kashmir, they still provided backhand support to its working. The first structural establishment under Britishers was made by Rev. J.H. Knowles through CMS school, built on the premise of the hospital in Srinagar (Biscoe 2006, 249). It was created in 1880.
The establishment of the missionary school was not welcomed. It faced many backlashes in the beginning. But, it was a remarkable chapter that was added to the education history of Kashmir. The introduction of scientific explanation was very new for the indigenous population. [3]. Over a decade, it was made high standard from primary. The number of students registered as those in hundreds. It was a momentous incident in Kashmir’s history. Since the foundation of CMS school was for missionary purposes, it was clear that the primary agenda was to propagate Christianity via means of Church, Hospital, and education. [4]. The roots of the expansion of missionaries with the help of the church were the biggest challenge in the culturally rich Kashmir. They took the means of healthcare and education as their tool.
The basic structure of Kashmiri society was no different from any other part of India before the British annexation. Those who were rich and capable enjoyed learning from religious teachers like Mullahs and Purohits[5]. Those who cannot remain abstained from it. The introduction of missionary school, though, paved the way for modern education, but on the verge that it remained within reach of those who were wealthy. The particular interest was taken by the Kashmiri pandits.
In the beginning, the school had an enrollment of only five students. With time, they had to face significant backlash from the population and the state. But, around the 1890s, when Rev. Tyndale Biscoe joined the institution, the enrollment under the CMS school had around 200 students and all boys. The primary intake was that the enrolled population was of the Kashmiri Pandits. The Kashmiri Muslim’s participation in missionary school was demotivated by the Muslim scholars and the noble class. Apart from this, poverty was also the main reason. We cannot leave out the fundamental indifference between the state and the foreign establishment.
A brief study of the first missionary school in Kashmir’s Srinagar gave us a glance at how the road would have been. It was clear that the plan was not only to provide a scientific outlook to the wild population of India. But the more profound meaning was to expand the roots of Christianity by the means. Though facing severe backlash from the people and the state, the missionaries flourished their standards of education and healthcare outside Srinagar as well. But the road to conversion, as the underlying facet, remained unsuccessful.
Working of Church Missionary Society (CMS) school: With the foundation laid down in 1880, Rev J.H. Knowles engraved the marking of a new era for the overall education system of India[8]. The new pillar of education stood upright against the religious teachings by the religious philosophers. The intention to challenge the basic education model of India through scientific and analytical means of education may not seem structurally intentional. Still, on psychological grounds, it validated all the assumptions.
The stages of it growing across Kashmir were apposed with severe verbal and physical criticism. The ancient Kashmir rulers were against the Britishers or Western influence, barging in their territory. They declined the foreign settlers to have a place of their own or continue any business or purpose of the foreign state. [9]. This suggests a kind of hostility towards the same.
The one essential aspect to note here is, what made the missionaries grab hold in the areas outside Srinagar despite such an intense backlash? The missionaries provided what the people of Kashmir thought was only for the rich and capable. The opening up of a dispensary. It immediately caught in the eyes of the locals and provided them with an advantage that felt far from reach to them before this. [10]. This initially laid the foundation of what was lying ahead.
The entry of Tyndale Biscoe into the CMS school changed every possible avenue. With students enrolling in a large number to proper school guidelines and administration. [11], He established an appropriate model of working of education. Right from the school’s way of functioning dress structure, the curriculum was very raw and abrupt. All this changed during the tenure of Tyndale Biscoe.
The fundamental, deep-rooted problem of Kashmiris was how divided and oppressed they were. The indigenous people were not just against the foreign establishment but were also disharmonized with their people[12]. These were the primary findings of Biscoe himself. He wanted to make people participate in the day-to-day work, which they were otherwise barred from. [13]
Changes brought around by Tyndale Biscoe: The task to flourish a new school curriculum, especially when it is facing backlash from the very public. The first thing that he came face to face with was how irregular the system was. He remarked how it worked, and he said that the school’s working was on the will of the people[14]. They would come when they wanted to. They followed the unsynchronized pattern of the religious school. They would take leave according to their Hindu calendar. [15]
The westernization of the school was done by introducing proper school hours and holidays according to the English calendar. Those not following and becoming absent were levied with a fine. At first, the measure seemed too harsh to the students, and they replied with heavy criticism. Thus, the main objective of these measures was to teach punctuality to the students. (Biscoe 2006, 253). Since the primary schools within the state had no such rules and regulations in place.
The introduction of sports was another revolutionary step taken by Biscoe under his school curriculum. The thought of Biscoe for this measure was to challenge the orthodox belief of gentility reverted by the Brahminical society. [16]. The introduction of sports was the answer to the stringent practices of a community. The efforts of the student to take part in the sports was appreciated with grades. The allocation of grades thus was based on who showed interest in the participation instead of who excelled in it. [17] The concept of ‘gentlemen must not hurry’ was the basic ideology of the elites. They believed that physical exercise like games would make them develop muscles and marks on their “pure skin,” which was associated with the bodies of laborers and workers, who were of lower caste. Physical activity was thought to be the designation of menial stature and thus was refused by every elite brahman who enrolled in the school.
Even for instance, the introduction of football was considered unholy according to Hindu culture. They believed the ball was made from animal skin and the making process was done by the man of lower caste[18]. This misconception of the people made them resistant towards the same.
It is still amusing to note that the thought process of parents in that period was still very similar to this day of modern India. They believed that sports were a waste of time for their children.[19]. They believed that the role of the school was to provide degrees to their children, who would, thereon, get government jobs. This idea and resistance did not shake up Biscoe’s plan to introduce it. Introduction of swimming was done. Every boy must pass the swimming test to qualify. [20]. Failing it would mark the enhancement in the school’s fees. The fees would increase so much that the person must drop out of school himself.
The use of local language was prohibited inside the school. The basic crux behind this was to propagate English among the locals. [21] They were given additional books to understand English and speak it fluently. The conversation between teachers and students and among students themselves were in English. Initially, for about 8-10 years, the school took the help of local literature and pattern to impart knowledge to the students. The significance of the local institutions was equally present.
Apart from CMS, which now was named after Tyndale Biscoe School, many other schools like St. Joseph’s School in Baramulla, Presentation convent school in Srinagar, and another CMS school in Anantnag came into existence. [22]. All these schools followed a similar line of education pattern. That is why they became a success in the valley.
The Girl’s education remained a vital point of discussion among the missionary education. They opened the Girl’s school in Fateh Kadal around 1893. [23]. It was named Zenana Missionary Society and was opened under the initiative of the Church of England. But due to severe pushback from society, it was closed in 1895. So, the industry was taken down by CMS school. They, in 1912, started the Girl’s school. It was later amalgamated with the boy’s school in Fateh Kadal. [24]. The school faced severe pushout, but under Miss Mallinson, it gained a similar amount of flourishment. She transformed the idea of girls’ education in society. She served as the school principal from 1922-to 1961. [25]. The Girl’s education was equally backed by several cultural activities. This empowered the women of Kashmir and provided them with a broader perspective within the society. The education of language included English, Persian, Urdu along with subjects like mathematics, natural studies, and general knowledge. [26] The introduction of swimming, drill, and picnics formulated the refreshment part.
As we have established the fact that the education flourishment in Kashmir was mainly availed by the Kashmiri Pandits. There were many reasons for this. Mostly the elite structure was dominated by the Brahmins, so they could afford the money to pay for such a structure. Although the Muslim population holds a significant chunk of the population but they, though not all, were poverty struck. Under Dogra rulers, the taxation system was very irregular. Land revenue taxes were not enough; apart from this, the cultivators had to pay other taxes, particularly Muslims. These circumstances lead to cultivators deviating from education. Another reason was the outlook of Muslims towards their religious preaching. They were afraid of the conversion that was the primary aim of the missionaries. They held it too high over other things. Their view took a rather aggressive approach to protect it. This led to Muslims being distanced from the educational structure for at least twenty years before the collective initiative of Maulvi Rasool Shah. he recognized the problem lies behind illiteracy. [27]
He started the movement to propagate modern education among Muslims. With constant efforts and emphasis on the process, he first opened Anjuman-i-Nusrat-ul-Islam in 1899 A. D[28]. It was reinstated as high school. It is now the parent of Islamiaya college. [29]. It vastly affected Muslim education and brought them into the light to strengthen them educationally.
The constant tussle between two establishments, namely the Dogra’s as an indigenous ruling state of Kashmir and the Missionaries standing on the verge to introduce a foreign concept to the Kashmiri people. The establishment of a school in Fateh Kadal in 1890 was the first time the missionaries could move inside the state and mark it under the missionary establishment. Earlier, due to resistance, they could not find a place within the limits of Srinagar. So, they settled on the borders of Srinagar. [30]
It is important to note that the era of modern education lies way back in the 1880s while Kashmir was in the hands of Dogra rulers. The previous rulers of Kashmir, mainly Sikhs, gave zero to no importance to education in Kashmir. That is why their predecessors that are the Dogra’s, are considered the ones who established the pillars of modern education in Kashmir. Especially if we believe the hub of the educational activity was supposed to be Lahore. It happened after Punjab came into the grasp of the Britishers.
Though Maharaja Gulab Singh mainly didn’t take any interest in the educational growth of Kashmir. But he would send money to the Punjab School as an obligation to keep Britishers under check. The real credit can be given to Raja Ranbir Singh. S.S Charak himself said so. Like Maharaja Gulab Singh, Raja Ranbir Singh also held prejudice towards Muslims. The statement lies cited by S.S Charak himself. He says that Raja Ranbir Singh was too religious. He opened 44 schools in around 1872-73. But those schools were mainly Pathsalas, and few were Maktabs[31]. This fact is further substantiated through the point made by Mridu Rai. She points out that the Dogra rulers tried to establish Kashmir as the Hindu state by broadening its nature into Hinduism. This resulted in Kashmiri Pandits becoming co-religionists in the region while Muslims became marginalized[32].
The marginalization pushed the Muslims to become morally quashed, economically backward, and suppressed, thus ultimately making them fall back into educational prospects. The resultant of their backwardness made them extremely poverty struck. Therefore, the position of Kashmiri Muslims was due to the ignorance and prejudice of the Dogra rulers and their administration. The main reason, although for the Muslim’s educational backwardness, can be the discrimination of Dogra rulers towards them[33].
The account of the same can be taken from the fact that where the Muslim population was 75%-80%, in rural Kashmir, their illiteracy rate was 90%[34]. According to Lawrence, a very partial amount of Muslims benefitted from the state policies during Dogra rule as compared to the Hindu population. This fact that the Hindus constituted the benefit of educational policies majorly as compared to the Muslims of the region. Politicians like Prem Nath Bazaz heavily criticized the attitude of Dogra rulers towards Muslims and how it impacted their situation, making it worse. He noted that the conditions of the Muslim population were so bad that they were covered in rags, working barefoot, starving, and begging. This account of his indeed records the worst situation of the community and how the condition resulted in shackles around their overall development.
The route to reform was taken by the leaders at the end of the 19th century. The region started to witness social, economic, political, and religious reforms in the Muslim community. The primary aim of these reforms was to make the population realize the practices causing them to fall back in their account. The reform focused on those practices which were followed by the people.
The person who took the board of leadership to develop the Muslim community was Maulvi Rasool Shah. He held the post of the head preacher in the Srinagar’s Jama Masjid. He was the founder of the reform association, first in the line for the Muslim community’s development. [35]. He understood the importance of education for the community’s development. Therefore, he took help from the school. He founded the ‘Anjuman Nusrat-ul-Islam’ whose literal translation is the society for the victory of the Islamic religion. It got financial assistance from the Nobel Muslims of Punjab, who were capable enough to provide the help.
Rasool Shah worked on the principle of Tawheed to unite the further bifurcated Muslims within their community. The meaning of Tawheed thus means unity of the supreme lord, i.e., Allah. He mastered the technique to bring together the people of his community via support of the religion[36].
The foundation of Nusrat-ul-Islam was laid for all the sections of the Muslim community. It provided a broader perspective to perceive their religious knowledge and clear out the thoughts that were un-Islamic[37]. Later on, a Madarsa was also affiliated with Anjuman. It worked to provide pure Islamic knowledge to the pupils. It worked on adding more and more Muslim populations into the community by this means.
The grounds of Anjuman provided the earliest and the most solid foundation for Muslims to expand their social and educational scope. And it happened that way only. The community helped the community to focus on their selves as a whole and unite to work for their benefit. The difference and distances that existed in the community were well addressed by the Anjuman. It provided the facility to the community to provide and extend help to the members of the community[38]. The awareness for combined efforts was raised to make the people realize how important it is to understand self-dependence and work for each other’s collective benefit.
Until now, the outlook for education was mainly from a religious perspective. Be it the inclusion of Pathsalas and Madrasas in the life of the Kashmiris or teaching Kashmiri literature and philosophy.
With the coming age of Britishers, they provided a completely different set of education. The introduction of the western educational concept was the primary aspect of this context. To which one end, the Madrasas, and Pathsalas provided teachings of the religious text like Quran or Vedas; on the contrary, the missionaries aimed at providing an analytical understanding of the concepts.
The religious schools also provided language knowledge, whether Urdu, Persian, or Sanskrit. The period before the missionaries’ educational establishment was considered to be a backward era for Kashmir’s education. The administrative report recorded in 1873, which was the first state account of Jammu and Kashmir, stated the very fact of Kashmir’s poor literacy rate. It highlighted the existence of the state’s backwardness in the educational field.
The report addressed Basant bagh school, Nawakadal School, Pathshala, and Maharaj Gunj School as the educational institute in the region. The Mastabas and Pathshalas, where they provided religious teachings, cannot be considered governmental institutes and hence were barred. [39] Another reason for them to be barred was that it provided general information and learning.
It was around 1873 when the missionaries approached Kashmir, particularly Srinagar. The 19th-century travel accounts published in the name of Kashmir focused on the works of missionaries in the valley. A retired army officer, Colonel Martin, a member of Punjab Missionary, Robert Clark, and the two people from Indian Christian society together came to Kashmir’s Srinagar. [40] They all focused on expanding the work of missionaries around the 1860s. But, they faced significant backlash from the state. The people opposed their way of working. The primary cause of this opposition of Christian missionaries was the fear of their objective of converting the indigenous population into Christians. [41] Though one cannot deny the fact that the primary aim of the missionaries was to propagate their religion and convert into it.
The primary task taken up by the missionaries was that of administering medical aid to the population of Srinagar at the difficult times of calamities and epidemics. Before this, the health care system of Kashmir was worst. The primary healthcare was not present. [42]. The people of Kashmir were in a very ill state in terms of the medical facility. Analyzing the situation, it is clear that the aid rendered by the missionaries attracted more than what they thought would be the response.
The service of the missionaries in the medical field made their approach to the population quite reachable and established a fair amount of trust within the people themselves for them. The basic structure of education in Kashmir was not in proper condition. The school was established by Raja Ranbir Singh in around 1874. However, it held the task of imparting education; the medium was Persian and Sanskrit[43], which cannot be considered an ideal approach for the entire population of Kashmir.
The apparent indifference of the Dogra regime towards the primary education of the people is not hidden. Since they were much more invested in acquiring land and collecting huge taxes from the population[44], this not only crippled the overall administration of the state but also made the people powerless in every aspect.
The void of the system was fulfilled by the missionaries. This is what made them popular among people. The Christian missionaries got hold of the central nerve and started expanding their roots. The second necessity apart from primary health was education. The answer was the establishment of the church mission society from England in the form of primary education. [45]. The school’s administration was lined up with that of the western calendar. It was established on a hospital also opened by Church Mission. The landmark stone of this was laid by Rev. J.H. Knowles. [46]
The initial years of the school’s establishment faced much criticism from the people. They were against the opening up of the primary school on the set of western culture. The rulers of the Dogra regime put forth the condition to assimilate religious books in the teachings. Therefore, until 1886, the spiritual teachings held in maktabs and Pathsalas were also backed with analytical learning, grammar, and arithmetic, including other subjects. Then from 1886, the state school opened the doors for English, and it was introduced as a subject in the same. [47]
Due to various facets of the Muslim community, they did not become part of English learning and school until the beginning of the 20th century. The texts recorded report that not a single Muslim individual took part in the primary learning school established by the church society[48]. Also, the state’s role in facilitating the absenteeism of Muslim students cannot be neglected. The state administration held a very loose cord towards spreading the policies of modern education in the region. According to the statements made by P.N. Bazaz, he addressed that the rulers were not digesting the fact that by imparting knowledge, one will gain have the ability to analyze the situation and uphold the logic for the same. They hated the idea of people becoming self-aware and understanding their fundamental human rights[49]. This highlights the oppressive thinking of the region’s rulers and what must be the condition of the subjects under the particular regime. The thought of empowering the people was not even near the minds of the rulers. So, the protest towards the English establishment can be more of a political agenda than about protecting their cultural heritage. Though the standard population might be under the words of the ruler to protect their indigenous culture, deep down, the thinking of the Dogra’s is very evident from the statement analysis of P.N. Bazaz.
People from Kashmir had seen many difficulties in various aspects of their lives after the strong Mughal period. Though under the Dogra regime, we cannot deny that people did have some beneficial changes for them. All the changes occurred in various time frames under that period. There was a considerable lapse of continuous changes. The Muslim population of Kashmir was severely marginalized by the Dogra rulers. They were as subject to severe atrocities as their other community counterparts. The overall treatment of Muslims in any field, medical or law and order, was subject to negligence.
On the one hand, Kashmiri Pandits, especially those at the higher position or were nobility, had greater access to facilities provided by the state. Muslim education is it at the time of Dogra rule or at the time of Christian missionaries, were on the verge of conflict with the religion. The foundation and establishment of primary health built people’s trust in the missionaries. And later on, the primary school’s popularity grew while facing severe pull down from the population of Kashmir. It flowed from being on the verge of Kashmir’s boundary to becoming a setting stone of the modern education system. The reform movement under the leadership of the Maulvi Rasool Khan. It provided the essential upliftment of the Muslim Community. It provided them substance to understand their basic rights and unite them as a community. The 19th century’s educational system can be simply categorized as the upward slope and the participant of Missionaries in this process in essential landmark for that era.
Speaking about the indigenous education system that has been imposed by the British government in Kashmir, colonialism, and westernization has dominated the overall education system, as per the records stated in the European travel account of Stephen Joseph (Kramer, 2015, p.353). The British efforts to impose western governance in the Kashmir education system have been majorly directed through the forces of effective globalization and capitalism under British rule in India. The information about the education system has been limited to the English literature proposed by the British officials and other administrative executives who worked under the British government. Based on the reports published in the European travel accounts by the explorer Kotay, (2018, p.24), it can be stated that with a population of 12.5 million people, homeschooling was the most profound form of educating the children in Kashmir under the rule of the British Government. In addition to this, the concept of female education was non-existent.
The duration of the schooling was far more dependent on the financial conditions of the parents. The obedience and values of punctuality have been critically enforced through the attachment of favorable labels employing severe forms of punishment centering around the 3 R’s which are reading, writing and arithmetic laid on committing the mathematical labels, poetry, and other fables. Most of the schools in Kashmir were held in private dwellings, mosques, and temples exclusively for the schooling system. There was no proper continuity and the schools were open to everyone except the female ones.
Additionally, the people who belonged to the low castes or Harijans were also not allowed to study in the schools. As per the European travel accounts of Mushtaq (2018, p.6), the Brahmins dominated the majority of the school teachers and the teachers were paid Rs. 3 – 5 per month. On the other hand, there was low remuneration that has been compensated through the broader impact from the community in the form of revised invites to dinners and multiple occasions for the students and other disciples. In the same period, it has been found that the teachers were more ignorant and broadly lacked adequate educational competency. In some few Muslim indigenous schools, the higher method of learning has been critically demonstrated and reported to cease the distribution of knowledge and respect from the community (Khaja, 2020, p.24).
Based on the Bengal report that was published by William Adam, it deserved careful attention as a product of meticulous calculation and it is accordingly considered to be one of the most reliable pieces of information out of all the records. The indigenous education system has been considered unnecessary and redundant by the British people which got the potential to flourish into the education system. The indigenous education system in Kashmir has utilized the essentials of having the accounts. The system’s ability to adapt to the local environment was based on the economic conditions and gradually, it has evolved into the universal system of primary education over the years (Bhat, 2020, p.11249). The learning system that has been provided to the pupils residing in Kashmir has rendered the candidates even at a higher level of education in the West. As the schooling was conducted in temples, private homes, and mosques it had no involvement in the education system for financial assistance for higher education.
According to the explorer and philosopher Michaud (1996, p.294), the separatist ideas between the Hindus and Muslims have existed in the education system for several years in Kashmir. It has been reinforced through the creation of separate spaces of learning over the 19th century. The education system in Kashmir in the 19th century has perpetuated the patriarchal values within the society that excludes the members of lower caste and female candidates within the society in the 19th century. The ideas in the schooling system that have been reinforced have been primarily the teachers, especially the Brahmins, educationally qualified and ignorant to a significant extent. Based on the words narrated by Misri (2002, p.3), it has been clarified that sir Charles wood was the president of the board of control of the company in 1854 which sent a dispatch to the governor-general of India. It has been referred to as the ‘Magna Carta of English education in India.’ Several recommendations were specified by Wood Despatch which is to regularize the education system in Kashmir from the primary to university levels.
In addition to this, the Indians were educated in English from the native language as well as the education system has been set up in every province. Every district within Kashmir needs to have at least one government school and affiliated private schools could grant the different aids. The European traveler and wordsmith Stephen Wilderson has elaborated that the Wood Despatch has authorized the education of women to be emphasized. A major feature of education that has been witnessed by the British explorer and traveler Ahmad (2011, p.1) has specified the increased involvement of states in education. The state-sponsored education in the 19th century at Kashmir has consecutively replaced the arrangements of education in the preceding period. It has been observed that the intervention in education was not received by all the people residing in the Kashmir valley.
The religious persons had their reservations filled about the state-influenced curriculum. By the late 19th century, European author Pajankar. and Pajankar, (2010, p.18) has demonstrated that there were several urban children to be employed as factory workers and the British officials restricted these children to get studied from the Government schools. Between 1890 and 1920, it has been found that the modern schools proposed and established by Mann eventually became the model for the secondary education system in Kashmir during the 19th century. The common school movement eventually came into existence to meet the needs of the diverse population as the states were required to take ownership of the different Kashmiri citizens and this further led to a highly localized school system over the spectacular valleys of Kashmir. The governance of the Kashmiri schools has been left to the district and state which has little or no federal intervention (Evans, 2002, p.276). The common schools in Kashmir have specifically provided the foundations of modern teaching methods in the 19th-century following which a large number of female teachers started to grow in the later years.
In those preceding days of the 19th century, women had few options for admission in higher education and equality in terms of gaining financial independence. European travelers and writers Bansal (2017, p.21) have also mentioned the verses of feminist leaders such as Elizabeth Stanton and Catherine Beecher who have been highly active to promote the education of women as teachers. In the 19th century, the education system in Kashmir has brought a significant revolution without the changes of 1800. Speaking in detail, English was made the official language for government business in which British policy has further promoted a trickle-down approach for the government colonial education.
The direct rule of the British Government in Kashmir has not changed the decision to deemphasize primary education to provide occupational training in the lower tier of the government. There were also the non-government schools that had been established by the western Christian missions along with Indian Religious and social reform organizations for elementary education in the 19th century (Patel, 1998, p.163). This further offered the western curriculum with the best financial support for the children of Christian conversion. The educational curriculum that has been imposed in the private girl’s schools has ranged from Urdu, Persian, and arithmetic studies in some of the northwestern parts of India. The voluntary members of the societies have provided educational alternatives for the children about the advantages and disadvantages of the colonial educational model for the language of instruction.
As the British officials have represented direct rule by the crown, it has shifted financial responsibility for education to a growing middle-class system. The education of urban songs for professions has dominated the local educational expenditures to the detriment of women and rural education. The families of middle-class status have further chosen to send the daughters to gender-segregated elementary schools of education in vernacular languages with its general education curriculum. The British and European traveler or explorers Barysheva (2016, p.201), it has been stated that the transparent and total domination of the educational system has dictated the ‘creative resistance’ to the British state agency in Kashmir. As the nationalist movement in Kashmir for education gained supporters in the 19th century, the Indian teachers and scholars further developed the nationalist educational paradigms through which they can eliminate the western colonial educational system.
In the British days of the 19th century, it has been found that Hindus and Muslims were far more educated through Madrassa and Pathsala with the advent of creating a new place of the learning system. To rule in Kashmir conveniently, the British people have started to educate a smaller section of people which has been dominated by the orientalists of oriental learning than the Anglicans. The British writer Provenzo and McCloskey (1981, p.14) has proposed the fact that the general committee of public instruction, 1823, and Lord Macaulay’s education policy, 1835 were the two most fulfilling and effective policies under the western education system that has been imposed in Kashmir. As a result, the Kashmiri people and teachers have updated the educational curriculum based on the educational standards. However, the hunter commission and Sadler commission were the two approaches that have been introduced in Kashmir and throughout India. To be specific, the Hunter commission was formed to evaluate the achievements of Wood dispatch of 1854 and it underlined the role of extension and improvement in primary education.
The Sadler Commission on the other hand was formed to study the problems and the recommendations that have applied to other universities. In the late 19th century, British explorers Sam Smith and Mohanty, (2002, p.62), Americans built an extensive system of Indian school of thought which was largely financed by the Congress and controlled from Washington. These schools were more residual and boarding educational organizations. The main goal of the British officials who have incorporated this type of elementary Macallan system is the indoctrination of Indian children to eliminate the tribal cultures that pre-existed in the Kashmir Valley. Within the 19th century, the aggressive and misguided nature has been recognized with the long-term consequences for all the tribal people who ever lived in the valley. European scholars such as Palsetia (2003, p.65) have broadly acknowledged the ethnocentrism under the Indian policy through which the goal was processed to be rapid Indian assimilation.
The British education system introduced and founded the Macaulay in the 20th century. The main purpose of the modern education system or Macaulay form of education has been to subjectively prepare the Indian clerks to run the local administration in Kashmir as of the 19th century. The instruction of school education has used the vernacular languages but the higher education system in Kashmir was permitted to continue the work in the English language only. In Kashmir, the British Government started giving funds to missionary English schools during the 19th century (Fear-Segal, 1999, p.330). During the 19th century, British rule in the Kashmir Valley has not taken any appropriate measures to develop science and technology, instead of focusing on fine arts and humanities subjects to a large extent.
Stating about the educational policies that have been broadly adopted in the British colonial government, it can be found that the “Charter Act of 1813” is a major initiative that has been taken in the educational history of Kashmir valley. Speaking in detail, section 43 of the “Charter Act of 1813” has potentially contained the first legislative admission of the education system in the public revenues. A decade before the arrival of the Macaulay education system, the General committee of public instruction was formed in 1823. The primary aim of the educational committee was to guide the company on the matter of education (Gupta and Dewanga, 2012, p.100). In 1835, the differences of opinion over the competing terms and occidental learning took place. With this regard, the spread of education was halted in 1835. This made the charter renew its educational content in 1833 for 20 years.
Based on the Macaulay educational system, Professor Kantawala (2012, p.213) has argued that the object of promoting a language can be accomplished by the implementation of the British language. Stating about the Benetick resolution of 1835 in key detail that has been imposed on the Kashmiri education system, the resolution has been passed by Benedick in the sphere of colonial education within the region of Kashmir in India. Another education policy that has been stated is the policy of downward filtration theory which can run the British rule in India in a more successful manner. Based on the doctrine of the policy of downward filtration theory, education would permeate the mass population of people. However, there are specific reasons due to which the British people have imposed such a theory as the British rulers were needed to educate the employees to run the commerce and administration policies.
On the other hand, the Government did not receive sufficient funds to educate the mass population living in the Kashmir valley throughout the century. The British efforts to impose western governance in the Kashmir education system have been majorly directed through the forces of effective globalization and capitalism under British rule in India. The information about the education system has been limited to the English literature proposed by the British officials and other administrative executives who worked under the British government. Based on the reports published in the European travel accounts by the explorer Thomas James (2002, p.725), it can be stated that with a population of 12.5 million people, homeschooling was the most profound form of educating the children in Kashmir under the rule of the British Government. In addition to this, the concept of female education was non-existent.
The duration of the schooling was far more dependent on the financial conditions of the parents. Based on the Bengal report that was published by William Adam (2010, p.562), it deserved careful attention as a product of meticulous calculation and it is accordingly considered to be one of the most reliable pieces of information out of all the records. The indigenous education system has been considered unnecessary and redundant by the British people who got the potential to flourish into the education system. The indigenous education system in Kashmir has utilized the essentials of having the accounts. The system’s ability to adapt to the local environment was based on the economic conditions and gradually, it has evolved into the universal system of primary education over the years.
The learning system that has been provided to the pupils residing in Kashmir has rendered the candidates even at a higher level of education in the West. The ideas in the schooling system that have been reinforced have been primarily the teachers, especially the Brahmins, educationally qualified and ignorant to a significant extent. Based on the words narrated by Bhat (2020, p.11249), it has been clarified that sir Charles wood was the president of the board of control of the company in 1854 which sent a dispatch to the governor-general of India. It has been referred to as the ‘Magna Carta of English education in India.
Several recommendations were specified by Wood Despatch which are to regularize the education system in Kashmir from the primary to university levels. In addition to this, the Indians were educated in English from the native language as well as the education system has been set up in every province. Every district within Kashmir needs to have at least one government school and affiliated private schools could grant the different aids. The European traveler and wordsmith Stephen Wilderson has elaborated that the Wood Despatch has authorized the education of women to be emphasized.
Moreover, the educational policies during the time frame of 1854 and 1902 have been implemented with the consideration of two documents which are the report of the Indian committee, 1882, and the despatch of 1854 in which the reasons were prompted for the appointment of the electoral commission in Kashmir. To act on this purpose, British explorer and traveler Lord Ripon has appointed the Indian education commission by Government resolution as of 1882 under the leadership of William Hunter which has been a revised and enlarged version of the Charles Wood Despatch of 1854. It is further obliged that the branches of education have claimed the fostering care of its state as a part of the education system in which the efforts of the state can be implemented to a larger extent.
Another approach was of Lord Curzon’s educational policy which has touched the conceivable branch of education (Kramer, 2015, p.344). The resolution has potentially expressed concern for defects in the education system. In the view of the primary education system, it is proposed that the colonial education system has attracted higher funding from the British Government. The education of urban songs for professions has dominated the local educational expenditures to the detriment of women and rural education. The families of middle-class status have further chosen to send the daughters to gender-segregated elementary schools of education in vernacular languages with its general education curriculum. The British and European traveler or explorers Cherish and Dyson (2009, p.784), it has been stated that the transparent and total domination of the educational system has dictated the ‘creative resistance’ to the British state agency in Kashmir.
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