During his reign, #MaharajaRanjitSingh opened several traditional Gurmukhi gurukuls in bungalows located around the Sri Harmandir Sahib (#GoldenTemple).
He also opened specialist Mahajani schools for merchants that focused on business and trading skills.
He also opened specialist Mahajani schools for merchants that focused on business and trading skills.
Thanks to Ranjit Singh, vocational schools teaching miniature painting, calligraphy and architecture also blossomed across the empire.
Wanting to make sure that education in rural areas did not lag, he crafted the 'Qaida Noor' system, under which booklets teaching the basic alphabet, basic math, and elementary writing was distributed to numbers (village heads) across Punjab.
Each numberdar was directed to learn the booklet in 3 months and hand out copies to 5 people in his village. And each of them had to personally write a letter to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, confirming that they had done the same!
Unsurprisingly, Maharaja's reforms inspired his people to pursue education in a big way.
The Lahore District Report of 1860 mentions that #Punjab had "atleast 3.3 lakh students learning high standard Oriental education, logic, philosophy and medicine." Lahore, Ranjit Singh's capital, also had 18 formal schools for girls.
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