BASHEERBAGH MEET: BIRTH PANGS, APPLAUSE AND NIZAM's OSMANIA UNIVERSITY 'FIRMAAN'.

It was Thursday, the 28th of August, 1918. There was an air of celebration all over Hyderabad. A long cherished dream was about to come true. The princely state of Hyderabad was about to get its first institution of higher learning - Osmania University. A large number of people including a few distinguished guests had gathered at a building adjacent to the Nizam College on the Gun Foundry Road in what is now Basheerbagh. The University received sanction from the ruler, Mir Osman Ali Khan, a year earlier. The meeting was presided over by Moulvi Habibur Rahman Khan Shervani, Ecclesiastical minister who served as the Vice-Chancellor of Osmania University. The meeting heralded the formal birth of Osmania University. There was loud applause as the 'Firmaan' (Royal Decree) of the Nizam was read marking the formal launch of the University.

Initially ninety students were enrolled and later fifty-two more admissions were made taking the total strength to 142. A few students dropped out as they could not pay the tuition and hostel fee. By the end of the year, the strength came down to 107. The next year (1919), 131 students joined the University. Today, the University has over 3,00,000 students. Not many know that there were two Firmaans issued by Mir Osman Ali Khan with regard to Osmania University. The first Firmaan was issued on 26th April, 1917 granting permission for the formation of the University. It was general in nature. Another Firmaan was issued on 14th August, 1918. This was a specific Firmaan and within a fortnight, the inaugural function of Osmania University College was held on 28th August, 1918. It was the second Firmaan that was read at the inaugural function.

As was the tradition then, the function began with the recitation of some verses of the Holy Quran. Akbar Hydari, Secretary to Government in the education department, read the Firmaan. The Nizam did not attend the inaugural ceremony. According to official documents of the Nizam government, the then Vice-Chancellor hoped and prayed that the University would "confer great and lasting benefits by spreading the right type of education and bringing to the doors of the poorest of his (Nizam) people". Official records reveal that the government had 'recruited distinguished teachers in order to give the true University stamp to the teaching". English and Theology were compulsory for all students. Theology was however taught to Sunni Muslims as "no arrangements could be made for other religions and sects".

Besides English and Theology, every student has to take up three optional subjects. In later years, Hindu students were taught about Hinduism, Christian students about Christianity and Muslim students about Islam. In the annual examination held in 1919, ninety-seven students were promoted to the second year class. Only three students had secured first class while twenty students had secured second class.

In the first year, religious lines didn't blur, hostels were separate for Hindus and Muslims: For reasons best known to the authorities, separate hostels were maintained for Hindu and Muslim students of Osmania University in the initial years of its formation. City historians, however, maintain that the Nizam government had created separate accommodation for Hindus and Muslims purely on dietary grounds. The hostel of old Darul-Uloom was earmarked as the hostel for Muslim students. There were fifty-two students in the hostel. The Daru-Uloom was in fact one of the oldest modern education institutions of Hyderabad. It was set up in 1865. It was the predecessor of the City High School and later City College. Hindu boys were given a separate hostel. There were twenty-five Hindu boys, who had sought hostel accommodation.

In fact, the University authorities had to refuse admission to many students for want of hostel accommodation in the very first year of its opening. "While the needs of the Musalman boys have to this extent been satisfied, those of the Hindu boys also have received every attention...There is demand for more accommodation...It is regretfully noted that for want of accommodation a good many applications for admission have had to be rejected", reveals a document of Osmania University submitted to the Nizam in 1923. The document pertained to the period from 07th October, 1919 - 05th October, 1920. It is interesting to note that the hostels for Hindu and Muslim boys had what was called 'debating societies'. The debating societies were tasked with holding discussions on important issues. The aim was to improve the spoken English. The boarders were placed under the supervision of a resident superintendent, whose duty was to look after students' board and lodging. He was also tasked with maintaining discipline in the hostel and on the campus.

The University had a literary union open to all college students. Its "distinctive feature was the promotion of the study of English literature and encouragement of the art of written and oral expression in that language", points out the OU document. In the first year of its birth the University had two faculties - arts and theology. The Arts faculty had two Professors and seventeen Assistant Professors while the faculty of theology had eight Assistant Professors. 

There were ten students in Sanskrit, nine students in Kanarese, sixteen students in Marathi, 101 students in Urdu, eighty-six students in Persian and fourteen in Arabic. Economics appeared to be the favourite subject with 120 students in first and second year courses.

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