Lahore was always a hub of education. After its annexure in 1849, the British surveyed the city for its educational institutions. It had 116 schools that taught Persian, 26 that taught Arabic, 44 Arabic and Persian, and 38 Hindi.

The mosques had always had madrassas. Very few used education to earn bread and butter. With the arrival of the British, government jobs were offered in various departments such as the railways, police and the armed forces. Cash paymets replaced the olden barter system. The locals needed to get education to become eligible for the new jobs.

Clerical jobs were for the locals only. The Englishmen were given higher posts with ‘European’ grades. These locals acted as a bridge between the rulers and the ruled.

During the East India Company’s rule, the British learnt Urdu, albeit in Roman script, at Fort Williams College, to interact with the locals. With the transfer of power to the Crown, after the failed War of Independence in 1857, knowledge of English language became necessary for securing higher jobs in the government sector. Technical skills and knowledge of different sciences too became useful. Many people were now seeking higher education from the UK and other parts of Europe and the Americas. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan also toured England. Later, he founded Aligarh. He always urged the Muslims to learn English language in order to compete with other people and acquire government jobs.

The new educational system was quite different from the madrassa-based teacher-pupil relationship. Many a prestigious school was founded for boys and girls; some had co-education.

The colleges were seen as finishing schools, and trained people in etiquette. The students would learn how to dress up and adopt fine table manners. They would also engage in literary discussions with their teachers.

Government College, Oriental College, Law College, Central Training College, Forman Christian College and King Edward Medical College were some of the leading educational institutions of the time. Chiefs College, or Aitchison, was founded for the children of the local royalty, while Mayo School grew out of the Railway Polytechnic School which imparted modern knowledge in metallurgy, wood-work, architecture, painting, product design, advertising and printing methods. Resultantly, many crafts were promoted and scientists and engineers of high calibre were produced.

Diyal Singh Majithia founded a college named after him, in 1910. He also provided a boys’ hostel on Empress Road which has now been converted into Haji Camp. He also started the daily Tribune whose building on Rattan Chand Road was later handed over to The Pakistan Times. (This evacuee property was recently demolished to build an ugly plaza).

Islamia College was founded on Railway Road by Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam. The Anjuman later founded a college for girls on Cooper Road. Kinnaird College was founded on Lake Road, near Chauburji, in 1912. The parents were encouraged to send their matriculate girls to this college. KC, thus, got its first batch of eight girls. Later, it was shifted to its current location on Jail Road.

KC’s first principal was an Irish lady, Miss Joan McDonald, who after retiring in1933 founded a co-educational school named after her at her residence on 47-Lower Mall.

In 1933, Mohammadan Anglo Oriental College (MAO) was established in Amritsar where the likes of Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Dr MD Taseer taught. After the Partition, 13 members of Anjuman-i-Punjab established MAO College in an evacuee property on the corner of Lower Mall and Sanda Road. The college accommodated students with lower merit also. A principal of the college once boasted that whereas GC recruited only candidates with highest merit, MAO produced graduates with highest marks.

Another remarkable institution was Oriental College where many local and foreign languages are taught. This scribe also took Italian language classes which were conducted by Dr RA Butler. Ashfaq Ahmad, who had taught Urdu at the University of Rome, was the external examiner.

Back then, Law College catered to the needs of the rural folk interested in pursuing the legal profession.

The University of the Punjab was founded in a room at Government College as an examining body. It was necessitated by the fact that till then the examination papers, set by the University of Calcutta, were dispatched here for marking. Today, many an old timer’s degree bears the signature of SP Singh, who was the registrar at the PU at the time.

Lahore College for Women was founded in 1922. By now there was a greater awareness among the girls, and they were beginning to take active part in the freedom movement.

Sir Ganga Ram offered his residence to build Hailey College on. It became a leading institute of banking and accounting.

In the newly built schools, colleges and universities, British bricks that measured 3x4.5x9 inches began to be used. The first time they were used was in the buildings of Aitchison, Mayo School and the PU. These buildings were designed in pre-electricity times, so these had natural ventilation and profuse sources of light. All their windows faced the north.

Many native rulers of different states also sponsored the educational institutes. For instance, Nawab of Bahawalpur built a huge portion of the PU, including its library. He also financed the main building of KEMC, imposing five domes of Quincunx style, derived from St Marks of Venice. The Patiala Block has a unique, white dome resting of pendentives.

The Arya Samaj movement too patronised education by building many schools and hostels whose names were changed after the Partition. Thus, Lahore came to be the city with most educational institutions attracting the young. Consequently, a number of printing presses and publishing houses were set up here.

(This dispatch is dedicated to Abdul Qayyum alias Jojo)

The writer is a painter, a founding member of Lahore Conservation Society and Punjab Artists Association, and a former director of NCA Art Gallery. He can be reached at ajazart@brain.net.pk