Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) Biography

He was blessed with a long life and spent all his years for the advancement of a largely backward Muslims in the British-governed India by rejuvenating their thoughts and values and by lifting them from an all-consuming process of social degeneration. The goal of bringing a positive change both in the lives and the psyche of the Muslims that he had set himself to was fully accomplished through his works and deeds. As a result, Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) became an institution by himself. The name of this vast, prodigious personality, who lived long enough to drench him in the sunlight to an entire millennium, will be pronounced again and again generations after generations. This nation and its people will continue to be indebted to him many ways. Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) was born on Saturday in December 1873, in a village called Nalta, previously under Khulna and now under Satkhira district of Bangladesh. His father, Munshi Mohammad Mofijiuddin was a pious, wealthy and a generous man. His grandfather, Munshi Mohammad Danesh, was also a religious and affluent person.

Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) was his grandfather's only son's eldest issue. Therefore, from his very childhood, both his father and grandfather were very keen on providing his with a good an education. He started studying before he crossed the age of five. After completion of education in the elementary school, he was admitted to the Middle English School at Nalta. After a while, he was admitted in class IV (present equivalent of class VII) at the Takee Government High School, West Bengal. In the annual examination of Class III (presently, Class VIII) at this school, he stood first and as promoted to class II (now Class IX). At the end of the year, he got himself admitted to the LMS Institution (London Missionary School) in Calcutta in Class II. In 1890, Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) passed the Entrance (now the S.S.C) examination with distinction and was awarded a scholarship. He passed F.A (now H.S.C) from Hoogli College in 1892 and the B.A examination from the Presidency College in Calcutta in 1894. He obtained Master of Arts (M.A) degree in Philosophy from Calcutta University in 1895

After having had some experience in working as the Additional Deputy Inspector, he served as the Sub-inspector of Schools for six months. During this period, he had to inspect many schools.
On April 1, 1898, he gave up the job of the temporary Sub-inspector and joined the service permanently as Deputy Inspector. After that, he was posted as the Deputy Inspector in the relatively larger district of Bakherganj. He was appointed to the post by Director Martin. His office was in Barisal.
Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) spent the next seven years of his service life working in the post of Deputy Inspector. At this time, Director Martin recommended the names of 12 officials to the Government of Bengal for being absorbed from the Subordinate Education Service. The name of Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) was also among them and he was considered eligible by the Director. As a result, he became the first person to be absorbed from the inspecting line to the teaching line in the Provincial Service and was, consequently, appointed the Head Master of Rajshahi Collegiate School in 1904. During his working tenure there, he created a congenial atmosphere for the education of Muslim Students and removed the age-old hurdles that impaired their growth.
Rajshahi did not have a good madrasah or religious school for the Muslim students. The classes of the madrasah were held in a number of rooms of the college where light was very insufficient. Through acquisition of a vast area of land, Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) made provisions for the madrasha. In Rajshahi, during those days, no Muslim was found contesting for the post of Chairman of the District Board. It was through his initiative that Mohammed Emazuddin was elected the Chairman of the District Board for the very first time.
During one of his inspections to the Rajshahi Collegiate School, the then Director of the Department of Education for East Bengal and Assam, H Sharp expressed his total satisfaction at the work carried out by Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.). As recognition of his accomplishment, in 1907, he was appointed the Divisional Inspector for the Chittagong region. For long 17 years, he stayed in Chittagong and made considerable improvements in the field of education in this division.
Following some recommendations from H Sharp, huge financial allocations were made by the government for the advancement of education in East Bengal and Assam during this time. H Sharp was always confident about the competence, honesty and professional integrity of Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.). So, he was never miserly in sanctioning the financial budgets proposed by Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) for the development of education in the Chittagong Division. Being sanctioned enough money, he could take many positive steps for the qualitative and quantitative improvements of many impoverished sub-divisional schools in the region. His personal contribution in establishing and running the high schools in Feni, Chandpur, Brahmanbaria, Chittagong and Noakhali was enormous. The huge school in Sheoratoli near Chittagong City was built at his initiative. Besides, in many areas of the Chittagong division, he built a number of hostels both for the Hindu and the Muslim students. He also built many schools in the abandoned houses of the Zamindars or Landlords, in the month of June 1911; he was elected a Member of the Royal Society (MRSA) of London.
In 1912, the Delhi darbar or conference was held. In this conference, the King annulled the partition of East and West Bengal. As a result, for the next few years, he was appointed the Additional Inspector of Presidency. So, he left the Chittagong for Calcutta. Dr. Donne, who became the Director Later, was the Inspector during this period.
When Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) was serving in the Chittagong division, he was absorbed into the Indian Education Service (IES). After that, he was appointed the Assistant Director of Muslim Education in Bengal. He continued his service as Assistant Director for the next five years. In the undivided Bengal, no Indian had hitherto been appointed Assistant Director. And after his retirement, the post was filled by a British by the name of Mr. Botmali as no Indian after him was considered eligible for the post. In those days, two Assistant Directors were appointed to help the Director. But both had the same official status and remuneration ceilings. When the Division of Bengal was called off, the post of the Assistant Director was transferred to Calcutta. So, Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) also moved to Calcutta. For some time, he even held the current charge of the Director of the Department of Education in undivided Bengal. In 1929, at the age of 55, he retired from the government service. It also needs mentioning that he accomplished the Holy Hajj in 1920

1. During that time, there was the tradition of writing the names of the students in the examination papers. Many people believed that this open-identity went against the interests of a section of the students (due to communal reasons). For this reason, Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) went all out to introduce the system of writing the roll numbers of students instead of their names. This was first applied in the Honours and Masters examinations and later also followed in the Intermediate and Bachelors degree examinations of the time.

2. He elevated the standard of education in both the higher madrasah and secondary madrasah classes and created congenial atmosphere for the students to enter colleges and universities after completing the madrasah education.

3. During that time, he created posts for maulavis or Muslim religious teachers in all schools and colleges and eliminated the wage disparity between the Hindu pundits or priests and Muslim maulavis.

4. Urdu, during those days was not considered among the "classical languages". This created problems for the Urdu-speaking students in West Bengal. It was through his initiative that Urdu occupied the place of Sanskrit.

5. It was dint of his active initiative that the proposal for establishing a separate college exclusively for the Muslim students in Calcutta was approved. This gave birth to the Islamia College. The principal of Calcutta Madrasah Mr. Hurley was appointed the first Principal of the college.

6. He was instrumental in establishing many muktabs or elementary religious schools, madrasahs, Muslim high schools and it was for him that many Muslim teachers got their appointments. The Baker Hostel, Taylor Hostel, Karmichael Hostel, Moslem Institute etc., situated at the heart of Calcutta, hold evidence to his contribution.

7. The Fuller Hostel of Rajshahi is glowing witness to his immortal contributions. During the construction of this hostel for the Muslim students, he faced multifaceted obstacles. In spite of continuous hurdles set by the opposition and their negative remarks, such as, "why waste so much money to build a hostel in an earthquake-prone area like Rajshahi what is the use", he managed the required permission and funding form the British authorities to build the hostel.

8. He introduced an independent educational curriculum for the muktab students and made provisions so that Muslim students could study the books written by Muslim scholars. This created the opportunity for Muslim scholars to write textbooks and also improve the lot of the Muslim book-publishers. For the founding and survival of institutions like Makhdumi Library, Provincial Library and Islamia Library, he had enormous contributions.

9. In the schools and colleges, he readjusted the ration of stipends for the Muslim students and made provisions so that increasing number of poor but meritorious students could study free of cost. He also removed the hurdles faced by the Muslim students in receiving government fellowships to for higher learning in foreign countries.

10. It was through his initiative that the representative and membership of the Muslim community was ensured in the Textbook Committee. He also made some readjustments in the volume of representation by the Muslim examiners, in the number of Muslim inspection officials in the Department of Education, in the volume of Muslim students studying at the training college and also in the number of representation by Muslims in the managing committees of schools and colleges.

11. It was through his efforts that the New Scheme Madrasah, which introduced education in English side by side Arabic, was established. He also played a pioneering role in consolidating the status f Arabic as the "second language" in the high schools.

12. Some specialized schools and colleges were founded for the female Muslim students as a result of his personal initiative. He prepared congenial atmosphere for them to receive education and become complete human beings.

13. Besides, the Governor of undivided Bengal on June 30, 1914, through Resolution No. 2474, formed a high-level committee to propose recommendations for the improvement of three distinct streams of Muslim education. The Director of the Provincial Assembly was appointed the chairman of the committee. Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) was one of the leading members of the committee. The recommendations of this committee had a far-reaching impact on the development and progress of Muslim education.

14. In those days, Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) represented in all the committees and conferences relating to education in East Bengal either as member or in any other official capacities. When a furious debate took hold of the Legislative Assembly regarding the Medium of Education, the then Chief Secretary brought to the notice of the assembly, an article written in this regard by Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.).

15. He also had active contributions in the formation of Dhaka University. A major hue and cry was raised when the draft bill on Dhaka University was placed before the Senate and a special committee was formed later on to recommend on the issue. As an outstanding member of the committee, highlighting the need for such an institution, he recommended that the bill be passed.