Education underwent radical reforms under Isma‘il Pasha, whose reign started in 1863 and lasted for sixteen years, supported by the firman awarding him the title of khedive, which he obtained in 1867. Egypt’s modernization movement was strengthened and its relations with the west were reinforced. The objective of the moves toward reform that took place during this period was the establishment of a ‘national’ system in education and the diffusion of the new schools to include all parts of the country, north and south, and not just Cairo and Alexandria, its largest cities. Turkish language and culture also had their role to play in these activities of expansion and development. In this manner, the teaching of Turkish was able to expand to a degree unprecedented in Egypt, being transplanted even to Sudan, which was then under Egyptian administration.
Under a statute known as the Statute of Rajab 1284 (October-November 1867), the new education system that the government was seeking to establish ruled that the military-oriented educational system that had existed at the time of Muhammad ‘Ali in the schools of a purely military coloring should be separated and attached to the War Office, while all other schools should be reorganized. As a result, all non-military schools in that period became the responsibility of the Ministry of Schools, with its two bureaus, one for Turkish, the other for Arabic.
Isma‘il Pasha’s education campaigns commenced with the re-inauguration, in 1863, of the elementary (mubtadayan) and preparatory (tajhiziya) schools of Cairo and Alexandria. In Cairo’s reactivated mubtadayan school, Turkish continued to be taught from 1864 until 1880, teaching being undertaken by between two and four of the following teachers: Ibrahim Mumtaz Effendi, Talib Effendi, Halil Kemal Effendi, Ahmed izzet Effendi, Mehmed Halim Effendi, Mustafa el-Murabit Effendi, Mehmed Vasfr Effendi, Mehmed §akir Effendi, Mahmud Hamdi Effendi, Ibrahim Refet Effendi, and Mehmed Fadil Effendi.33 Turkish was also taught in the primary section of the Alexandria school, the names of those who taught Turkish there between 1863 and 1882 being Omer Faik Effendi, Mustafa Hafiz Effendi, Hafiz Ali Turabi Effendi, Hasan Kani Effendi, Hasan §ukru Effendi, and Abdullah Saadeddin Effendi.34
In the wake of these education measures, a number of Turkish books were printed for use in this new stage. Thus ‘Ali Mubarak (1823-93), then director of public schools and Turkish-language teaching, ordered that new grammar books for teaching Turkish in schools be prepared according to modern principles, and Ibrahim Mumtaz Effendi and Mehmed Talib Effendi undertook the preparation of a Turkish textbook that was printed in 1869 under the title lr§ad-i mubtediydn der lugat-i Osmaniydn (Guidance for Beginners on the Language of the Ottomans).35
After this date, elementary schools were established in many regional district capitals in Egypt. We have little detailed information on the curricula taught previous to 1874; nevertheless, the draft law dated February 1855 prepared under Sa‘id Pasha and referred to above leads us to believe that Turkish was taught in these schools. Amin Sami Pasha, who grew up during this period and wrote the first history of education in Egypt, indicates that Turkish was taught five hours per week in the last two grades in these schools between 1863 and 1874.36
The new educational program prepared in 1874 (and which remained in effect until 1888) indicates that Turkish was present in the curriculum of the last two grades (six hours per week for third grade, three hours for fourth grade) in the schools that were established in Egypt’s major cities and district centers and known as district elementary (ibtida ’iya markaziya) schools, in which study lasted for four years.37 At the same time, however, the number of hours allocated for the teaching of western languages was at least twice that allocated for Turkish. It also appears that, under the new program, the government established four schools in each of Lower and Upper Egypt over and above those in Cairo and Alexandria. These new district schools were the Tanta, Banha, Rashid, and al-Fashn elementary schools and the al-Jiza, Asyut, Beni Soueif, and al-Minya elementary schools. The documentation available to us indicates that the names of the Turkish-language teachers in Asyut were Mehmed Fazil, ibrahim Refet, and Ahmed Sidki,38 while those in al-Minya were Hafiz Mehmed Ali, Huseyin Namik, Huseyin Yahya, and Murad Muhtar (who was simultaneously school principal);39 in Rashid the Turkish teacher was Ahmed Sidki.40 Turkish was taught by Mehmed §akir41 during the early years of the elementary school in the city of Mansura that Khedive Isma‘il had wanted to establish but was prevented from doing so by his dismissal; his plans were implemented in 1881 by his son Tawfiq Pasha.
The books used for teaching Turkish and Persian in these schools were the same as those customarily taught since the time of Muhammad ‘Ali and included such works as the llm-i hal (Catechism), el-Nuhbe (The Bouquet), and so forth.42
Girls' Schools
The establishment of schools for girls was an important link in the process of reactivation accomplished by the educational campaigns of the reign of Khedive Isma‘il. The first such school was that opened by Ce§m-i Afet Hanim, Khedive Isma‘il’s third wife, in 1873. The school was named Madrasat al-Suyufiya, after one of Cairo’s densely populated districts, or, alternatively, al-Madrasa al-Saniya (The Royal School). It offered a five-year program of instruction.43
The statute on education issued in 1874 mandated that girls who graduated from this school had the right to enter midwifery schools without taking an examination. The pupils studied religion, history, arithmetic, and geography, in addition to Arabic and Turkish. They also learned domestic management, sewing, and embroidery. Interestingly, embroidery was divided at the classroom level into European and Turkish sections. Turkish-language lessons at the school used the abovementioned el-Nuhbet el-zekiye (The Fragrant
Bouquet), which had been prepared by Morali Murad Muhtar, director of the Khedival Library in Cairo, for use in Egypt on modern principles that differed from those applied in the boys’ schools; the first printing was in 1873 and it was subsequently reprinted a number of times (1877, 1882-83, 1891-92). From 1876 on, girls studying at this school had the right to ask for piano lessons. In 1875, the teachers of Turkish language were Mehmed Fadil Effendi, Mustafa Effendi, and Yahya Effendi.
The second school for girls was the Madrasat al-Qirabiya, an initiative of the khedive’s second wife, who went by the name of Ortanca Hanim.44
World History
