Adam's Reports on Vernacular Education in Bengal and Behar/Report 1/Section 11

SECTION XI.

The District of Tipera.

Population.—In 1801, the population of this district was estimated at 750,000 persons in the proportion of four Hindoos to three Mahomedans. This district is the chief eastern boundary of Bengal, and its eastern limits are not yet accurately defined. The Tripura nation or tribe continue to maintain a kind of independent principality among the eastern hills about thirty miles wide. In features and manners they resemble the more eastern nations, but their princes have adopted Hindoo names and usages. The three tribes into which the Tripuras are divided are said to speak the same language though varying in character. Still further towards the east between the territory of the Tripura race and the central inaccessible mountains, there is a wide hilly region occupied by the people called Kookies, the Lingach of the Burmese and Lingta of the Bengalees, who appear to be a martial and predatory people.

Indigenous Schools.—I have no information regarding either common schools or schools of learning in this district. Hamilton states, perhaps too positively, that there are not any regular schools or seminaries where the Hindoo and Mahomedan laws and religion are taught. In reply to enquiries made by the general Committee the local agents of Government stated in 1823 that they could not discover that any endowments or funds of a public nature exist in the district, or that any grants have ever been made applicable to the purpose of public instruction.

Elementary School not Indigenous.—In 1820, a school was commenced by the Serampore missionaries at Comilah, the capital of the district, encouraged by the pecuniary support of private individuals, but the attendance of the scholars was so limited and irregular that it was discontinued. The scholars were the children of laborers who needed their assistance in the fields. The local agents strongly recommend that in future attempts to spread education in the district, the Native zemindars, several of whom reside in Calcutta, should be solicited to give their co-operation, which would greatly contribute to the removal of prejudice and to the final success of the design.