Aruna Dey’s Memoirs: Education in East Pakistan

Well this was waiting for a long time, to capture some of my grandmother’s memoirs. Aruna Basu grew up in Colonial India and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and migrated to modern-India. She saw Colonial India’s independence and experienced the following partition process.

In this segment, I will specifically focus on her schooling, education, effect of partition and a very generic sense of how education would have been in 1940’s for a girl. She is 80+ now and there are may things she of course doesn’t remember, but here it goes!

There are a few repeated Bangla words like ‘moshai’ (gentleman), ‘chasi’ (farm laborer originating from the word ‘chash’), ‘dada’ (brother) and ‘pishi’ (paternal aunt). Since this entire piece is a translation, I hope not much is lost in the process.

In this time period, religious and caste tensions were at an all time high in the Indian sub continent. I have only written her accounts and happenings. Hurting sentiments is not anyone’s intention.

I have ended this article with my reflections and some questions which intrigue me.

The School & Students

I lived in a village named Raghunathpur. In those days there was nothing like any specific age to join school. I was enrolled in the school at the age of 5 years. It was called Boroechara Primary School, the only primary school in our village. It was around 1945 or 46.

It was like any usual government school with Head Master-moshai and some Master-mosais. Since it was a primary school, it had till class 7. Boys and girls were enrolled in the same school and studied together. To study further, students had to travel to a secondary school in the town.

Students were mostly boys. We had Muslim and Hindu boys. Quite a few Hindu girls were enrolled in school. Very rarely could you find a Muslim girl. I had a Muslim friend, Amina who used to stay opposite the school. Children from the Hindu Chasi families also attended school.

Chasi children were involved in field labor a lot and found it difficult to balance schooling. They would mostly drop out after primary as secondary school was a bit far away. There were exceptions of course like Mandal dada who completed secondary school and became a clerk.

We had a lot of respect for our master-moshais. We had some Hindu and some Muslim master-moshais and they were really good. Though they were commissioned by the government, student’s families would provide them with a small part of their harvest as a sign of respect. At times, families would even send master-moshais freshly caught fish!

We were mostly taught Bangla, math, history with a whole lot of dhara-path (recitation of numbers, rhymes and many more). Here is one:

Ek e chondro (One is a Moon)
Dui e pochko (Two parts of a month)
Teen e netro (Three eyes of Lord Shiva & Mother Kali)
Chaar e ved (Four Vedas)
Paach e pochobaan (Five Arrows of Love)
Choi e Ritu (Six Seasons of Indian Calendar)
Shaat sumodro (Seven Seas)
Aath Basu(Eight Elements)
Noi navgraha (Nine celestial objects)
Dosh dikh (Ten Directions)

Independence & East Pakistan

Colonial India gained independence in 1947 and we became a part of East Pakistan. Pakistan had declared itself as Muslim nation and we saw the effects within the next few months.

First the Hindu Master-mosais and headmaster-mosai were replaced with Muslim masters. Arabic and Koran reading became compulsory in school. Girls were forced to cover themselves.

This resulted in Hindu parents, out of sheer fear, pulling of their children from school. Girls especially were removed due to religious tensions. My parents pulled out both me and my younger brother. I was in Class 5.

Luckily for me, my father worked as an officer with a salary. He hired Master-mosai Upendranath Bhadurida, who had been previously fired from the school. He home-schooled me, my younger brother and neighboring kids. He taught us the same things the same school with a bit of English. I never understood English and I found it to be very confusing.

Master-moshai was now mostly paid in barter. Since most parents were mostly farmers or land owners, parents could mostly pay in terms of harvest of rice, mustard or vegetables. It had become very difficult for him.

He taught us for the next couple of years till we were adept with content of class 6 and 7. Master-moshai himself conducted our exams. That was the end of our primay schooling. Luckily for my brother, he was able to continue by going to secondary school in the town area.

I was not so lucky. There were always fears of religious violence against women. With no school education, my induction into ‘griha-karma’ (home-duties) started. These are basically tasks given by the women of the family so we would be obedient wives and care takers. My aunt cook and pishi (paternal aunt) taught me how to light fire and cook.

My father however really wanted me to study. Whenever he had time, he taught me and the girls in our family. We feared his dictation tests. His test would involve him reading from the newspaper and us writing the words. Every mistake was a hit from a belt! We feared this so much.

By this time, I used to read different kind of books and articles. My pishi was very involved in children’s reading and she taught us on how to read difficult books and texts. It was from her that we heard stories and went on to read some Bangla classic short stories and novels. This went on till 1958.

Modern-India

In 1958, due to growing religious tensions, we migrated to Kolkata, India. There too, I could not continue my studies due to the economical situation. We were all dependent on one earning member and only my brother continued this education. However, I continued to read Bengali articles, magazines and books whenever I got the chance.

This was small snippet of Aruna Basu Dey’s memoirs and her education. No prizes in guessing now that political and economic instability played a huge role in preventing her from attaining a formal education.

What I found particularly fascinating was the role of other well-read women in her family in helping her becoming an avid-reader. For a person who has only officially read up to class 5, she has quite a collection of Bangla novels, both contemporary and classic, with her.

The reference to ‘griha-karma’ took me back to the Indian history & education readings during college. In the modern society, the concept of ‘griha-karma’ may sound sexist, however, this was the most dominant view of women education in the early 19th century. In fact, girl children were enrolled in schools and universities the concept of ‘griha-karma’ in mind.

The reference to the “Chasi” community, I strongly suspect is based on caste. How was their education then, how is it now? Has it improved? She has given me some good home-work here.

Then of course is the dreaded topic of education in East Pakistan at that time. The rapid changes in the education system was shocking for me to hear. This actually motivates me to try to understand change in education systems in radicalized regions.

I intend to write more and post more of her memoirs. This includes her memories of Life in East Pakistan, Escape from East Pakistan to India and India under Indira Gandhi. Do leave some feedback!