EDUCATION.
Meanwhile the Khond is commercially at the mercy of the wily Sondi and the cringing Dombu.
Telugu is the language chiefly known by the few who are literate. In the plains eleven per cent, of these people could read and write English at the time of the last census, and in the Agency three per cent., but this latter figure is made up almost entirely of officials.
Of the followers of the three chief religions, the Christians of both sexes are the best educated, then come the Musalmans, and the Hindus bring up the rear. Of the various taluks Vizagapatam naturally contains the largest number of literates and Vizianagram the next largest. Golgonda is the most backward, actually ranking below the most advanced of the purely agency taluks, Gunupur.
The district boasts two colleges; namely, the first-grade institution maintained by the Rája at Vizianagram and the second grade Mrs. A. Y. Narasinga Rao College at Vizagapatam.
The former of these began as a school in 1857, when it contained two branches, one for Bráhmans and Kshatriyas and the other for boys of other castes. These were amalgamated in 1859; nine years later a matriculation class was opened; in 1877 the institution was made a second-grade college; and in 1883 it was raised to the first grade. An inscription on the foundation stone of the southern extension of the main building shows that this was laid by Lord Wenlock in October 1894. The Rája bears the whole cost of the institution, at present about Rs, 16,000 per annum. Some 80 youths, almost all of them Bráhmans, are reading in the college classes.
The Mrs. A. V. Narasinga Rao College at Vizagapatam originated in a school called 'the Anglo- Vernacular school' which was founded in 1860 by Mr. Grant, Inspector of Schools (subsequently Sir Alexander Grant, Director of Public Instruction, Bombay),Mr. E. Fane, Collector of the district from 1859 to 1862, M.R.Ry (afterwards Mahárája) G. N. Gajapati Rao and M.R.Ry.C.Venkatasvámi Náyudu. The leading zamindars of the district, especially Vizianagram and Bobbili, and Mahárája Sir Gajapati Rao contributed liberally towards the school for many years. In 1878 it was raised to the status of a second-grade college and affiliated to the Madras University, and its name was then changed to 'the Hindu College.' In 1892 the late M.R.Ry. A. V. Narasinga Rao of Vizagapatam, who had married into the Godé family referred to on p. 219 below, bequeathed a lakh of rupees (besides a building fund of Rs. 15,000) for a college to be called after his
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