MISS FITZE AND MISS MALLINSON:: PIONEERS OF GIRLS EDUCATION IN KASHMIR

                                                             

MISSION  SCHOOLS   FOR  GIRLS IN  SRINAGAR

“O Jenaab idhar se kidhar gustaa hai . Idhar Parvez Sameul Kaul Sahib nahin hai. Woh baahar gayaa hotaa hai. Aaj school bandh hai.    ” said the gate keeper when I entered the Mallinson Girls School from Amirakadal side or from the main gate of CMS Tyndale Biscoe School . For going to Mallinson Girls School , I had surely to enter  from the Forest lane Gate .

And now something about this school that pioneered female education in Kashmir .

Credit for promoting female education in Kashmir should go only to missionary ladies like Miss Violet  Fitze  ( She started first Girl’s Primary School at Fateh Kadal in Srinagar city in 1912  although the missionaries had started educating girls in a small two-room school opened at Fateh Kadal in 1895) and Miss Mallinson who joined this school in 1922 as principal and served till 1962. Miss Mallinson  left Kashmir  in 1966 or  1967 and went back to London. In fact she was more familiar in Kashmir  as most of her Girl  students rose to key Positions in different walks of life. She was tall, graceful and could speak fluent Kashmiri.  She returned to Kashmir on a private  visit in 1973 . During this visit ,  she   was  publicly felicitated By Miss Mehmooda Ahmed Ali Shah,  her student and the then principal Women's College , Maulana Azad Road, Srinagar.
                                                                      

            ( Miss Mallinson.. Photo Source Mrs. Nusrat Andrabi )

                              Long back i was informed by an elderly Kashmiri Pandit from Fateh Kadal locality that Both Pandits and Muslims in Kashmir had opposed  modern female rducation initially. The  missionary ladies faced many difficulties in spreading girl education in Orthodox Kashmiri society . One particular incident that he talked about is worth mentioning over here .

                                       

                            When the missionaries found that rolls were not picking up in the Girls School, they decided to invite some European ladies as guests for a prize distribution function inside the two room school at  Fateh kadal  , Srinagar thinking that this shall encourage more girls to come to the school. When the guests arrived , a shopkeeper outside the school shouted in chaste Kashmiri that Englishmen had come to kidnap Kashmiri girls . Hearing this the people from the locality assembled outside the school building and advised the girls to run for safety by jumping from the windows .When the guests entered ,they found no student in the school.

                                       

                                                       ( Old School Building ) 

( My  Thanks to Publishers of the  Book “Kashmir  in  sunlight and shade “ for this photograph  showing  Jhelum Ghaat near  C M S Girls school at Fateh Kadal  Srinagar  )

Miss Mallinson was always seen on her bicycle in Srinagar city . Sometimes purchasing groceries from the Bazaar , Sometimes visiting her sick students and sometimes addressing groups of women about hygiene and cleanliness. She was always busy and thoughtful about how best she could contribute to spreading education amongst girls in Kashmir. She stayed at Sheikh Bagh where she would be seen washing clothes, cleaning her room and cooking her own food. She is reported to have personally visited most of the localities in the downtown area and addressed women against child marriage and superstitions. And she is singularly responsible for introducing swimming, dancing and mountaineering in the Mission School and taking the girls out for camping and trekking something unusual and daring during those days . In 1938 and 1940,  Kashmiri girls scaled Mahadev peak ( 13000 feet ) under her guidance only. All credit goes to this pious lady for adding a large number of educated women to Kashmiri society. Fateh Kadal school finally shifted to Sheikh Bagh in 1962 and is presently known as the  Mallinson Girls School.

Miss Mallinson had told her close friends that after her death her skeletal remains should go to the school laboratory . She would often say

“ My dear girls ,may you learn more from me when I am no more .My bones are meant to teach you physiology ”

And this pious lady died in June 1984. Can we emulate her ? Not so easy because urdu poet  Dr.Kaleem Ajiz  from Patna writes ….

Ishq har shakhs ke buss kaa nahin Pyaaray Jaao

Yeh samandhar hai Kinaaray hi Kinaaray Jaao

Yuun To Maqtal Mein Tamaashaai Bahut Aatein hain

Aao Uss waqt ki jiss waqt Pukaaray Jaao.

Koyee Rastaa koyee Manzil ussay Dushwaar nahin

Jiss jagah Jaao Mohabbat Ke sahaaray Jaao

 ( Avtar Mota )

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