Adil Najam
Thanks to the magic of internet search, our last ATP quiz was not difficult to decipher. Yes, it is Government College Lahore. The photograph was taken in December 1947 by LIFE magazine famous photographer Margaret Bourke-White, and is of freshmen students in a physics class. What made the picture interesting to me was that it was taken in 1947.
There is a whole series of photographs by Margaret Bourke-White of education in Pakistan, as witnessed by her camera lens in December 1947. The one of the left (above) is of the same class at Government College Lahore. The one on the right is of first graders in a school at Faizpur, near Lahore. They represent two faces of Pakistan’s “Class of 1947.”
In introducing the Quiz, I had hoped that we might get more detail on some of the people in the photograph or commentary on the fact that this was taken in 1947 itself. I hope we might get some of that discussion now. To aid this process, we present more photograph’s from Margaret Bourke-White’s collection on education in Pakistan.
All these photographs were taken in 1947. The ones in the block above include (L to R):
- Sind Moslem College, Karachi. Freshman English class. Note that this is co-educational, with girls sitting behind a partition (purdah) separating them from the boys.
- Village Elementary School, Fairpur, near Lahore. FIrst grade students studying under the open sky.
- Village Middle School, Burj Attari, near Lahore. Fifth and Sixth grade students studying in a joint class. Note the metal boxes in front of them.
- Home School, Burj Attari, near Lahore. Teachers tending First through Fourth grade girl students in a home school.
- Pakistani Women’s Education Conference, Karachi. A November 1947 educational conference on women’s education. Khadeeja Feroze Ud-din (2L), Deputy Directress of Public Instruction of West Punjab, in purdah.
In looking at all these different faces of Pakistan’s “Class of 1947”, what can we say about the Class of 1947? What was expected of it? What was delivered? What has changed? What has not? What was achieved? What lost?
It is appropriate that you highlight education since that has really been the thing that is cause of so many of our problems
What this shows is that our education system was and still is a divided system and that is really the problem.
How can you progress with a divided educational system
Nice answers, Qausain Ali.
I think the “Class of 1947” did as good a job as could be expected of them given how few resources they had and everything they were up against.
It was the later ‘classes’ of the 1950s and 1960s that have really failed Pakistan again and again and now the classes of 1970s and 1980s are doing no better.
What can we say about the Class of 1947?
Mashallah say sab dada, dadi or nana, nani ban gay hain or may be Par lag gaia ho…
What was expected of it?
to build Foundations for a new born Pakistan…
What was delivered?
Every thing they got … i think they delivered more then 100% of there capabilities.
What has changed?
Change was there own children who were failed to deliver what was expected from them, most probably the class of 60s or 70s …(hamaray dady log)
What has not?
Struggle… but what is lacking in us is passion that the class of 1947 have…
What was achieved?
Alhamdollilah! many things… (abhi yaad nahi a rahi)
What lost?
Values & hard work
(sir G itnay mushkil mushkil sawal na pocha karain:)
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Pakistan mera ISHQ hay!
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It would be great if you could get hold of some people who were in college/school in 1947 and ask them the questions you post. Kiya khooya, kiya paaya!
Amazing pictures.
What strikes me is that the ones from the village schools may well have been taken yesterday. Not much has changed. Yet, at another level, everything has changed