SUBEDAR NAWAB AMIR ALI KHAN
A PIONEER OF WOMEN’S EDUCATION IN HYDERABAD.
By Ansar Naqvi
This article attempts to cover the pioneering efforts of Subedar Amir Ali Khan in the field of women’s education. And in order to provide a historical perspective to the great contribution of Subedar Amir Ali Khan towards women’s education in Hyderabad, besides his other contributions in many fields, I have attempted to give a general overview of the condition of women in the erstwhile Hyderabad state and the various initiatives by the then Government of the Nizam and other notables towards the development of women in the state. I would like to begin this article by quoting select excerpts from the paper published in the Journal of History and Social Sciences (Vol.III,Issue-1, Jan-Jun 2012), which provides glimpses of the condition of women in the Hyderabad state in 19th and 20th centuries. Since the paper is quite long and exhaustive and covers the political history of the whole period from the Nizam Asif Jah-1 to the last Nizam, besides the details of the reform movements and the reformists during the period I had to edit and paraphrase many paragraphs for the sake of brevity as well as for purposes of maintaining continuity of the narrative and remaining true to the context.
The paper quotes a theorist [Minault, Gail. 1998] who said: “the practice of Pardah literally as well as figuratively” veils the Muslim woman. During the early years of the Nizams..’ rule, the practice of pardah was prevalent in every class of women; especially among the elite class where even their ‘mama’ (maid servant) wore pardah while going to the market.
When in 1853 Mir Turab Ali Khan Salarjung-I, was appointed as the Diwan of Hyderabad State, he introduced many reforms.. for the betterment of the state, marking the beginning of a new era of modernization in Hyderabad. It was in this period that the state’s education system was formed. There was no progress in women’s education until the coming of Salarjung-I. During this time Hyderabad state was transforming from medieval to a modern state.
The society started its move towards progress but there was no progress of women in general. Women, especially middle class women were still confined to the private sphere. They were solely dependent on the earnings of their husbands and the male members of their families.
At this time elite women were given formal education at their palaces and Deowdhies. But a middle class woman was taught household skills and got religious education. The significance of the period can be seen in the aspect that an enlightened outlook was developed towards women and their education. This period can be described as the background for the upcoming era of women’s emancipation in the history of Hyderabad state.
The New Zenana School, the first girl’s school in Hyderabad, later renamed The Mahbubia Girls School was established in 1907, primarily for Muslim girls belonging to elite families, under the patronage of Nawab Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, the 6th Nizam of Hyderabad.
An interesting account of the early period of Mehboobiya Girls School is quoted by the above study. “On the first day only four girls turned up, all between the ages of 6 to15 years. Six more girls arrived in the next few days and they arrived in school any time between 9am to 12 noon. Adequate steps however had to be taken by the school to provide pardah, make arrangements for the servants, and make arrangement for daily prayers. The Horse drawn carriages known as the Buggy ( light, four-wheel, one-horse, two-passenger carriage) would drive into the Pardah compound of the school, a Syce would get down from his box, leave the reins loose and hide behind the screen, the head Ayah would then open the door of the carriage, two ayahs would hold a screen between the carriage door and the entrance and only then would the girls get down followed by their own ayahs to disappear into the Pardah compound [Wyld, quoted in Hassan et.al., 2005, 113]. However through persistent efforts of the first principal, Mrs. Wyld, and some nobles the School had 100 students by 1919.
The period from 1884 – 1948 witnessed all round development of Hyderabad state, an enlightened outlook was developed towards the cause of women, which led to the progress of the women. Education brought in a new life to women, which in turn helped them to see the outside world with new eyes. Thus the new Hyderabadi women especially elite Muslim women were able to cross the boundaries between the private and public domain, contrary to Hyderabadi women of the early period. And by 1930’s there were 79 girls schools in Hyderabad and the Muslim students were twice the number of Hindu students. Twenty two percent of the girls in these schools were daughters of government officials.
Under such circumstances the educated elite Muslim women along with the support of few enlightened men stood for the education of middle class women in Hyderabad state. Some elite women formed into associations and propagated their ideas with the pen. They stood basically for the female education; they believed education could bring about a change for the better among women. In the 1880s the discussion on women’s education was only just the beginning, but this did not prevent Muhibb-e-Hussain and his magazine Mu’allim-e-Niswan, (Women’s Teacher) from taking up controversial topics for discussion, including the Pardah. Gail Minault notes that as a result of the editor’s outspoken opposition to Pardah, the magazine had to be closed down in 1901 [Gail Minault, 1998, 151]. After the closure of Mu’allim-e-Niswan, there was a gap of some years before women’s journals started appearing again. This time, the difference was that many of these journals were edited by women themselves.
Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan (1911-1948) was the last Nizam of the Asaf Jahi dynasty and last ruler of Hyderabad state. During his rule, with the spread of education, social reform came more quickly among the Muslim women. Like elsewhere, here too the men who were enlightened encouraged their women to read and write.
The Muslim social reform movement produced a number of husband-wife teams, who were both equally involved in raising questions related to the community and who served as models of social reform. There are a number of examples of journals for women started by these reformist couples.
Begum Sughra Humayun Mirza (1884-1958) was one of the important figures who worked for issues related to Muslim women’s education, situating this issue within the general matrix of the reform of the community. Begum Mirza served as the editor of many journals related to women. They include Annisa (The Woman) it appeared between 1919 and1927 but due to Sughra’s ill health and her European travels the publication stopped for a while and restarted after a break. During this period, Sughra Humayun Mirza also began publishing Zebunnisa (The “Beauty” or “Ornament” of Woman). She was quite prolific as far as literary output was concerned and had come out with works like Musheer-e-Niswan (Women’s Advisor, 1920), Mohini (‘Charming; Enchanting’, 1931), Safarnamah-e-Iraq (Travelogue of Iraq, 1915), Majmuah-yi-Nuhahjat (A Collection of Elegies,), Mukhtasar Halat Hazrat Bibi Fatima (A Short Life History of Hazrat Bibi Fatima, 1940) and Nasihat ke Moti: Majmuah-yi-Nasaeh (Pearls of Instructions: A Collection of Advice,1955) Most of them were written using her pen name “Haya.”
A reading of these journals gives us a very interesting insight into the then Hyderabadi society. The journals became a very important tool for propagating the idea of the “good woman.” This was also being continuously enforced through various institutions like the family, women’s associations, religion, etc. The good woman was supposed to be educated in affairs to do with the home, her children, Islam, and sometimes, on her special community identity, as a Deccani.
The story of these magazines is connected to the other reform activities at the all-India level. There were many women’s organizations, including Muslim Women’s Organization which was started during this period by various elite women, often under the influence of their husbands, who encouraged literacy among women.
Sughra HumayunMirza must have been influenced by Tayyaba Begum Khadieu Jung (1873-1921), a social reformer who was her contemporary. Sughra also frequently acknowledged her husband’s influence in her life choices. Annisa magazine’s audience was not limited to the Deccan region. It spread throughout the mainland of British India, which included Lahore, Delhi, Lucknow and Aligarh. Though announced as a women’s magazine, the intended readers (and sometimes writers) were also progressive men, who had to be converted to support issues related to women. The following couplet printed on the title page of most issues shows how the magazine saw itself:
Dakan mein is tarah taleem-e-niswan ki taraqqi ho;
Ke pardeh mein bhi har khatoon ho aflatoon-e-dauran.
Annisa had the subtitle Women’s and Girl’s Monthly Urdu Journal and had around forty pages in a standard issue. The usual fare included childcare, health and hygiene, cooking, home management, religious thoughts, recipes, discipline, travelogues, novels, poetry, biographies along with reformist and educational information. It shows the main agenda of the magazine was – women’s education.
The profusion of women’s journals edited by women themselves was already under way by the time Annisa appeared. For example, Humjoli (A Woman Friend), a magazine from Hyderabad, was edited by Sayyida Begum Khwishgi. Various organizations for Muslim women were also spreading throughout the country during the same time, and the magazine should be seen in this context. Very often, these journals served as mouthpieces for the organizations. An example of such an organization was the Anjuman-e-khavatin-e-Islam (Association of Muslim Women). A nuanced reading of these magazines suggests that there evolved a new language of patronage where women were active patrons.
The effort to build a modern identity is visible in the pages of the magazine. While the issue of women’s education assumed such importance perhaps because it stood for all reformist debates in a concentrated form. The building of the educated and “reformed” Muslim woman was seen as the most important step towards modernity.
Sughra Humayun Mirza, along with other women, had established schools for girls to apply her theories on women’s education. At least one piece in each issue of Annisa, catering to the Muslim community, emphasized the importance of education for Muslim women. The Safdariya School, the Urdu medium girls’ school started by Sughra Humayun Mirza in 1934, still exists in Humayun Nagar (the area named after Sughra’s father) in Hyderabad.
Therefore what we see through the 19th and the 20th century the women of Hyderabad state slowly coming into their own. Initially the reform was slow and the early women during the formative period had to face a lot of restrictions. However, through the 19th century with the period of reform setting in and women’s education becoming the focus, one could see that the ground was laid for the modernization not only of the state but of the women folk also.
I think the excerpts from the article as above have given the readers a better understanding of the issues connected with women’s education in Hyderabad.
Though all such positive developments with regard to the education of the girl child in Hyderabad since 1909 until after the Police Action in 1948 did improve the figures of the girls going to schools and colleges, there were many parents still in Hyderabad even as late as the early Seventies, who felt that the education of girls was a mere waste as they will go to their husbands house after marriage__ forgetting the fact that the girl’s education was like sowing the seed which gives rise to green, cheerful and full grown family plant or that today’s girl child will be the mother of tomorrow and as a mother, she can give her child a sound nursing and capable upbringing. A woman generally has the maximum impact on the social and economical decision making in the family. At micro level, an educated woman helps in making the whole family including the older family members, understand the values and importance of education, and at macro level, educated women add to the social and economical development of the nation and we cannot move forward leaving half of the population behind or when women move forward, they move with the family and take the world with them.__Apart from such misgivings and wrong notions among the parents, poverty and illiteracy among them was also a big reason for not sending the girls to schools and colleges. But things were being changed, though slowly, but gradually.
However it was Subedar Amir Ali Khan (1901- 1987), a very senior H.C.S. (Hyderabad Civil Service of the British Era) officer and a well known social reformer of Hyderabad who realized that more than the girls from the elite or even middle class families of Hyderabad, it were the poorer sections in the old city who needed educational attention and who would perhaps be convinced about the importance of girls education if they see a model in their neighborhood to slowly start emulating it.
Subedar Amir Ali Khan was a visionary who believed in doing rather than just visualizing and his natural insight and farsightedness convinced him that education was the best of all boons in the world for betterment of life here and the hereafter and the first such blessing that was endowed to humans was knowledge. And the very first revelation of the Quran ordered people to read, and to seek knowledge. He therefore decided to start a school for girls in Chanchalguda, one of the most economically disadvantaged localities of Hyderabad.
Many of the residents of the area in those days had no precedent of girls’ going to school and were not in a position to afford education especially of the girls. They couldn?t have sent them to girls schools in far off places like Chaderghat, Nampally or Mehboobiya at Gun foundry or afford uniforms. and school shoes for them even if they were willing to educate their daughters.
Subedar Amir Ali Khan set up an Educational “Anjuman-e-Latifiya Taleemi” society in the name of his mother and set up the School in the name of his wife, Rahmat Khatoon as the “Rahmatiya School” in 1960 in his own Mansion, where the poor residents could send their daughters without bothering about the uniforms. and school shoes, where the fee would be nominal (only in order to make them feel their responsibility). Subedar Amir Ali Khan had decided to make this school as an instrument of change in the society and did not want the fees and other costs of education to become an impediment for the economically distressed families of the vicinity and a good enough reason for them to avoid sending their daughters to the new school, he made the school almost free.
Since all of his daughters and the daughters of his brothers were highly educated with proper qualifications so instead of hiring qualified teachers from outside at higher salaries he made the educated women of his family take on the responsibility of teaching and management at the “Rahmatiya School” instead of taking up highly paying jobs as teachers and administrators in other Govt. and / or private schools. The girls and ladies of the family readily joined the school __at nominal salaries of less than a hundred or two hundred rupees which was meager by any standard even in those days__ not only as a social service but also for the opportunity they had to use their education in a school that was their own and was located just next door. The foremost purpose, mission and vision of this school was to embellish the girls of the vicinity with the ornament of education and to empower the girls/women to become self reliant. This farsighted and timely initiative by Subedar Saab, as he was fondly called by people who knew him personally made a great difference to the lives of thousands of girls from the narrow meandering lanes and by lanes of Chanchalguda and surrounding localities. Many of them wouldn?t have had the opportunities in their lives later on to pursue higher education in colleges and universities but for the almost free primary and secondary education made possible for them by Subedar Saab at the Rahmatiya Girls High School, which was just a walk able distance from their dilapidated mud walled and clay tile roofed homes and where they could go to school even in simple everyday home clothes often bare footed and the school would not only provide them education but would also give them free uniforms., books and even mid-day meals. Thousands of Rahmatiya alumnae have become teachers, lawyers, doctors and engineers besides becoming good housewives and ideal mothers. Hundreds of them have migrated to the USA, UK, Germany, Middle East and Australia.
The “Rahmatiya Girls High School” has been fulfilling its stated mission and purpose for the last 51 years and is growing from strength to strength. The School was recognized by the Government of Andhra Pradesh in 1964. From 1969 onwards the Urdu Medium “Rahmatiya Girls High School” began receiving Grant in Aid from the Govt. vide G.O. M.S. 232 Edn. Dtd.3/3/1968. And from 1979 onwards, the English Medium “Rahmatiya Upper Primary School” too began receiving the Grant in Aid from the Govt. vide G.O. M.S.208 Edn. Dtd.13/3/ 1980.
It is a major achievement, a matter of pride for the school and a proof of its best academic performance, especially when since 1985 the Govt. of A.P. had cancelled the grants of many private schools, that through G.O. M.S. 326, Dtd. 17/10/1989, the Govt. of A.P. extended retirement benefits and the scheme of pensions for life to the school staff of both the schools on par with those of Govt. schools, which enabled the retired teachers of these schools to draw pension and other retirement benefits for life from the Govt.
According to the school, the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh had sanctioned the posts of 27 teachers, one clerk and two ayahs for both the schools. From these posts 23 teachers have retired upon superannuation and at present only one president and one teacher retain their Govt. sanctioned posts. The school management is on a mission to run the school properly by appointing 18 teachers on their own. There seems to be an anomaly here, because once the Govt. creates a post in any recognized school or organization, it cannot expire or be abolished simply with the retirement of the incumbent. The SSC results have always remained better and the results this year in Urdu, Telugu, English and Science were 100%. And there seems to be no reason for the Govt. to abolish the sanctioned posts of teachers in a school that holds a recognition certificate until 1919. However that’s a moot point.
The differentiating feature of this school has been giving equal importance to Physical Training and Exercise along with Modern Education and Religious/Moral studies. Specialist lady teachers conduct basic training for each class. The school begins with a prayer in the assembly. The Mid-Day meal scheme of the Govt. is implemented in the school with teachers supervising the food distribution among the students. The Govt. of Andhra Pradesh has arranged free text books which are distributed among the students on time. The school also provides free uniforms to all the girls. Thus the parents have no difficulty in sending their daughter for study in this school. This is the school that has made excellent arrangements for the mental, physical and spiritual training which makes the Girls a better person. The proof of such a development of the girls is their becoming doctors and engineers, lawyers, scientists and many of them being appointed to high posts in India and abroad.
The services of late Subedar Amir Ali Khan, founder of this school who held the post of “Subedar” (which was equivalent to and even more powerful than the post of the Governor of a state today) during his service in the erstwhile Hyderabad state, were recognized and acknowledged by the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and the former Nayi Sarak (New Road) that runs from Malakpet junction to Chanchalguda, terminating at Dabirpura bridge has been officially named as ?Subedar Amir Ali Khan Road? in his honor. Thus a school that was founded by late Subedar Amir Ali Khan with a few students and which operated for many years without any rent from the premises of his own mansion, known as Rahmat Mansion, has grown from strength to strength over the last 51 years and has a present combined strength of 244 girl students in both media.
“I ask you all so earnestly to open girl’s schools in every village and try to uplift them. If the Conditions of women are raised, then their children will, by their noble actions, glorify the name of the Country.” Swami Vivekananda (1863?1902).
I do not know whether Subedar Saab was aware of this famous quote or not, but his acts and deeds and the results they produced particularly in the field of women’s education have proved the truth of the quote.
The success of the “Rahmatiya Girls High School” and Subedar Saab’s contribution to develop the Minhaj-ul-Sharqia Girls High School (Subedar Amir Ali Khan was the president of the Minhaj-ul-Sharqiyah Girls High School Committee) is remarkable. The Minhaj-ul-Sharqia Girls High School was then operating from a rented building in Chanchalguda and the land lords wanted the School to vacate the premises. It meant disrupting the education of the poor girls of the locality. Subedar Amir Ali Khan was instrumental in solving this problem through the magnanimous help of Princes Durru Shehwar, the daughter of the last Caliph Abdul Hameed of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish elder daughter in law of the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan and the school succeeded in obtaining a huge amount of money as donation from the “Princes Durru Shehwar Trust”. This donation was used for the purchase of a vacant piece of land that was near the existing school and building a new School building in its own premises. As a gesture of gratitude the Minhaj-ul-Sharqia Girls High School was renamed as Princes Durru Shehwar Girls High School and it is continuing to educate the girls of the area. The school later developed to become the Princes Durru Shehwar Junior College for women.
Subedar Amir Ali Khan was also the president of the famous Boys School, Ashraf-ul-Madaris. He also strongly promoted and helped the Khwaja High School in Gulbarga, while he was the Governor (Subedar) of Gulbarga.
These institutions created a mass awareness among the women of Hyderabad and dozens of Urdu and English medium girls schools and colleges have come up in the old city since then. The present situation according to the Rajinder Sachar Committee findings is that more Muslim parents want to send their children to mainstream schools today. The statistics do present a dismal picture: nationwide just 68 per cent of Muslim girls go to school, compared to 72 per cent Dalit girls and 80 per cent of the girls from other communities. Overall, 25 per cent of Muslim children in the age group of 6-14 have either never attended school or have dropped out. However, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, has started showing results. The strategies giving incentives and non-formal method of education suitable for children from deprived backgrounds seem to be working.
The sea of change that has taken place in the mindset of this minority Muslim community would have been unimaginable a few decades back but for the efforts and farsightedness of pioneers like Subedar Amir Ali Khan. Boys of poorer Muslim families start working when they are 10 years old but the girls are being educated, not so much to equip them to earn a living but to “open their eyes”. It has almost become a matter of family pride.
A study was commissioned recently by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD), as a step towards the preparation of a National Plan of Action for Advancement of Muslim Women’s Education in India for enhancing their participation in elementary and secondary education and in higher education especially in professional and technical education. The Study does confirm the overall educational backwardness of Muslims, more so of Muslim women and girls as noted by some previous large sample studies and surveys. The study notes that as usual the national aggregate picture hides more than what it reveals. India really lives at many levels and what determines the access and success of female education is the overall social and economic development of a region and the rural urban divide in every region, within all communities, all social groups and among women themselves. Minority-majority status does not really determine equitable access to education.
The Study has noted the extensive policy measures (the intentions!) for women and minorities, the institutional structures and dedicated national programs accompanied by budgetary allocations and official fiats. Time is perhaps ripe for the Civil Society, the Community leaders and women themselves to make use of the opportunities being offered. In the case of Muslims, particularly the girl child, the State is going flat out to enhance their access to education (the Supply side) but the Demand lever is still low and needs considerable effort for elevation.
And to improve the demand side, I believe that people with the vision, commitment and unceasing efforts of the likes of Subedar Amir Ali Khan are needed now, more than the period he represented.
“End”
