he Educational Movements in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with Special Refernce to Anjuman-i-Islahul Afaghina (1901-1947)

Abstract

Anjuman-i-islahul Afaghina was an educational, social, intellectual and political awakening movement often strived for the reformation of the Pakhtun society before partition. The educational services offered by the Anjuman contributed in quantity and quality to the disadvantaged Pakhtuns of the North West Frontier province, now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The literacy ratio of the province enhanced by 0.9 % between 1921 and 1931 after the establishment of the Anjuman-i- Islahul Afaghina in 1921, which was phenomenal at that time. The previous decade showed a decline in the literacy rate. Apart from its quantified goal, that it achieved, qualitative enrichment visualized in the form of creative learning. After the merge of the Anjuman in Khudai Khidmatgar movement in 1931 at its annual meeting, a new era of educational paradigm started in shape of education through non- formal mode. The Khudai Khidmatgar movement, innovative in approach, attained formidable success in educating the masses. Its awakening effort resulted in two consecutive wins for it in the general election of the province in 1937 and 1946. However, the regime foe, as usual, to its birth, de seated them twice. They, preliminary, were given ministries and not the government. The movement hosted a new theory of leadership attainable through training. Similar is the case with administration, management and supervision of an educational entity, to which ‘leadership training’ can add an organizational excellence. No doubt, the foe of the movement, the locals, and regimes across the Durand line, made extra ordinary barriers to it. However, the history upon the Pakhtuns, will preserve it, for the rest of the time. Its intellectual worth is sublime. The prose, poetry and other dictions of the Pashtu literature developed incredibly during the movement. The Pashtu drama, jingoistic poetry, poetic competitions, stage dramas, Azad Poems, trip writings and poetic associations, all have genetic roots in the movement. The Anjuman established more than 104 Azad schools in the entire province with some of them in tribal territories too. The number of students instructed from the schools was more than 9200, who was educated by more than 546 teachers. Half of the schools were forced to shut down, as a result of massive brutal treatment of the regime after the 1930 massacre of the Qissa Khwani Peshawar. The efforts, however, we’re not able to exhibit some of the schools in black and white, to the heritage of the history.