Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many smaller former British colonies such as India , Pakistan , parts of Africa , and elsewhere . Although the Brishters did not colonise the Valley of Kashmir directly , yet they came as missionaries and established hospitals, Churches and schools mostly in the vicinity of the main city of the valley known as Srinagar. Thus , English language was born and raised in England, journeyed with the East India company to India and arrived in the valley in the final quarter of the nineteenth century . The first English Medium school , Tyndale Biscoe School was opened by missionaries in 1876 CE at Lal chowk in the heart of Srinagar . J Hilton Knowles was the first principal of Tyndale Biscoe and he held the post from 1876 CE to 1880 CE . He also authored ' A dictionary of Kashmiri Proverbs and sayings (1880) ' and ' Folk-tales of Kashmir (1893) ' . Furthermore , Sir Walter Roper Lawrence was appointed as the settlement Commissioner for Jammu and Kashmir between 1889 and 1894 , during the rule of Maharaja Pratap Singh and he penned down the book ' The Valley of Kashmir ' in 1895 CE , which is known as the first encyclopedia of Kashmir written in English language . Another school where Kashmir people could attain modern education and learn English language was Saint Joseph school Baramulla established in 1903 . Among other famous English medium schools are : Mallinson Girls school [ Est 1912 ] , Presentation convent High school [ Est 1936 ] , Burn Hall [ Est 1956] , Muslim Educational institute pampore [1970] New Convent [1986] , Srinagar British school [1998] and Delhi Public school Srinagar [2003] . The truth is that modern education and English language reached kashmir in the final quarter of the nineteenth century with the efforts of Christian missionaries . They opened schools , hospitals and , of course , Churches in the valley , many of which are functional till date . There are approximately fifteen thousand schools across Jammu and Kashmir at present (year 2021) . Moreover , the first college that was established in Kashmir was Sri Pratap college Srinagar . It was founded in 1905 CE by Dr Annie Basant . The same college was bifurcated into Amar Singh college Srinagar and Sri Pratap college Srinagar in 1942 CE . Thanks to God Almighty, there are over 66 colleges in the valley now (year 2021) . The first university of the valley of Kashmir is ' The Kashmir University ' opened in 1948 . Its twin , 'The Jammu University ' was opened in 1969 . The Kashmir University has , at present , several campuses in various parts of the valley . Other universities that provide higher education at Kashmir are : SKUAST - Kashmir [ Est 1982] , IUST - Awantipora [2005] , Central University of Kashmir [2009] , Cluster university Srinagar [2016] , NIT Srinagar [1960] , GMC Srinagar [1959 ] etc . There are over a dozen of Universities functional in Kashmir now . There must be many more schools, colleges and universities in Kashmir providing technical, vocational and advanced education to the youth of Kashmir .

According to the 2011 census, the literacy rate in Jammu and Kashmir was 67.16%. The male literacy then was 76.75%, while female literacy was 56.43% . According to an estimate , about 5% of the people of Kashmir are able to speak English language fluently and about 20% of them read and understand easily books and newspapers written in easy English language . There are 171 newspapers [ Dailies, weeklies, fortnightlies ...] published in Jammu and Kashmir and most of them are published in English language . Among the nationally or internationally known kashmiri authors who write in English language are Aga Shahid Ali [ 1949-2001] , Hari Kunzru [ born in 1969 ], Basharat Pir [ born in 1977] , Mirza Waheed , Shahnaz Bashir , Shafi Ahmad , Nayeema Mehjoor , Zooni Chopra and over a dozen others . Sincerely speaking, the first English Medium schools were opened in Kashmir by foreigners . They also wrote the first books in English language about Kashmir. But , the people of Kashmir are now capable enough to write books in English language and run English medium schools .
Although the plant of English language was sown late in Kashmir , yet it is spreading its roots and branches around at an amazing pace . The day is not far when the books written by Kashmir's in English language will be available in the international market , the Kashmir-English literature will be taken seriously all over the world and English language will be the largest language in the valley of Kashmir. No hurdle is high enough to discourage the efficient leopards of the valley to get their due . It does not matter how much late they start to run , they finish all races before all . ( Continued)

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