Christian and a Native, who employ several assistant-teachers under them. This is also a pay-school, and the charge is four rupees per month for each scholar. In some the charge is three rupees per month, and in others it is not more than two rupees.
Besides these pay-schools, there are Native free-schools for the gratuitous instruction of Native youth in English, supported either by public subscription or private benevolence.
The principal one of these is called the Hindoo Free School, and is situated at Arpooly. It has five Hindoo teachers who instruct 150 scholars. The limited resources of the school do not enable the managers to command the services of the teachers except in the morning between six and nine o’clock, to which hours their instructions are confined.
Another school of this class is called the Hindoo Benevolent Institution, and is entirely supported by two benevolent Native gentlemen. Three or four Native teachers instruct about 100 scholars in English. It is a morning-school.
Another school of this description is situated at Chor Bagan, and is also supported by two Native gentlemen. Four Native teachers instruct about 60 scholars in English in the morning-hours.
Of these eight institutions I do not recollect to have seen any public mention, with the exception of the Bhowanipore school and the Hindoo Free School. There may be others in operation, of which no information has reached me, and some of the particulars here given may possibly be erroneous, as they are not founded either on any published statement or on personal knowledge. My informant is a Native, himself a teacher in one of the institutions described, and not likely to be mistaken about the rest. The existence and increase of such a class of English schools are facts both curious and important. It is within my knowledge that fifteen years ago, a European of reputed talents and acquirements, resident in Calcutta, in vain sought to obtain a humble livelihood by opening an English school for Natives. In gratifying contrast with this fact, the prevalent desire amongst the Natives of Calcutta to acquire a knowledge of English, instead of being satisfied with the English schools of European origin previously enumerated, has called into existence a new class of schools depending entirely upon the Native community
