Main articles: Education in Bihar and Literacy in Bihar
Historically, Bihar has been a major centre of learning, home to the ancient universities ofNalanda (established in 450 CE), Odantapurā (established in 550CE) and Vikramshila (established in 783 AD).[88] Unfortunately, that tradition of learning which had its origin from the time of Buddha or perhaps earlier, was lost during the medieval period when it is believed that marauding armies of the Muslim invaders from the Middle East destroyed these centers of learning.[89] The current state of education and research is not satisfactory though the current state government claims big achievements in school education.
Bihar saw a revival of its education system during the later part of the British rule when they established Patna University (established in 1917) which is the seventh oldest university of the Indian subcontinent.[90] Some other centers of high learning established by the British rule are Patna College (established in 1839), Bihar School of Engineering (established in 1900; now known as National Institute of Technology, Patna), Prince of Wales Medical College (1925; now Patna Medical College and Hospital), Science College, Patna (1928) among others.
After independence Bihar lost the pace in terms of establishing a centre of education. Modern Bihar has a grossly inadequate educational infrastructure creating a huge mismatch between demand and supply. This problem further gets compounded by the growing aspirations of the people and an increase in population. The craving for higher education among the general population of Bihar has led to a massive migration of the student community from the state.
| Year | Total | Males | Females |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | 21.95 | 35.85 | 8.11 |
| 1971 | 23.17 | 35.86 | 9.86 |
| 1981 | 32.32 | 47.11 | 16.61 |
| 1991 | 37.49 | 51.37 | 21.99 |
| 2001 | 47.53 | 60.32 | 33.57 |
| 2011 | 63.82 | 73.39 | 53.33 |
Bihar, with female literacy at 53.3%, is striving to climb as the government has established educational institutions. At the time of independence, women's literacy in Bihar was 4.22%. Bihar has a National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Patna and an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Patna. A recent survey by Pratham[92] rated the absorption of their teaching by the Bihar children better than those in other states.
As on date, there are six engineering colleges for boys and one for girls in public sector and nine others in the private sector in Bihar. The overall annual intake of these technical institutes offering engineering education to students in Bihar is merely 4,559. As it is, the seventh engineering college of the state government would start its first session from July 2012 at Chhapra, while the process to create infrastructure for three new engineering colleges — one each at Madhepura, Begusarai and Sitamarhi — has started.[93]
Bihar established several new education institutes between 2006 and 2008. BIT Mesra started its Patna extension center in September 2006. On 8 August 2008, IIT was inaugurated in Patna with students from all over India.[94] NSIT opened its new college in Bihta, which is now emerging as a new education hub in Bihar, in 2008.[95][96] MIT, Muzaffarpur (1954) is also a prominent engineering college in Bihar.[97] National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER)[98] is being set up in Hajipur. On 4 August 2008,National Institute of Fashion Technology Patna was established as ninth such institute in India.[99] Chanakya National Law University a law university and Chandragupt Institute of Management was established in later half of 2008. Steps to revive the ancient Nalanda University as Nalanda International University is being taken; countries like Japan, Korea and China have also taken initiatives. The Aryabhatt Knowledge University in Patna is framed to which all the engineering as well medical colleges are affiliated in Bihar. The A.N. Sinha Institute[100] of Social Studies is a premier research institute in the state.
Bihar is pioneer in the field of yoga with its internationally renowned institute Bihar School of Yoga in Munger.
Bihar e-Governance Services & Technologies (BeST) and the Government of Bihar have initiated a unique program to establish a center of excellence called Bihar Knowledge Center, a finishing school to equip students with the latest skills and customized short-term training programs at an affordable cost. The center aims to attract every youth of the state to hone up their technical, professional and soft skills and prepare them for the present industry requirement/job market.[101]
Bihar also has Central Institute of Plastic Engineering & Technology(CIPET) and Institute of Hotel Management(a Central govt Unit) in Hajipur.
[edit]Culture
Main article: Culture of Bihar
[edit]Language and literature
Main articles: Languages in Bihar and Literature in Bihar
See also: Angika, Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Maithili language, Magadhi Prakrit, Hindi in Bihar, and Urdu Language in Bihar
Hindi and Urdu are the official languages of the state (recently Maithili is also included as one of the official languages of the state, although the usage of the language for official purposes is negligible), while the majority of the people speak one of the Bihari languages– Maithili, Angika, Magadhi or Bhojpuri . Presently Bihari languages are considered one of the five subgroups of Hindi; however, Maithiliwas declared a separate language. However, these are considered to be derived from the language of the erstwhile Magadha state –Magadhi Prakrit, along with Bengali, Assamese, and Oriya. Bihari Hindi, a slang form of Standard Hindi, is used as a lingua franca and many speak it as their first language throughout the state. A small minority also speak Bengali, mainly in big districts or along the border area with West Bengal. Many Bengali speakers are people from West Bengal or Hindu people from erstwhile East Pakistan who immigrated during the Partition of India in 1947. Though Urdu and Bihari languages may relate to each other, however they are different in many ways. Few words in Bihari language sounds same as they are spoken in Urdu; e.g. Sulf-nazuk in Bihari is Sinf-e-Nazuk in Urdu. Also, masculine and feminine words are often not clear in Bihari language as these are in Urdu.
In spite of the large number of speakers of Bihari languages, they have not been constitutionally recognized in India. Hindi is the language used for educational and official matters in Bihar.[102] These languages were legally absorbed under the subordinate label of 'HINDI' in the 1961 Census. Such state and national politics have created conditions for language endangerment.[103]
The first success for spreading Hindi occurred in Bihar in 1881, when Hindi displaced Urdu as the sole official language of the province and became the first state of India to adopt Hindi. In this struggle between competing Hindi and Urdu, the potential claims of the three large mother tongues in the region – Magahi, Bhojpuri and Maithili were ignored. After independence Hindi was again given the sole official status through the Bihar Official Language Act, 1950.[104] Urdu became the second official language in the undivided State of Bihar on 16 August 1989.
The relationship of Maithili community with Bhojpuri and Magahi communities – the immediate neighbors have been neither very pleasant nor very hostile. Maithili has been the only one among them which has been trying to constantly deny superimposition of Hindi over her identity. As of now Maithili is a separate language that uses Devanagari as the writing script rather than its own scriptMithilakshar due to lack of the development of the printing press and also due to ignorance. The other two have given up their claims and have resigned to accept the status of dialects of Hindi.
Bihar has produced a number of writers and scholars, including Mahamahopadhyaya Pandit Ram Avatar Sharma, Dr. Bhagwati Sharan Mishra, R. K. Sinha, Raja Radhika Raman Singh, Shiva Pujan Sahay, Divakar Prasad Vidyarthy, Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar', Ram Briksh Benipuri, Phanishwar Nath 'Renu', Pandit Nalin Vilochan Sharma, Gopal Singh "Nepali", Baba Nagarjun, Mridula Sinha, and Pankaj Rag. Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan, the great writer and Buddhist scholar, was born in U.P. but spent his life in the land of Lord Buddha, i.e., Bihar. Hrishikesh Sulabh the short story writer, playwright and theatre critic and novelist Anurag Anand are some of the prominent authors of the current age to have emerged from Bihar. One of Anurag's better known works, The Legend of Amrapali[105] is based around the life of the yesteryear courtesan from the kingdom of Vaishali which had its nerve center in areas that now fall within the boundaries of Bihar state. Arun Kamal and Aalok Dhanwa are the well-known poets. Different regional languages also have produced some prominent poets and authors. Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay, who is among the greatest writers in Bengali, resided for some time in Bihar. Of late, the latest Indian writer in English, Upamanyu Chatterjee also hails from Patna in Bihar. Devaki Nandan Khatri, who rose to fame at the beginning of the 20th century on account of his novels such as Chandrakanta and Chandrakanta Santati, was born in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Vidyapati Thakur is the most renowned poet of Maithili (c. 14–15th century).
Interestingly, the first Indian author in English was a Bihari, Deen Mohammad. Among the contemporary writers in English Amitava Kumar, Tabish Khair, Birbal Jha and Siddharth Choudhary are important names. Siddharth Choudhary has been shortlisted for 2009Man Asian Literary Prize for his book Day Scholar. Bihar has also made important contributions to Urdu literature. Famous Urdu writersSyed Sulaiman Nadvi, Manazir Ahsan Gilani, Jabir Husain, Hussain Ul Haque; Eminent Writer, Critic, Bibliographist, Linguist & Scholar of Urdu language Abdul Qavi Desnavi; Eminent Poets Shad Azimabadai, Nasikh, Jamil Mazhari, Mazhar Imam, Suhail Azimabadi; Short story writers Akhtar Orenivi, Shaukat Hayat, Shamoel Ahmed; and Paigham Afaqui (novel Makaan), Abdus Samad (novel Do Gaz Zameen), Husainul Haque (novel Farat), Ilyas Ahmed Gaddi (novel Fire Area) enjoy special place in global literature.
The literary and cultural movement Bhookhi Peedhi, or 'Hungry generation', was launched from Bihar's capital in November 1961 by two brothers, Samir Roychoudhury and Malay Roy Choudhury. The movement impacted most of the Indian languages of the time.
Urdu is second government language in Bihar which is the mother tongue of Muslims who form about 17% of state's population. Near 25% people in Bihar read and write Urdu. Bihar has produced many Urdu scholars, such as Shaad Azimabadi, Jamil Maz'hari, Khuda Baksh Khan, Maulana Shabnam Kamali, Bismil Azimabadi (poet known for the patriotic ghazal "Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai"), Kaif Azimabadi, Rasikh Azimabadi, and in these days, Kalim Aajiz.
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