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'Field Notes on Sa'udi Arabia, 1935' [‎26r] (56/248)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (120 folios). It was created in 1936. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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English is the only foreign language included in the curriculum
of the few schools existing in the Hejaz, and it is possible that a
larger number of English-speaking Sa’udi-Arabs will be available
in the future.
8. Education
Little information is available on the subject of Education. In
the Hejaz, the Government appear to have preserved to a large
extent the old Turkish system of primary and secondary schools, and
there are in Mecca, Jedda, and Medina a certain number of private
schools with which the Government do not interfere unduly, although
they are inspected.
The educational system is dominated by the importance attached
to religious studies, but, at least in the provinces of the Hejaz and
Hasa, purely Wahabi teaching is not insisted on in all cases, and a
certain amount of secular instruction is imparted. There is no
evidence of an organized educational system in Nejd, where the chief
means of instruction is that afforded by mullahs teaching in the
mosques.
In past years a few students have been sent abroad, under
Government or private auspices, but the impoverishment of the
Treasury and of private benefactors has reduced the number to a very
low ebb.
There is no provision for female education in schools, girls being
left to get what they can from private tuition in their homes, or from
mistresses teaching the Koran, some Arabic and needlework, in their
own houses.
In 1933, a Board of Education composed of the Acting Director of
Education and four other persons, was created by Royal decree.
The Sa’udi Minister in London held the post of Director of Education
and continued to do so in 1935.
The Sa’udi Arab Government maintain schools at Mecca catering
for some 1,300 students. These include a teachers’ training college,
a secondary school, and a religious training centre. Private schools
in Mecca have approximately 2,000 students with 100 teachers.
At Jedda, the Government maintain a secondary and a primary
school for not more than 200 pupils. The principal educational
establishment is the Madrassat al Falah, part of the foundation of
the same name at Mecca, with some 700 pupils and 24 teachers.
At Medina, the Government secondary and primary schools have
an attendance of about 600 pupils, but the most important educa
tional establishment is the Madrassat al ‘Ulum ash Shariya, which is
supported by Indian benevolence. This gives secular, as well as
religious, education, and has industrial classes. It caters for about
250 students. There is also an orphanage accommodating about
100 boys, privately maintained, which provides religious, secular and
industrial training.

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Content

The volume, marked confidential, is Field Notes on Sa'udi Arabia, 1935 , prepared by Donald Banks of the Air Ministry, by command of the Air Council.

The volume begins with a brief forward (folio 2) in which the geographical scope is outlined. The volume is then divided into nine chapters (I-IX) with appendices, as follows:

I - History

II - System of Government

III - Population

IV - Political Geography

V - Physical Geography

VI - Climate and Meteorology

VII - Communications

VIII - Resources

IX - Armed Forces

Appendices - Weights and Measures, Coinage, Calendar and Time, Note on the state of Wahhabism viewed from a military standpoint, Note on Zakat

The volume contains the following route reports:

1. 'Uqair to Riyadh, via al Hasa

2. Riyadh to Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Fatima (near Jedda)

3. Jumaima to Medina

4. Riyadh to Kuwait

5. Kuwait to Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan Frontier

The volume contains nineteen maps and plans, as follows:

  • Imperial Air and Sea Routes (folio 29)
  • Tribal Areas (folio 23)
  • Administrative Divisions (folio 33)
  • Town Plans of Jedda, Mecca, Medina, Riyadh, and Taif (folios 40, 42, 43, 45, and 46, respectively)
  • Diagrammatic Section of Middle Sa'udi Arabia (folio 50)
  • Physical Geography (folio 54)
  • Chart showing Magnetic Variation in Arabia (folio 59)
  • Communications in Sa'udi Arabia (folio 64)
  • Diagram of Principal Watering Points, Frontier Posts and Garrisons (folio 70)
  • Tribes of Asir (folio 76)
  • Panorama of the town of Marat (folio 98)
  • Panorama of Muwaih (folio 101)
  • Sketch Plan of Muwaih (folio 100)
  • Sketch of route Rumaihiya-Jarya (Route Report No. 4) (folio 109)
  • General Map (folio 121)
Extent and format
1 volume (120 folios)
Arrangement

At the beginning of the volume (folios 4-7) is a list of contents with reference to the original pagination.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 122; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.

Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'Field Notes on Sa'udi Arabia, 1935' [‎26r] (56/248), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/5/384, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100049274805.0x000039> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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