ملف ٧٠٥/١٩١٦ الجزء ٢ "انتفاضة عربية: التقارير العربية؛ تقارير السير م. سايكس" [ظ‎‎١‎٦‎٧] (٤٥٠/٣٣٢)

8
APPENDIX (B).
Educational Measures in the Occupied Territories of Lower Mesopotamia.
(By Miss Gertrude Bell.)
Prior to the British occupation there were in the Basra vilayet two Turkish
schools, one in Basra and one in the important suburb of ‘Ashar. The principal
language taught was Turkish, Arabic being only a secondary language. The schools
were very badly run and very expensive, head teachers receiving 150 rupees a month
for instruction of two hours a day. The teachers were of bad. moral character, and the
schools were hot-beds of vice, to which respectable Arabs hesitated to send their boys.
The buildings were insanitary and dirty. Apart from the Mullahs’ classes, which
taught only the knowledge of the Koran by rote, the total number of primary schools
in the existing primary classes was less than 500 for the whole vilayet. There is thus
no basis of primary education on which to found any form of middle or higher
education, nor are there any available primary school teachers of good character and
attainments, except two or three who are being turned out by the American Mission
School. It was obvious from the character of the Turkish schools that no attempt could
be made to maintain them or their staff.
There was, however, a pressing need for educational establishments; in the first
place because the Arab population was most anxious that the children should be given
the opportunity of learning English, mainly because that language would be essential to
a successful mercantile career ; and in the second place because it is of urgent necessity
to provide educated Arab youths to enter the Government service, which must otherwise
be filled by employes of a different race and language. It was therefore impossible to
delay opening new primary schools until the requisite number of efficient primary school
teachers of good family and moral character could be provided.
There were in Basra two foreign schools, the American Mission School in the
‘Ashar suburbs and the Carmelite Fathers’ School in Basra itself.
The American Mission School, presided over by the Bev. J. Van Ess, is the only
school in Basra giving secondary education. It is devoted almost exclusively to the
education of Arabs, no attempt at proselytising is made, and the only element of
missionary teaching is the reading of the Gospels, to which no exception has ever been
taken by the parents of Moslem children. The school contains 108 boys, including
secondary and primary classes, and is run on a grant from the American Mission,
supplemented by private subscriptions. To this school a grant-in-aid of 5,000 rupees
per annum has been made by the British Government, in return for which Mr. Van Ess
undertakes to provide for a normal class to teach methods of teaching, turning out three
first class primary school teachers a year. He will also provide for the increase which
he expects of ordinary secondary and primary scholars, sacrifice some of his most
promising teachers for two new primary schools to be started by the British Govern
ment, and give us to some extent the benefit of his supervision over them when first
set on foot. He welcomes Government inspection of his own school.
The following primary schools have been established under these auspices :—
1 . A school for boys in Basra.
2 . A school for girls in Basra directed by Mrs. Van Ess.
3 . A school in Abul Khasib, a town of 12,000 inhabitants on the right bank of
the Tigris below Basra. It possessed a school in Turkish times, and is
badly in need of one. The district is the richest on the Shatt-al-Arab.
4 . A school at Zubair. The demand here for facilities for learning English was
particularly insistent. The population is of a good type, the pure desert
Arab, with high standards and morals. The residents are many of them
men of force of character and wealth, and have great influence upon the
Arabs of the surrounding country. Men of this type have not hitherto
been anxious for Government service, nor is it desirable to encourage them
to look for it in the first instance. The people of Zubair are independent
men of commercial instinct who are chiefly interested in trade, and for
commercial purposes they are very anxious for education, especially for
English education. An English teacher is attached to this school.
On Mr. Van Ess’s advice it was agreed that the teaching given in these schools
should be on the group system, i.e., the pupils are not arranged in classes but in groups