By Sandra Ramsdam
Thomas Jones Day would simply be a holiday and anglers’ chance to have a day off beside fish ponds, if we fail to recognize the huge contributions made by Rev. Thomas Jones I, 185 years back. June 22,1841 was a historic day not just for the Presbyterian Church in the Khasi and Jaintia hills, but for the whole Khasi and Jaintia tribe and for the whole of Meghalaya. For what could a people do without a written script? Not only that the Alphabets gave us the Word, but that it has shaped and reformed the lives of millions of Khasis today.
The pioneer teachers reported how they would woo the enthusiastic children into the learning fold, but how terrified those simple faces would be that they even jumped out of the windows when they saw a roosters’ feather used as pen for writing! For that was seen as a sacrilege in the Khasi faith. But painstakingly, the missionary-teachers would draw the shapes of the Alphabets and pronounce the phonetic sounds to create cognition and enthusiasm. They would write the names of the learners and mouth the sound of their names which instinctively drew the learners’ attention to the beauty of a name in written form.
From the birth of the Khasi Alphabets, the Khasi-Jaintia tribe has come a long way to earn a place in this diverse country, India. Not forgetting that women had a larger role to play in steering forward a tribe that may seem to be a haven for women because of its matrilineal system, notwithstanding the ubiquitous patriarchal mindset in many formidable ways. From a woman’s perspective, sometimes, we would ask, what is there that a woman cannot do what a man can do, now? Yet, 100 years ago among the Khasi-Jaintia and Garo tribes, it was unthinkable that a woman could have her own job, or manage her own affairs. In a culture where all decision-making rests on a male- dominated society, a woman was only expected to bear children, cook food and perform all the domestic duties. Stepping beyond that would be a taboo. However, the alphabets A, B, K, D did not fail to mesmerize the Khasi lasses. History has it that when the missionaries started teaching in the schools, there were a few curious girls who wanted to get a hand with what was called ‘pule bad thoh’. Stepping out of the threshold other than family duties was considered blatant disobedience. Worse still, going to a white man’s house and sitting next to the boys, was viewed with spite and disgust. How much rantings and arguments must have occurred within the four walls of the huts where girls had broken away from their cultural dogma.
I never fail to marvel at the courage of girls who dared to step out of the confines of their household obligations to learn how to read and write. We can truly say that Anne Jones, the young fragile wife of Rev. Thomas Jones I was the first woman in the Khasi hills who bore that beacon of light in-spite of her ill-health and very short life. Anne Jones extended her weak hands in teaching the locals around her about cleanliness and hygiene when she taught them the use of soap!
It is indeed wonderful to ponder that from a very simplistic worldview, there sprang up Khasi girls like ka Nabon Sawian, who willingly joined the school of the missionaries at Nongsawlia, Sohra and who became the first Khasi woman to be baptized into the Christian faith on July 16,1848. The KJP Assembly has marked the third week of July to be celebrated as Women’s Week and Women Sunday since 2005 in honour of this brave and first-fruit among Khasi women who had to face utter rejection from her clan because she chose to become a Christian. Not only that Ka Nabon learned to read and write, but she helped in teaching other girls to explore the new world of learning. She was rightfully regarded as the first teacher among the Khasis. Ka Bir was another girl who contributed to the spreading of knowledge. She was one of the first students of Mrs. William Lewis. The missionaries acknowledged her brilliance and sharp wit as she was a very hardworking learner. Initially, she was reluctant to embrace Christianity, but her meeting with Mrs. Daniel Jones changed her perspective. As expected, her new faith was met with severe opposition and physical abuse. But with undaunted spirit and dedication, Ka Bir sought permission to go, along with ka Phuh, another Christian convert, to Mawsmai to teach other girls how to read and write. The missionary Rev. William Lewis saw that such a step would not be without danger as they had to traverse through dangerous terrains, but the boldness of the girls made possible even the impossible. Such was the thirst for knowledge. Such was a purposeful life; a mission with a vision. From such humble endeavours, more girls joined the world of education, and many succeeded to reach higher studies, even professional courses like nursing and medicine. Quite a number became officers in Government Departments in decades following the humble beginnings.
Miss A.W.Thomas was one of the frontrunners in the field of women’s education. She poured out her service through a girls’ school which later came to be known as KJP Girls’ High School. In “Centenary History ka Balang Presbyterian”, Miss A.W.Thomas wrote that the parents would seek divine guidance from ‘ka shat ka khein’ on whether it would be right for girls to go to school; to which the answer from the gods would be a firm negative, because it was deciphered that girls who go to school would bring heaps of misfortune in addition to being barren and this would wipe out a whole clan! However, Miss Thomas never gave up on the girls, and her efforts did not go in vain. The first woman who cleared the Calcutta Entrance Examination, equivalent to Matriculation, was kong Annamon Tham in the year 1907. KJP Girls’ High School through the teaching ministry of Miss A.W. Thomas and other dedicated teachers could produce 3 women doctors who passed the Diploma Sub-Assistant Surgeons from Campbell Medical Institute, Calcutta in the year 1910. These were Kong Flora Mohon Roy, Kong Eribon Passah, and Kong Salin Ryntathiang. Notably, they were the first Khasi-Pnar doctors.
Before the much cliched ‘women empowerment’, the Church has undeniably empowered women more than a century ago, to be able to stand on their feet, and scale unimaginable heights in the field of learning and professionalism. Women have been given the space for leadership and capacity building, enabling them to toughen up for challenging circumstances, like difficult working conditions or even single parenthood. The main weapon that women have been given is education with all its moral values, ethical responsibilities and deep faith. Education has helped women to pass on their legacy to the future of their children.
Sadly though, while women had recognized the empowerment that comes through education 185 years back, now, here, in Meghalaya, in the 21st century, there are still countless numbers of girls and women who either are illiterate or dropped out of school. Even though Meghalaya is among the top eight states in the country where the female enrolment is significantly more than male enrolment, where gender-gap is quite low compared to the national average, there is still a very high illiteracy rate among girls in very remote rural areas (which presumably accounts for 27.11% illiteracy rate in Meghalaya). Perhaps, one of the reasons that girls and women are still targets of sexual harassment is due to the fact that women are not given that gender equity as they deserve, hence they are subjected to male dominance and domestic violence.
Comparatively, educational institutions are much better equipped today than two or three decades before. But something seems to be amiss in the teaching and learning process. Teachers experience burn-out conditions. Students are so hyper-stressed that they have turned classrooms into trauma centres. Gone are the days when students are learners of the Truth, where work culture was governed by principles rather than personal interests, where students learn to imagine and create rather than be pressurized by theories. While numbers of educational institutions have increased over the years, failure to curb social evils especially crimes against women proves that neither school nor Church has been able to make any major impact in personality and spiritual development. Time to revisit the schools of yore, where students were first introduced to God-fearing education, where they learn about love, grace and godly wisdom. Thomas Jones Day reminds us that education is not just acquiring knowledge and skill development. It is learning to live with a mission for a ‘purpose-driven life’, to quote a well-known Christian author, Rick Warren.
(The author teaches Communication Skills in Shillong Polytechnic)
