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Patrons of education
Compared to the small community of Parsi-Zoroastrians, the number of educational institutions and endowments set up by them is very high........Manoj R Nair
The Grant Medical College and Sir JJ School of Art are a few examples of the contribution by Parsi-Zoroastrians to education in Mumbai.
A series of papers presented at a seminar organised by K R Cama Oriental Institute showed that their gift of educational institutions and endowments is quite out of proportion to their minuscule numbers. Medical colleges, technical institutes, research centres and schools offering special education - the contribution has been extraordinary. Professor Vispi Balaporia, former head of the English department at Jai Hind College, said that at least six families, including the Jeejeebhoys and Petits set aside large sums of money for the cause. “For such a small community, the contribution to learning is outstanding,” said Balaporia, who presented a paper on the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy family’s contribution to education in Mumbai and Pune. Balaporia said the community’s interest in learning could be traced to the fact that they were among the first in the country to embrace formal education. “Literacy was a given among Parsis and even a century ago, it was difficult to find a member of the community who was illiterate. My grandmother who was born in the late nineteenth century complained she could not read English because she had attended a Gujarati-medium school,” said Balaporia. Dr Abhidha Dhumatkar, lecturer in History at Sathaye College who wrote a paper on the community’s contribution to technical education, said they were among the first Indians to travel outside the country for trading. “Their contact with the outside world began earlier than other Indians. Many Parsi merchants travelled to China in the eighteenth century. They were also among the first Indians to interact with the British and borrow western models of education and business from them. For example, as early as the late eighteenth century, Ardeshir Cursetjee travelled to England and set up a foundry after coming back,” Dhumatkar said. Dhumatkar added that the community’s attitude towards charity ensured that educational institutions benefited from their philanthropy. “Even now, a Parsi would prefer to give a donation to a good organisation and not to a beggar.” Dr Aravind Ganachari, professor of history at the University of Mumbai wrote a paper on ‘Ushering India into Modernity and Nationhood: Parsis in the University of Mumbai’. He said Parsis had a clear idea of Mumbai as a model for the country. “They joined other merchant communities in demanding a university in the city. When the government was not very forthcoming, they were the first to come up with funds.” The university was established in 1887. When the then governor of Bombay Presidency bemoaned the lack of medical education facilities, Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy gave a donation to set up the Grant Medical College. Other institutions of higher learning set up with the help of donations from the community were Sydenham College, Institute of Science, University Department of Chemical Technology and VJTI. In many instances, they collaborated with other groups like the Hindus to set up organisations like the Students’ Literary and Scientific Society that established some of the first Marathi and Gujarati language schools in Mumbai. “They contributed to the setting up of a number of institutions in Mumbai. They gave the city the idea of a secular educational institution,” added Ganachari. Apart from educational institutions, the community also created educational funds like the Jamshetjee Nusserwanjee Tata Endowment that in its 117 years of existence has selected and put 4,124 graduates through higher studies. In the post-Independence decade, they helped set up premier institutions like Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, special schools like Helen Keller Institute for the Deaf and Deaf-Blind, Jai Vakeel School and Happy Home and School for the Blind. |
