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Remembering Osmania University’s Contribution to Public Life
For over a 100 years Osmania University has been a global centre of learning that served as a mirror and conscience keeper of society. Through its history it has not only educated the young, empowering them to find better employment, but it has also been a space that inculcated radical ideas in students who fought for systemic change and a more equal society. The university remains the most important institution for first-generation students from downtrodden backgrounds in the region. Today, the university is facing significant challenges, which must be addressed to safeguard this historic institution.
The author thanks the referee for comments and suggestions. He is also thankful to Ghanta Chakrapani and K Srinivasulu for their help in writing this article.
The establishment of Osmania University heralded a new era in the field of higher education in the erstwhile Hyderabad state, of which the Telangana region was an integral part. On the 26 April 1917, Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam promulgated a farman by which the new university was designed to take full advantage of “all that is best in the ancient and modern systems of physical, intellectual and spiritual culture” (Datla 2013: 50). The Nizam stated,
In the Hyderabad Dominions a University should be established in which the ancient and modern, oriental and occidental arts, sciences are synthesised in such a manner that the defects of the present system of education are rectified. (Datla 2013: 50)
The ideal of imparting higher education through the regional languages of India was a revolt against the dominance of the English language in India under British colonial rule.
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