1.

A Historical Investigation into the Growth and Development of Education in Tripura Nilanjan De

Abstract-Tripura is a small hilly state of northeastern region of India. Before it was amalgamated with India, it was a princely state. The rulers of Tripura wanted to modernize their state and hence they feel the necessity of modern education. In the year 1862, first time the step towards modern education was taken by establishing a school. From that time onwards, the journey of modern education was started and before Tripura became a full-fledged state on 1972, the growth and development of education in Tripura reached towards a satisfactory level. This writing is a historical investigation into the growth and development of education from the inception of modern education in Tripura from 1962 to 1971.

Keywords: princely state, immigrants, modernization, education.

I.

ripura though was an independent Princely State but from 18th century onwards, she began to lose her possession on her own territory. The rulers of Tripura were subdued by the Mughals in 1722 and were forced to cede the greater part of their plain territories known as 'Chakla Roshnabad' and pay tributes for the retention of the rest. Thus Tripura, so long a mighty kingdom covering a wide area, gently submerged into mere forgetfulness by turning itself into a mere province within the Mughal Empire. However, the British policy towards Tripura was to some extent different from the general feudatory policy of Mughal rule.

The English East India Company came to be in possession of Chakla Roshnabad under the grants from Nawab Mirzafar and Mirkasim, which was eventually included and confined in the Dewani, granted to the Company by the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam in 1765 A.D. Interestingly when the British came into contact with Tripura they found a peculiar form of Government as well as administration existing in Tripura. The whole territory of the state was divided into two parts -the hills and the plains. In the hill, the ruler was independent, but in the plains, which were known a 'Chakla Roshnabad', the ruler was mere a Zamindars under the Nawab of Bengal.

Therefore, during the colonial rule, Tripura remained divided into two parts -the hills -, which was Author: Assistant Professor, Department of History, Rabindrasadan Girls' College, Karimganj, Assam, India. e -mail: [email protected] commonly called by the British as 'Hill Tipperah' (after 1920 as Tripura) and the 'Chakla Roshnabad'. According to the Traverse Survey of the Survey Department, Chakla Roshnabad covers an area of 533.77 square miles (J.G. Cumming, December, 1996). The Zamindari of Chakla Roshnabad enclosed the vast areas of the districts of Tipperah (Comilla), Noakhali and Sylhet of the then Colonial Bengal (Government of Tripura, 1997).

Tripura continued to be a Princely State until it merged into the Union of India on 15th October, 1949. However, after the partition of India in 1947, the Zamindari of Chakla Roshnabad went into the hand of erstwhile East Pakistan and the land of Tripura was confined only in the hilly region. From the Independence of India and her partition (15 th August, 1947) to the amalgamation of Tripura with the Indian Union (15 th October, 1949) the period of two years were considered as the 'Period of Regency'.

The year 1947 is historically remarkable, not only from Indian perspective but from the viewpoint of Tripura too. India attained her independence in the year in lieu of partition, which was never enthusiastically accepted by the "nationalist" Indians. The long deserving independence never came to the Indians in a form of delight or pleasures rather it brought a nightmare for them in the form of 'partition', especially for the peoples of Punjab and Bengal. These two states of Independent India witnessed the worst effect of partition in the form of mass butchery of common people due to communal riots and refugee. However, the unfortunate event on the part of Tripura was that, though the state was an independent princely state, she had to face the adverse effect of partition of India in the form of displaced persons and refugee. Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur though decided to amalgamate Tripura with the Indian Union before her independence but even before her amalgamation (15th October 1949) Tripura had to face the adverse consequence of migration. These flows of immigrants increased during the 50s' and reached its zenith during the independence movement of Bangladesh in the year 1971 and which ultimately changed the demographic pattern of the state, as well as its resource use pattern.

In 19 th century when Bengal was flooded by the wave of modernization, the current of that wave also touched the shore of Tripura. The rulers of Tripura wanted to make their state a modern one and that initiative was first taken by Maharaja Birchandra Manikya. The process of transferring Tripura into a modern one was instigated by him from the year of 1862, by establishing the first school in Tripura for the common people. Hence, it become evident that the "modern educational system" was absent in Tripura before 1962.

It is evident from 'Rajmala' of Sri Kailashchandra Singha that, in 18 th century almost all the rulers of Tripura were illiterate and were totally dependent on the educated Bengali officials for running the administration of their state (Singha, 1390 Bangabda). It was after Maharaja Rajdhar Manikya education entered into the Royal house. The Royal members were trained in their palaces by the Bengali private tutors. However, to run their zamindari in Chakla Roshnabad and to make official correspondence with the colonial rulers of Bengal, the rulers of Tripura were totally depended on the knowledge and capacity of those educated, especially English educated Bengali people. But there was no sign of any development in the field of education before 1962.

Hence, the literacy rate of the state was also in its infant stage. Based on the Bengal Administration Report for the year 1874-75, it has been depicted in the "Tripura District Gazetteers", that in the year 1874-75 in Tripura there are about 103 boys undergoing instruction at the two existing schools in Tripura. In the next year, two more schools were opened and in all 173 boys were on the rolls but only one-half were regular in their attendance (Menon, 1975). In the year, 1879 there were about 25 nos. of schools in Tripura and it increased to 31 at the end of 1881. However, due to infrastructural penury and administrative negligence the number of schools came down to 27 in the next year (Menon, 1975). The educational structure of the state was so vicious that, "with the exception of the schools at the sub-divisions, all the rest are mere Pathshalas" (Report on the Administration of Bengal 1885-86, 1887). Up to 1889-90 mismanagement of schools continued.

However, during the year 1890-91 some arrangements for the betterment of educational institutions were made, which ultimately increased the number of schools from 16 to 19 (Menon, 1975) whereas, in the year 1885-86 only the numbers of Primary schools in Bengal were 50,703 (Report on the Administration of Bengal 1885-86, 1887). Source: (Government of Tripura, 2004) Table No.1 also depicts an interesting fact regarding the women education in Tripura. There was no trace of any female students during the period. Hence it can be assume that female education was not appreciated by the rulers of Tripura.

The Census Report of 1901 reveals that the educated people in Tripura were very few in number. In the year 1901 while the total numbers of aborigines were 91,679, the total numbers of literate aborigines were 258 (Table No. 2) and while during the year total population was 1, 73, 325, the total numbers of literates were 4274 (Table No. 3) i.e. only 2.47 percent (Choudhury, Re-Print 1995). Hence, the literacy rate in Tripura at the dawn of 20th century was very poor. The above tables also depict that, only 0.28% of the tribal population were educated and other than the aborigines, the people those who were educated were Bengalis. Now the question may arise who were those educated Bengalis in the tribal hilly state like Tripura? The answer is, they were invited, educated intellectuals of colonial Bengal. The progressive rulers of the state wanted to make their state modern and in this process of modernisation they invited educated intellectuals of colonial Bengal. Thus, a large numbers of educated intellectuals begin to immigrate into the State especially from Bengal. While, the total number of Bengali people living in Tripura in the year 1901 was 59,689 (Choudhury, Re-Print 1995), it was enumerated that 43,894 people migrated to Tripura (Choudhury, Re-Print 1995), though in the Imperial Gazetteers of India Vol. XIII the number of immigrants were 40,000 (The Imperial Gazetter of India Vol. XIII, 1908).

It is already mentioned that Maharaja Birchandra Manikya had instigated the process of modernisation, which was accordingly followed by the later progressive rulers of Tripura. Those progressive rulers of Tripura could realise that to run the administration and other services smoothly and also to satisfy the British requirements they had to depend on educated intelligentsia and the educated aborigines were only a few in number for the administrative machinery of the state. As those progressive rulers of Tripura had a deep attraction towards Bengal, they begin to invite those educated Bengali people into Tripura and provide them every facility.

In 1890, Rai Umakanta Das Bahadur was appointed as the Minister of Bir Chandra Manikhya. Babu Nilmani Das, one of the officers of the Government of Bengal, was appointed as the Diwan under the King. Babu Nilmani Das organized the revenue system and judicial administration of Tripura on the pattern of the system prevalent in the Bengal provinces. Rai Bahadur Mohini Mohan Bardhan compiled the Tenancy Act and laws for the protection of the properties of minors. Ishan Chandra Gupta, Dewan of Chakla Roshnabad, compiled the criminal and judicial laws. Therefore to modernize the administrative system, revenue, and judiciary etc. the ruler of Tripura was totally depended on the educated intelligentsia of British Bengal provinces. However, as the educated Bengali people from the adjoining territories immigrated into the state Tripura the educational scenario of the state began to change.

According to the Imperial Gazetteers of India, Vol. XIII, only 2.3 percent of the population could read and write and the number of pupils increased to 3125 (3008 boys and 117 girls) in the year 1903-04. The number of educational institution was 103 in Tripura (The Imperial Gazetter of India Vol. XIII, 1908). Accordingly, it became necessary for the rulers of Tripura to invite those educated immigrants to strengthen the weak educational institutions.

As the educated Bengali immigrants began to immigrate into Tripura, the number of literacy increased but the census report 1901 reveals that though the number of male literacy increased significantly, the female literacy growth rate was quite insignificant (Table No. 4). One of the reasons behind this insignificant growth rate of female literacy was that, during the period those who migrated from Bengal to Tripura were moved by the easy earning in Tripura. The officials, government employees, farmers and the working class came to Tripura for employment only, not with the intention of settling in the State permanently and therefore, they left their family members at home. The new comers do not at once entirely leave their residence in British territory, they keep their families and friends there, and make in Hill Tipperah only Khamar Baris or farmhouses in which they live for the purposes of carrying on their cultivation (Annual Report on the General Administration of the Political Agency of Hill Tippera for the year 1886, No-407, dated, 7 th July, 1887, para-34). For the first time one girls' school was opened within the campus of Imperial palace by the Queen Maharani Tulshibati. In 9 th April, 1894 the school with the name 'Agartala Balika Vidyalaya started her journey. The school was completely aided by the Queen's personal treasury. At first, only the girls from royal families got their education from the school but later, girls from various places took admission. However, if we see table no. 4 than it depicts that initially the school was unable to increase the number of female literacy in the state, though it was an outstanding effort on the way of women education in Tripura.

Conversely, the educated people those who migrated to Tripura from British Bengal were really in search of good jobs with respect and honour. In addition, the changing political scenario of Colonial India due to British Government repressive administrative policy, political mischief, freedom struggle and communal disturbances pushed the Bengali people to immigrate into the hilly princely state Tripura. If we follow the decadal variation of population in Tripura of the various census reports, than we find that, it was very high during the period from 1901 to 1949 (Table No (Debvarma, 1997). In addition, a large number of Bengali people from Assam immigrated into the state. Hence, the Bengali immigrants became huge factors behind the literacy growth rate of the state. Source: (Paul, 1964) In the year 1914-15, the numbers of schools increased to 154 and among them only 12 nos. of schools were made for the girls. Hence, though the number of male literacy increased in Tripura during the period the female literacy did not increase in the same proportion (Table No. 6). In addition, if we compare both the table no. 6 and 7, then we find that in 1918-19 the total literacy growth decreased though the numbers of administrative divisions in the state were increased. In both the tables, though we find that the number of schools for the girls remained same but the number of female students and their attendance were downwards in the later year. Source: (Government of Tripura, 2004) In the process of modernization, many schools including primary and secondary schools were established. In the year 1922 (1332 T.E.) the number of schools were 168 and among them 6 nos. were of Primary English schools, and 5 nos, of English High schools. In the next ten years 56 nos. of new schools were established and among those new schools, there were 6 nos. of English High schools and 2 nos. of Primary English Schools (Debvarma, 1997). A bold step had been taken by the royal administration in 1931-32 when compulsory primary education was introduced in Agartala, under the State Act 2 of 1932 and later it was decided to expand its scope upto the valley of Howrah and to the linked areas of the Sub-divisional town (Menon, 1975). However, prior to her merger with the Indian union, Tripura had no facilities within her boundary for imparting collegiate education. Source: (Menon, 1975) However, during that period, the numbers of primary schools increased and at the same time, the growth of literacy went upward. Therefore, as the numbers of schools were increased during the period, to run those schools it became necessary to provide sufficient number of educated teachers. However, the number of literates among the aborigines were very low. Large numbers of pupils belonged to Bengalis. It is evident from a data (Table no. 9) given by Thakur Sri Somendrachandra Debvarma that, except the Tripuris, very few numbers of tribal people went into the schooling system. Until the thirties of 20th century, the 'Thakur' families represented the educated section of the tribals (Bareh, 2007) Source: (Goswami, March, 2007) Thus, it is apparent that, it was not the aborigines of the state but the people those who were migrated were much more educated and the Bengalis were in the forefront of it. However, among the Bengalis the Hindu Bengali people were more literate than the Bengali Muslims. It was the reason that most of the Bengali Muslims those who have immigrated into the state from the adjoining territories of Tripura were not educated and they belong to a very lower stratum of the society. However, it should be mentioned here that in Tripura maximum of those Muslims were Bengali except few Manipuris. In the Census Report 1310 T.E. (1901 A.D.), it was stated that in 1901, 2,503 nos. of Hindu peoples were Bengali educated and 291 nos. of Hindu people were English educated in Tripura, while only 990 nos. of Muslim people were Bengali educated and 31 nos. of Muslim people were English educated (Choudhury, Re-print 1995). Again in the year 1931 while 3.5% of the Hindu people were literate, only 1.1% of Muslim population were literate in Tripura (Debvarma, 1997), and as the majority number of immigrants were Bengali, hence, the person those who were literate especially belong to the Bengali immigrants.

During the period the number of English educated people in Tripura were also increased (Table No. 12) and it was only due to the immigration of English educated peoples from Bengal to Tripura. Source: (Debvarma, Re-print 1997) In addition, it is evident that the Bengali Hindu people were much more English educated than the Bengali Muslim people in Tripura in the year 1931. In the state 0.8% of people were English educated and among them 0.14% of male and 0.1 % of female were English educated. Among the Muslims 0.4% of people and among the Hindus 0.9% of people were English educated. Among the male, 0.17% were Hindu and 0.7% were Muslim English educated people (Debvarma, 1997). Thus, we can affirm that the Bengali Hindu educated people migrated more than the Bengali Muslim educated people.

However, in the last half of Manikya rule in Tripura , the number of educated people increased in Tripura but unfortunately the female growth rate was quite insignificant (Table No 13) it is evident that the total literacy rate in Tripura was 7.9 percent in the year 1941. However, in 1951, the literacy was 15.5 percent and in the year 1971, it increased to 30.9 percent. The below table ( Hence, the number of literate persons increased in Tripura in the year 1951. Male literates are one in five and females as few as 1 in 21 only. The proportion of literacy is higher in urban areas (Vaghaiwalla, 1951). However, table no. 15 depicts an interesting facts that the proportionate female figures in the age group 5-14 are much higher than the corresponding male figures. It was probably due to the proportionate improvement in the female literate displaced persons from East Pakistan. Source: (Vaghaiwalla, 1951) It is also evident form the census report that the highest number of male literates (531) are in Class IV in the year 1951 and class VIII contains only 347 males. The report also reveals that Tripura enjoys only 20.8 percent male literacy among those aged 5 and upwards which is slighltly greater than that of Assam Hills Division of Manipur but if we consider literacy only among those aged 15 and up wards, Tripura with 13.9 percent comes off worse than even Manipur or Assam Hills (Vaghaiwalla, 1951).

However, the above table (Table No. 15) also depicts that Tripura gives a better showing in the field of male literacy between the age 5 to 14. Male literacy in the age group 5-14 is the highest in Tripura of all States. The number of literate males per 1,000 who are aged 5-14 was 69 in Tripura against 64 in Assam and 38 in Maipur. The female literacy is also better in Tripura especially between the age 5-9. But as the age increased the female literacy growth decreased in comparison to other states of north east India. It was probably due to the unwillingness and unenthusiastic attitude of the parents towards the higher education of the girls.

But it is also true that after her amalgamation until 1965, 3nos. of multipurpose Higher Secondary Schools, 7nos. of class X High Schools and 3nos. of Junior High Schools only for girl student along with a considerable numbers of co-educational schools were established. In the year, 1963-64 full-fledged Women's College was also established. Due to the growth of women literacy rate, women's participation in the Government and semi-Government institution increased.

Actually, a systemetic development of education in the territory was started after First Five Years Plan period and after that it obtained such an impetus year after year that the percentage of average of school going children increased. The below Table No. 16 depicts the clear picture of the above statement. Source: (Menon, 1975) According to Tripura District Gazetteers, 1975, by the end of the year 1964 there were altogether 1,333 primary schools including 600 Junior Basic Schools in this territory and of these 1,317 were under management of the administration and the rest under priate management. The total enrolment at the primary stage of all types of schools was 1, 15, 369, the number of girl students being 42,087 forming over 36 percent of the total. The total number of teachers was 3411 and of them 1072 happened to be trained (Menon, 1975).

It is evident from the table no. 14 that the number of educated person increased in the year 1961 and the total number of literates was 231,188 of which 1, 75060 were males and 56,128 females, the percertage being 20.2. According to the Census of 1951, while there are155 literates for every 1,000 of the population, in 1961 there are 202 literates for every 1,000 of the population. The sex ratio of literates were as follows: 296 out of every 1000 males and 102 out of every 1000 females were literate (Menon, 1975). The below table (No. 17 (Menon, 1975) As the year, passes by the literacy growth rate in Tripura began to increase and in the year 1971, 30.9 percent people of Tripura became literate. The below table no. 18 depicts that in the year 1971 both the rural as well as the urban areas of Tripura achieved a satisfactory digit of literacy. An interesting fact also revealed from this table that the number of rural literacy also increased significantly during the period. Source: (Bhattacharyya, 1974) During the 1971 Census, rural population of the State is returned to be 1,383,982 out of which altogether 1,015,833 are found to be illiterate i.e., the rate of literacy worked out to 27.13 percent (Bhattacharyya, 1973). The Census of India 1971 also revealed that the rate of literacy among the rural male population has increased from 26.38 to 36.43 and rural female literacy rate has increased from 7.16 to 17.27 percentage (Bhattacharyya, 1973). Hence, it become the established fact that during the period (1961 -1971) the rural literacy has improved significantly in Tripura. The below table no. 19 shows the absolute number of rural population of Tripura classified as illiterates and according to their educational level.

Source: (Bhattacharyya, 1973) The growth of literacy among the tribal population was inadequate. In the year 1961 while the total number of tribal population was 3,60,070, the total number of literate tribals were 36,059 (10.01%) and among them 31,996 were male literate tribals (17.37%) and 4,063 (2.31%) were female literate in Tripura (Census of India, 1961). The indirect cause behind this illiteracy among the tribals was the influx of Bengali immigrants into Tripura. The Bengali immigrants began to settle themselves in the plains as well as on the footsteps of the hills. As a result, the tribal peoples began to penetrate deep inside the hilly areas. Thus, they remain ignorant about the outside world. Only the tribes especially the Tripuris, Jamatias, Chakmas and Halams, those who were living in the urban areas or semi-urban areas are taking the advantages of modern educational system. According to the Census of India 1971, the tribal populations in the urban areas are very negligible. Hence, due to the low literacy rate among the rural tribals of Tripura, the social mobility in the rural and hilly areas became restricted.

In higher educational sector, especially in the collegiate education, Tripura was far behind than the other states of India. Before her amalgamation with the Indian Union there was no facilities within her borders for imperting collegiate education. But (Menon, 1975).

Together with the Government aided schools and colleges, a number of private schools began to emerge in the arena of education in Tripura. The educated displaced teachers from East Pakistan opened those private schools in Tripura, which were aided by the Relief and Rehabilitation Department of the administration and by the Education Department.

Hence, the image of modern Tripura, which was once dreamed by the rulers of the state, came into reality with the help of education and before Tripura was declared as a full-fledged state in the year 1972, there were remarkable advancement in the field of education. Now naturally a question arises that how this advancement is possible in this small hilly state like Tripura and answer is the huge number of immigrants especially the Bengali immigrants who immigrated into Tripura in the first three quarters of the 20th century.

Modern educated Bengali immigrants influenced the educational system of Tripura. It is evident that the literacy growth rates of Tripura from the year 1901 to 1941 was not very impressive in contrast to the number of the increased immigrants. It was due to the illiteracy of the local tribal people as well as the immigrant Bengali agriculturalists. Nevertheless, it is evident that in the last three consecutive census years of this study, the percentage of literacy rate in Tripura increased and ultimately crossed the growth rate of India. The reason behind this growth rate is that, after the partition of India, until the Bangladesh Liberation War, the period was full of political turmoil, hence, the influx was huge and those migrants belong from all stratum of the society.

The educated migrants increased the literacy growth rate of the state. Also due to the influx of displaced person, the population of Tripura increased, which ultimately paved the way to increase the number of educational institutions in the state. Before amalgamation, the Hindu Bengalis, those who immigrated into Tripura were engaged in the white colour jobs and business and thus concentrated in the urban areas while, the Muslim Bengali immigrants were poor, uneducated and thus concentrated themselves in the field of agriculture i.e. in the rural areas.

In the later phase of this study, also, it was observed that due to the influx of Hindu Bengali immigrants from erstwhile East Pakistan almost all the government and private jobs were occupied by them and thus the social-administrative structure of Tripura was completely dominated by the immigrant Bengalis. The rulers of Tripura for their own interests invited the educated Bengali immigrants to modernize the socioeconomic and administrative structure of the State. However, this in turn became a nightmare to the tribal aborigines of the state and they began to lose their status in their own state.

Hence, the aborigines of the state Tripura suffered a lot due to the immigration. The process of modernisation, which was started by the rulers, continued by the Government of Tripura with the help of the Central Government of India with a hope that it should provide benefits to the society. However, in Tripura, the fruits of modernisation were never tested and in fact never reached to every stratum of the society. The Bengali educated people with their advanced educational and scientific knowledge dominated the socio-economic structure of the state as a whole and on the tribal peoples of Tripura in particular. They got maximum opportunities in the Government jobs; they have their access of mobility and control the economy of the state. On the other hand, due to the lack of proper education and modern skill the aborigines of the state lost their social mobility.