View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Knowledge Repository Open Network FEMALE EDUCATION IN RURAL KASHMIR: A HISTORICAL STUDY OF BLOCK PULWAMA (1947-2000) DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR FOR THE AWARD OF PRE-DOCTORAL DEGREE (M.Phil.) IN HISTORY By DILADAN MANZOOR UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF DR. MOHAMMAD YUSUF GANAI POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR HAZRATBAL SRINAGAR-190006 2011 POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR Hazratbal, Srinagar-190006 No. ………………..,……........... Dated: ………………………… Certificate This is to certify that the dissertation entitled “Female Education in Rural Kashmir: A Historical Study of Block Pulwama (1947-2000)” being submitted to the Department of History, University of Kashmir for the award of Master of Philosophy in History is a research work done by Diladan Manzoor under my supervision. To the best of my knowledge and belief, no part of this work has been submitted to this or any other University in India for award of M.Phil degree or any other degree. Prof. Mohammad Ashraf Wani Dr. Mohammad Yusuf Ganai (Head) (Supervisor) Department of History Department of History University of Kashmir University of Kashmir CONTENTS Chapter No. Title Page No. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT INTRODUCTION I-V 1 HISTORY OF FEMALE EDUCATION IN 1-28 KASHMIR: A SURVEY 2 FEMALE EDUCATION IN BLOCK 29-45 PULWAMA (HISTORY) 3 ROLE OF AGENCIES: PUBLIC AND 46-67 PRIVATE 4 ACHIEVEMENTS AND BOTTLENECKS 68-78 CONCLUSION 79-81 BIBLIOGRAPHY 82-96 APPENDICES I-XV Its their hopes that ……………………. I strive to achieve today…………………… and in their dreams lies my tomorrow Dedicated To my Beloved Parents Who devoted their entire life for my success and To My Teachers Who’s Untiring efforts Materialized this dream ACKNOWLEDGEMENT “What is important is to keep learning, to enjoy challenge, and to tolerate ambiguity. In the end there are no certain answers.” Above all, I owe my deep sense of gratitude to Almighty “Allah” the omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient for showing his blessings, mercy guidance without which this task would have remained mere dream. All is possible to him that believeth, who a definite goal has backed by the determination to achieve it, no matter what the odds or obstacles. The world will stand aside and let pass the man who knows where he is going and who strides majestically with steps firm and faith unshaken. Where there is will there is always a way, and an optimistic and enthusiastic heart will definitely find that way or make it. Diligence and moderation are best steps to climb to excellence and reach the top. The heavens donot send their rains in floods but in tiny drops. An individual is neither wise, nor rich, nor great at once. But by softly treading the path and firmly planting his steps, his climb will be certain and advance sure. It is wisely said that the climb to the top is not a walkover, but a walk- up. I seek Almighty by my imploring words to make my education journey awesome. To whom we call guide, which makes our reach vast and wide, my vocabulary cannot express and pen cannot outline in mere words, the thankfulness which I present as a wreath to my advisor Dr. Mohammad Yusuf Ganai. He stayed as a real gem in crown of my success and the festoon of this success goes wholly to him. Of course, he was source of my thought and force of my inspiration. I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity of ascribing my success to Prof. M.A. Wani, Head of the department with deep veneration and obligation from the core of my heart; I beseech the entire array of words of thanks to such a magnanimous personality. The stimulating discussions with him played a fundamental role in accomplishing this task. I feel much obliged to the other teachers of the department for their help and encouragement I have no words to thank Prof. Bashir Ahmad Khan, Prof. Parvez Ahmad and Dr. Farooq Fayaz for extending their useful suggestions. I extend my cordial thanks and express my indebtedness to my revered and great teacher Dr. Javeed-ul-Aziz for his appreciable directions, guidance and support, mature and precious advice. He was sedative in my confusion and fortified my plans to accomplish my work. I do not have words to express my feeling and whole hearted gratitude to Mr. Younis Rashid Shah (Ph.D scholar of our Department) for his help, guidance, keen interest and encouragement throughout the period of my study which is responsible for the accomplishment of this target. I feel ecstasy to memorize my teachers Mr. Nazir Ahmad Andrabi, Mr. Mysar Ahmad Wani, Dr. Altaf Hussain Parra, Mr. Manzoor Ahmad whose patronage infused innovative concepts of regularity and hardwork in me. I am also thankful to the staff of various libraries for their constant help and support. Miss Sameena, the department librarian deserves accolades for her support during the entire work. I am also thankful to Mrs. Shagufta, the librarian of State Archives for her help during the collection of data for my research. All prays to Almighty “Allah” whose mercifulness, benevolence and venerance gifted me the ever-caring father Mr. Manzoor Ahmad Wani and mother Arifa Jan, who always gave my efforts, necessary blessings, reciprocate my sincerity and loyalty prop my toppling faith and collapsing dreams, extend a selfless smile, feel my nerve, hold my hand, value my emotions and care my sentiments. I also highly appreciate my dear brother Zubair-ul-Islam who always boosted me with confidence, best wishes and helping me throughout my studies. What a cherished most, is the help, love and affection I got from my Grandparents, especially my grandmother Fatima, my cousin brothers and sisters (Shahnawaz, Wasim, Irfan, Haris, Suhaib, Faiq, Musa, Hatim, Nadeem, Naveed, Huma, Nidah, Huda, Mansha, Aadina, Aalima , Abeer, Anju, Ameera and Munnaza) and other relatives especially Mr. Fayaz Ahmad Parra in helping me tide over those moments of anxiety and despair and providing me extensive and continuous moral support during the study period. My heartfelt gratitude is extended to my friends, Saba, Rehana, Ishrat, Sameena, Jozy, Afshana and especially to Nelofar, Sadaf, Brijish, Sabina and Rahila for their affection, constant support and encouragement during the tenure of my work. It is great to put the names of research scholars of my department Mr. Danish, Mr. Iqbal and Mr. Sajad for their helpful support. A plethora of thanks are lesser to express my gratefulness to Virus Computer for their efforts in helping me with the mammoth task for typing and giving this work its final shape. Thanking each and every person soliciting their good wishes to my future. Diladan Manzoor Introduction omen are an integral part of the social structure throughout the world. WThey are the social conscience of a nation and their contribution to society and humanity is great. However, women constitute the target and the object of the masculine discourse and debate within which they (women) have been misrepresented and rolled out in metaphors or simply buried beneath carefully stylized figures. It was with the emergence of feminist movements that women’s cause came under serious attention and became a focal point of academic and other discussions and debates worldwide, aiming at the amelioration of their backward status to lend them dignity and self-respect. It is worth mentioning that education has largely been considered as an important instrument for bringing change in the socio-cultural and politico-economic position of women. Although the argument that ‘education in a colony is meant to control and not to change’ holds largely true when one analyses the trajectory of modern education in India under the colonial rule. However, the very fact that the education system of the land received tremendous overhauling during the colonial rule would be hard to ignore/underestimate. The British of course guided by their selfish motives, not only set up different education commissions and under took various administrative measures to spread modern education but also greatly emphasized upon the education of women so as to emancipate her. On the other hand along with the political and economic degeneration, education and education of women in particular was the main casualty under the rule of the local Rajas and Maharajas in the indirectly ruled areas in the British Indian Empire. It is particularly in this regard that the directly ruled areas under the British Indian Empire were far better than those which the British governed/ruled indirectly. Owing to the authoritative, sectarian and discriminatory rule of the Dogras the overall politico-economic and social condition of the people of Kashmir in pre-1947 period was highly ignoble. There was hardly any investment made by the state to develop the social and economic overheads. Nevertheless, it was the deliberate policy of the Dogra state to keep the ruled people entrenched in ignorance by not only controlling all the societal structures/ institutions meant for broadening the mental horizons of the people but also by discouraging any such external effort with a tendency to contribute to the emergence of political consciousness among the masses. The Dogra rulers accorded least importance to the development of education in the state and whatever little progress occurred in the domain of education in pre-1947 was result of the painstaking efforts of Christian missionaries in particular and various other local religious organizations viz., Anjuman-i- Nusratul Islam, Ahl-i-Hadith movement and Jamaat Islamia in general. In fact, education in Kashmir under the Dogras was an elite phenomenon and the overwhelming majority of the population merely battled for survival.