Structural Development of Hierarchical education and Social Stratification in the British Multan (1849-1920)

Abstract

Educational development in Multan during the British period is a
case study of Multan region and its educational growth under the
British imperial policies because the colonial policies were neither
uniform, nor preconceived and that they revolved over time. The
British imperial power used education as a passport for her
imperial rule, financial stability or western educational expansion
in formal ways. The decision to introduce modern education in
colonial Multan was a momentous step taken by the British Raj in
front of indigenous vernacular educational system where Persian,
Arabic or Sanskrit schools delivered education to the natives in the
indigenous languages. There was no conception of education as a
common form of training to be given to all alike because every
education in Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit or Gurumukhi delivered
with particular objectives. These all languages except Persian
which given for governmental services were delivered religious
type education and Madrasas, Maktabs, Patshalas and Gorokuls
used as institutions where gave this education but other disciplines
also taught as Logic, Arithmetic, Philosophy, Grammar and law
but without any particular or organized system of discipline. The
following topic demonstrates that how the actions of relatively
small number of colonial Europeans working within a complex
administrative framework retreated from such expensive and
imaginative educational policy making and how government
education soon became a town based system mostly for the
children of elites.