Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-09-14
THE WORLDS GREATEST MOHANMEDA.J UN-
IVERSTTY AND ITS NINE THOUSAND STUDENTS

cinal and under professors. All stu
dents are under tho direct control OF
tho university and II they misbehavc
outside its walls the police hand thcm
over TO the collegiate authorities FOR
punishment The students are exempt
from military service, and 70 ls said
that many enter the institution for that
reason alone. There seem to be no imi-
tations as to age nor as to the time
one may spend at tho college. I saw
BOYS between six and eight studying
the Koran IN one corner OF the builG-
ing. and gray bearded men sitting
around a professor In another The
most OF the scholars, however. are
from rs 20 % or about the same age
ns our college students at home
EDUCATION IN EGYPT
This university has but little to DO
with the great movement Of modern
education which Is now going on In
Egypt IL is rather religious than cd
ucauonal, and tho live active educu-
tional forces outside Il are two. one Of
these is the United Presbyterian church
and its mission school OF which / viii
write later. when I visit theu college
at Assiout, about 300 miles farther up
the Nile valley. and the other Is the
government directed by the British,
who are collecting the taxes and adj
ministering all matters of Importance
IN Egypt today In addition TO these
there are about 1000 schools supported
by the Copts who. by the way, are the
most intelligent Of the native popula-
ton.
Egypt was very iuiterate when the
British took hold Of the administration.
and even now not more than six or seven
per cent OF the natives can read and
write The desire for learning is
increasing. however, and the system OF
common schools which has been IN
augurated is being rapidly developed.
There are now over 10000 schools in
the country. with something like 10000
teachers and perhaps a quarter of a
million pupils. There are a number or
private schools several normal schools
and also schools devoted TO special
training. ia the last few years a
system Of technical education has been
iuaugurated, and the government now
has model workshops at Boulac and
Assiout. Ii has a school Of agriculture
here az Carlo. a school Of engineering
and schools Of law and medicine.
THE VILLAGE SCHOOLS.
An important movement has been the
introduction Of modern studies into
the village schools belonging TO the
Mohammedans These were formerly
and are 70 some extent now under the
university of El-Azhar. They were con-
uocted with the mosques and were
taught by Mohammedan priests. They
were supported by the people them
selves, and also by "A Mohammedau re-
liglous organization known as the
Wakf, which has an enormous cndow-
ment There are something like 10000
OF these schools here and there arc
over the lower part of the Nile valley,
rIHf I'd HaN
thing like 100000. They taught little
more than the Arabic language. the
Koran, and reading writing and arith-
metic. Lord Cromar wanted TO bring
these schools under the ministry Of
public instruction and introduce our
modern studies. lie tried TO force the
teachers to come under him. but they
refused. He then offered 10 give every
mosque school that would come In an
appropriation Of so cents for every boy
and 70 cents for every girl, and this
has apparently solved the problem