Education of Muhammadans and Role of Press during First Half of 20thcentury In Bihar

Abstract

India is a land of diversity, a mosaic of many caste, communities, languages, religion and cultures. In British India the credit for the first step towards education in Muhammadans goes to Warren Hasting who founded a Madrasa in Culcutta in 1781 to promote and encourage the study of Arabic, Persian and Urdu languages. Until the first half of the 20 th century education in India amongst Muslims was imparted through the institutions of traditional learning like maktabs and madrasas where fundamental or elementary education was imparted. The present paper attempt to seek the development and progress of education amongst Muhammadan and tried to explore the role of press in the field of educating the people through disseminating information on various aspects. The paper mainly focused on the vernacular newspapers of Bihar where these newspapers not only ventilate the community’s grievances but it also appealed to the authorities to set apart funds for maktabs in every districts because it believed that Muhammadans suffered under various handicaps as result of their being in minority in the circle panchayat and local bodies. The Press also criticized the government for not doing enough for Muslim education.