General Report on Public Instruction in the Lower Provinces of the Bengal Presidency (1849-50)/Report of The Council of Education for 1849-50

Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/13 The most important occurrence of the past year was an intimation from the Government that the Council of Education were hence-forward to consider their functions as comprising the superintendence of Native Female Education. The following communication on the subject, addressed by the Government of India to the Government of Bengal, was communicated to the Council, for their information and guidance, in April last:

“The attention of the Governor General in Council has been lately directed toward the subject of Female Education in Bengal. Thirty-five years have elapsed, since the establishment of the Hindu College gave the first great impulse to that desire for European knowledge, which is now so general throughout the country. Under the influence of the new ideas which have been widely disseminated among large and influential classes of the community, through the Government schools and colleges, it is reasonable to believe that further attempts, for improving the moral and social condition of the people, may now be successfully made, which at an earlier period would have failed altogether to produce any satisfactory result.

2. “It is the opinion of the Governor General in Council that no single change in the habits of the people is likely to lead to more important and beneficial consequences, than the introduction of education for their female children. The general practice is to allow them to grow up in absolute ignorance; but this custom is not required or even sanctioned by their religion; and in fact a certain degree of education is now given to the female relatives of those who can afford the expense of entertaining special instructors at their own houses. This method of imparting knowledge is impracticable as a general system, but it appears to the Governor General in Council that it is quite possible to establish female schools, in which precautions may be adopted for as close seclusion of the girls as the customs of the country may require. An experiment of a school of this kind in Calcutta has been tried by the Hon'ble Mr. Bethune since May of last year; which, in the face of considerable opposition, such as every novelty is sure to encounter in Bengal, at present contains thirty-four pupils, the children of persons of good caste and respectable connexions. The success which has been accomplished in so short a time, far exceeding any expectation its most sanguine supporters would have been justified in entertaining at the commencement, receives a double value from the consideration that it has been achieved by the exertions of a private individual, and cannot be attributed to the influence of the power of Government.

3. “The example given by Mr. Bethune in his school has, His Lordship in Council is informed, been imitated by educated Natives in other parts of Bengal.

4. “The Governor General in Council considers that a great work has been done in the first successful introduction of Native Female Education in India on a sound and solid foundation, and that the Government ought to give to it its frank and cordial support.

5. “The Governor General in Council requests that the Council of Education may be informed that it is henceforward to consider its functions as comprising the superintendence of native female education ; and that, wherever any disposition is shewn by the Natives to establish female schools, it will be its duty to give them all possible encouragement, and further their plans in every way that is not inconsistent with the efficiency of the institutions already under their management. It is the wish also of the Governor General in Council that intimation to the same effect should be given to the Chief Civil Officers of the Mofussil, calling their attention to the foregoing disposition among the Natives to establish female schools, and directing them to use all means at their disposal for encouraging those institutions, and for making it generally known that the Government views them with very great approbation.”

The Council lost no time in making known the sentiments of the Government to all persons connected with the Institutions already under their charge, requesting them to give the fullest possible effect to the Government instructions, by making them generally known to all in their neighbourhood who take an interest in or are likely to aid the cause.

In promulgating the intelligence, the Council intimated their conviction that a measure fraught with such important consequences, and so eminently calculated to extend the benefits and influence of education, would meet with the most cordial support of every person connected with the Education department.

The Council do not deem it necessary to enter into a detailed consideration of the nature and extent of the benefits likely to result to India from the education of Females. Its importance and the vast influence which it has exercised in the Western hemisphere upon the civilization, prosperity, and happiness of European nations are great facts, and so universally acknowledged as to need no demonstration. It is believed that this influence will be even greater, if possible, in Eastern countries, where all the earliest and most lasting impressions of infancy and childhood are now produced and fostered by uneducated and superstitious mothers. The evil influence of the zenana is, in very many instances, never eradicated; and much of the good learnt by a boy at school and college, is neutralized by the habits of his domestic circle, and the absence of educated companions for his hours of leisure and repose. Female education is known not to be opposed to any of the religious doctrines of the Hindus, indeed, in the early days of her prosperity, Hindustan could boast of her learned and virtuous females, whose fame was as far spread as that of any eminent European lady of ancient or modern times. Such being the case, the Council confidently rely on the cordial support of all liberal and enlightened natives of India, in a measure from which they may in a short time, reap the greatest and most enduring advantages.

In connexion with this subject the Council have much gratification in placing on record the fact of a Native Female School having been established at Baraset, by certain educated and philanthropic native gentlemen of that district. The circumstances which originated it are so creditable to the parties concerned, as, in the opinion of the Council, to merit being published for general information.

In January last, a communication was addressed to the Hon'ble President of the Council, to the effect that certain native gentlemen at Baraset and in its neighbourhood had Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/17 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/18 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/19 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/20 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/21 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/22 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/23 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/24 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/25 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/26 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/27 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/28 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/29 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/30 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/31 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/32 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/33 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/34 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/35 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/36 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/37 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/38 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/39 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/40 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/41 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/42 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/43 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/44 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/45 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/46 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/47 Page:Report on public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal presidency (1849-50).djvu/48