People, by and large, give the credit of popularizing education in the state to Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah. However, this is far from reality. On the contrary, he closed down schools run by Jama’t-e-Islami in 1975 immediately after assuming power for the second time with Congress support whom he had called worms of the gutter a few years before the infamous Indra-Abdullah accord.
According to a rough estimate, more than 50,000 students suffered because of the ban.
In early 30s, Maharaja Hari Singh opened schools across the state. Education was made compulsory. This order was implemented in letter and spirit. Government officials would search for children and take them to the school. Late Muhammad Yusuf Khan of Balgarden narrated his story to this correspondent. He said : “I belonged to a family of weavers. A master craftsman in our locality taught me the art of weaving. But one day I was taken to the school by my scared parents. The school authorities gave me cloth for kameez-pyjama (shirt and trousers). I was also given one rupee to get it stitched. They also gave me books printed in England and a bundle of stationery items. Back home, my parents were delighted to see the cloth and the money I had brought. The books and stationery did not amuse them much.”
Khan later graduated from SP college and served the state government in various capacities. But for Maharaja Hari Singh’s Jabri (compulsory) schools Khan and an entire generation would have stayed illiterate.
Some people criticize Hari Singh for forcing the people to send their children to schools. However, a peep into history bails him out. Much before Hari Singh’s Jabri schools, Mirwaiz Yusuf shah also opened a school but it attracted a few people. This must be the reason behind Hari Singh’s idea of using force’, commented a retired educationist.
It is believed that Hari Singh was ridiculed during his visit to England for ruling illiterate people. It was in England, it is believed that he conceived the idea of Jabri schools. He got books printed in England and the stationary items would also come from there. It seems, after suffering humiliation in England, he wanted his subjects to read and write. Qudrutullah Shuhab writes in his Shuhab Nama: “When I secured first position in an essay competition, Maharaja Hari Singh invited me to his palace over a cup of tea.” The idea behind this invitation was to encourage him. Shuhab served government of Pakistan in a senior capacity till his retirement.