Reports on the State of Education in Bengal (1835-38)/First Report on the State of Education in Bengal/Section 1

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Reports on the State of Education in Bengal (1835-38), First Report on the State of Education in Bengal

The Twenty-four Pergunnahs, including Calcutta

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4454869Reports on the State of Education in Bengal (1835-38), First Report on the State of Education in Bengal — The Twenty-four Pergunnahs, including Calcutta

Section I

The Twenty-four Pergunnahs, including Calcutta.

Population.—The estimate of 1801 makes the population of the Twenty-four Pergunnahs amount to 1,625,000 persons, which Hamilton in one place (Vol. I. p. 190) represents as including the population of Calcutta, and in another place (Vol. II. p. 691) as exclusive of the inhabitants of the Calcutta jurisdiction. It seems the more probable supposition that the returns for the Twenty-four Pergunnahs in 1801 did not include the population subject to the jurisdiction of the Calcutta Magistrates. No complete census has yet been taken of the population of Calcutta. In 1752 Mr. Holwell estimated the number of houses within the Company's bounds at 51,132, and the permanent inhabitants at 409,056 persons, without reckoning the multitude daily coming and going. In 1802 the Police Magistrates reckoned the population of Calcutta at 600,000, and they were of opinion that the city, with a circuit of twenty miles, comprehended 2,225,000. In 1810 Sir Henry Russell, the Chief Judge, computed the population of the town and its environs at 1,000,000; and General Kyd, the population of the city alone at between 400,000 and 500,000 inhabitants. In 1819 the Calcutta School Society estimated the Native population of Calcutta at 750,000. In June 1822 the Magistrates of Calcutta directed returns of the population to be made from the four divisions, and they showed the following results:—Christians 13,138; Mahomedans 48,162; Hindus 118,203; Chinese 414—total 179,917. The number of persons entering the town daily from the suburbs and across the river has been estimated, by stationary peons and sircars placed to count them, at 100,000. Upon the whole, therefore, it appeared to be the opinion of the Magistrates from the returns that, taking the resident population at about 200,000, and those entering the town daily at 100,000, the sum would give a tolerably accurate approximation to the real number.

English Colleges and Schools.—Under this description it is intended to include all those institutions, both of a higher and a lower grade, one of whose principal objects is to teach the English language, and through that medium European science and literature. These institutions may be distributed into five classes:

1. The first class of English institutions consists of those which have originated exclusively or chiefly with Europeans, and whose avowed object is the improvement of the Native population.

Among institutions of this class, Bishop’s college first attracts attention, so called after the first Indian bishop of the church of England, Dr. Middleton, in consequence of whose urgent representations the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts in 1819 agreed to found it. The declared objects of this institution are to instruct Native and other youth in the doctrine and discipline of Christ’s church, in order to their becoming preachers, catechists, and school-masters; to extend the benefits of education generally; to translate the scriptures, liturgy, and other religious works; and to form a residence for European missionaries on their arrival in India—objects so extensive and philanthropic, independent of the general salutary influence of every institution of education whether conducted on religious principles or only for moral, scientific and literary purposes, as to bring it directly within the scope of this report. Bishop’s college, as declared by the statutes, was primarily founded for the maintenance of a principal and two subordinate professors, and for as many students and probationers as may be required for the service of the missions and can be maintained by the funds of the institution. The College-property and the ultimate authority in the government and control of the college are vested in the Incorporated Society. The Bishop of Calcutta for the time being is the visitor of the college, with various powers of supervision and direction subject to confirmation by the Society. The ordinary government of the college is in the college-council, consisting of the principal and the two other professors who always reside within the College. Ail the professorships are in the appointment of the Incorporated Society. The principal is chiefly charged with the superintendence of the morals and conduct of the students; the second professor acts as the secretary to the college-council and librarian of the college-library; and the third professor undertakes the duties of the college-bursar and reports on the state of the college-buildings and grounds. The second and third professors may interchange the duties respectively assigned to them. The studies prosecuted within the college are theology with the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages as subsidiary to it; history, both ancient and modern, ecclesiastical and civil; the elements of philosophical and mathematical knowledge; and divers oriental languages, together with the English language to be taught to all the native students. The Incorporated Society has founded and endowed twenty theological scholarships; and scholarships may be founded and endowed on a benefaction of sicca rupee not less than 8,000 with a reserved right to the founder of nominating the first scholar on every such foundation; and on a benefaction of not less than 15,000 sicca rupees, with a perpetual right reserved of nominating to such scholarships. Non-foundation students are also admitted, provision being made for their education by those who send them. The students, whether on the foundation or not, are required by the statutes to be Christian youths, who have been well-grounded and instructed in the principles of the united church of England and Ireland, and they may be either of European, or of mixed, or of wholly Native race. The ordinary age of admission to the college is fourteen, and the residence of the students in college is closed at the completion of their nineteenth year. In addition to various certificates and statements regarding the age, health, dispositions, and abilities of the candidate, it was originally required that his father, nearest relative, or guardian should pledge him to become a missionary or school-master in the Society’s service, but by an arrangement authorized in 1829, non-foundation students may now be admitted without the declaration. The non-foundation or general students are required to pay each for diet, room-rent, and tuition sixty-four sicca rupees monthly in advance. The admission of general students was recommended by Bishop Heber, and with that view the Society was induced to enlarge the college-buildings. When the buildings were completed, some mortification was at first experienced in finding that the expectations entertained by Bishop Heber and others were not realized; but after the expiration of a year or two it would appear that several non-foundation students had been admitted for the purposes of general education. The circumstances of the country, however, do not supply a constant succession of such students, although it is believed by the friends of the college that it will be otherwise as colonization advances. A further and more important step in opening the college, one which, though announced in Bishop Middleton’s first letter on the subject as the second object proposed in the foundation, has never yet been taken, is the admission of aboriginal natives of India who are not Christians to literary and scientific instruction in the college under the same rules as other students, with the exception of those respecting hall and chapel. The principal of the college, in a minute recorded in the proceedings of the college-council under date 27th August, 1882, expressed the opinion that the time for taking this step was not far distant. An annual examination In the college hall takes place on the 14th day of December in every year, and an annual commemoration of founders and benefactors in the college-chapel on the 21st day of January. Scholars after having completed the term of their education are employed as catechists at missionary stations, and the catechists of the Incorporated Society on having attained the age of twenty-two years and six months and having forwarded the requisite testimonials are re-admitted into the college under the name of probationers. They remain until ordained deacons, and being so ordained they continue in the college until they are licensed by the bishop, and repair to the stations respectively assigned to them in the character and with the salary of missionaries. European missionaries of the Incorporated Society intended to be employed within the diocese of Calcutta, if required by the Society, on their first arrival in India proceed to the college and there remain in the study of the Native languages. There is a press at the college, the superintendence of which is until especially appointed by the visitor to a missionary station, in the college-council, and the selection of works to be printed is confined to the ordinary and extraordinary syndicate. The ordinary syndicate is composed of the visitor, the Archdeacon of Calcutta, the college-council, and three persons to be nominated by the visitor for the year; the syndicate extraordinary is composed of the ordinary syndicate with the addition of such other persons as the visitor may from time to time nominate, being deeply skilled in some one at least of the Native languages professed in the college, and known to be solicitous to promote the objects for which the college-press is established. Such persons are called associate syndics, and are designated by the language or languages in which their aid may be solicited.

The following is a view of the resources of the institution. When the attention of the Incorporated Society was first drawn to the subject, they procured from His Majesty a royal letter recommending the subscriptions of his subjects to aid the object of the Society, and of the fund thus collected the Society immediately devoted £5,000 to the building and erection of the college. The Society for promoting Christian Knowledge agreed shortly after to add another sum of £5,000 in aid of the building, and the Church Missionary Society added another £5,000. The Marquis of Hastings, Governor-General of India, at the request of Bishop Middleton, presented sixty-two beeghas of ground from the eastern extremity of the Company’s botanical garden for the building and demesnes of the College, of which the first stone was accordingly laid in December, 1820. The demesnes were further increased at their eastern boundary by the free gift of a piece of ground on the banks of the Hooghly by Sir Charles Metcalfe. The British and Foreign Bible Society agreed to aid the purposes of the foundation in the department of scriptural translation by assigning a sum of £5,000 to the college for that special purpose. The Church Missionary Society also agreed to assist the Incorporated Society in defraying the current expenses of the institution by an annual sum of £1,000. Bishop Middleton presented a sum of £500 for the fitting up and embellishment of the college-chapel, and bequeathed 500 volumes to the college-library; and his widow added the gift of communion-plate for the sacramental service of the college and a tablet to the memory of the deceased founder with an inscription written by himself. The Incorporated Society in first sending out books for the library were aided by a gift from the University of Oxford of all the works printed at the Clarendon press; and the same gift was increased by donations of some thousand books, printed and manuscript, from Principal Mill and other individuals in India as well as England. In June, 1826, the District Committee of the Incorporated Society formed in Bombay by Bishop Heber, at the special instance and persuasion of archdeacon Barnes, agreed to devote their whole first year’s receipt to the support of Bishop’s college. The same appropriation was likewise voted by the Diocesan Committee of Calcutta formed at the end of the same year, and also by the Madras District Committee in 1826. Lord Amherst, Governor-General of India, at the special request of Bishop Heber in 1826, assigned a further space of forty-eight beeghas on the western side of the road and on the bank of the Hooghly, to be separated from the botanical garden for the further demesnes and out-offices of the college. The University of Cambridge, by a vote of the senate in 1826, agreed that copies of all works printed at their presses should be presented to the library of Bishop’s college, and the same gift was increased by several contributions made at the instance chiefly of the Revd. W. Mandell, fellow of Queen’s college, among the residents of the university. In 1830, Bishop Turner erected at his own expense a tablet to the memory of Bishop Heber, similar to the opposite monument of Bishop Middleton. James Young, Esq., in 1832, presented an organ to the college-chapel. In the foundation of scholarships, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge took the lead by funding a sum of £6,000 in India Government stock, for the support of six scholars to be denominated Bishop Middleton’s scholars. The same Society also, after hearing of the death of Bishop Middleton’s successor, funded £2,000 in the same stock for two foreign ecclesiastical scholarships to bear the name of Heber’s foreign theological scholarships, to be filled as occasion offers from the ancient episcopal churches of Asia not acknowledging the supremacy of the see of Rome. The Church Missionary Society also funded a sum of £3,000 in the same stock for the endowment of two scholarships in the college, with the right of perpetual nomination to them. The Incorporated Society has also received, by the will of the late Lord Powers-court, a sum of nearly £1,000 for the endowment of a theological scholarsrip. The surplus of the subscription at Bombay for the erection of a monument to Bishop Heber, has been funded as an endowment for a theological scholarship from that presidency, of which the perpetual nomination resides in the Committee of the Incorporated Society in the archdeaconry of Bombay. The Incorporated Society with its own funds also supports four separate scholarships, the expenses of which are remitted to India. Lastly and principally, the late James Tillard, Esq. of Street End, Patham, in the county of Kent, bequeathed a sum of £30,000 for the support of Bishop’s college.

None of the subscriptions received in India are employed to defray the expences of the college: all are devoted to the missions and schools under the direction of the Calcutta Diocesan Committee of the Incorporated Society, the college supplying catechists and missionaries to the several missionary stations both in Bengal and at the Madras presidency. The college-council does not publish reports of its proceedings in India; but it reports periodically to the Incorporated Society in England, and part of the communications thus made appear in the annual reports of the Society. A full and detailed account of Bishop’s college does not appear to have been hitherto published by the Incorporated Society which possesses the materials for such a statement, probably because that Society does not solicit subscriptions for Bishop’s college separately, but for its India missions generally as distinguished from its operations in British America. The preceding details have been chiefly drawn from the college-statutes, the commemoration of benefactors, and the reports and proceedings of the Incorporated Society. The system of instruction appears to be in the main that of English collegiate education; with such modifications (especially, as I am informed, in the classical part) as may best suit the circumstances of those who are to teach Christianity in a country not Christian, and to whom, therefore, poets and orators, though not useless, are deemed a less important object of concern than those writings which exhibit the chief moral and intellectual features of Greek and Roman literature. When all three professors are present, the principal gives none but strictly theological lectures, i.e., on divinity, the critical study of the scriptures, with Hebrew and ecclesiastical history for the more advanced students. But in circumstances such as now exist when the junior professor is under the necessity of proceeding to England on account of his health, the principal further shares with the remaining professor the duty of giving classical and mathematical lectures. A maulavi and a munshi are employed to teach Hindustani; and sometimes, but more rarely, Persian and Arabic, viz., in those cases in which the future intercourse with Mahomedans may unite with the importance of the latter language to the critical knowledge of the Old Testament, to make that study desirable for any particular student. Three pundits are employed to teach Bengalee to the students destined for Bengal and the catechists and missionaries of the stations in the vicinity, as well as to teach Sanscrit to those whose advancement in other knowledge makes it important that they should possess this means of exploring Hindooism in its sources, which is the case with all the aboriginal Native students and also with those destined for the south of India. Means do not exist in the college of teaching the vernacular languages of the hitter classes of students, except by the occasional aid of some older students from Madras. The services of the native teachers are also available by the European professors for the other purposes for which the college was founded. On the subject of the instruction given to the students, the Native teachers report daily to the principal what they have done. The results form equally with the subjects of the European professors’ lectures matter for occasional examination in the college hall at which the visitor often presides.

The scholarships are sixteen in all, viz., four supported by the Incorporated Society, six Middleton scholarships, two Heber foreign theological scholarships, two Church Missionary Society scholarships, one Powers-court scholarship, and one Bombay Heber scholarship. Of the ten first mentioned, eight are now filled, and two are expected to be filled from Ceylon. The six Middleton scholarships are mostly filled by students destined for the south of India. Of the remaining scholarships, four are filled and two are vacant, viz., the Bombay Heber scholarship, the Nominee to which though expected is not yet arrived, and one of the Heber theological scholarships. The other Heber scholarship is filled by an Armenian youth. Thus of the sixteen scholarships, twelve are filled, and of the four now vacant, three are expected to be soon filled.

I have recorded these details respecting Bishop’s college at some length, partly because the information thus collected is not generally possessed; partly because one of the declared objects of the institution is to train schoolmasters and to extend the benefits of education generally; and partly in the anticipation that, apart from its primary religious objects, it will, both by the indirect operation of its example and influence and by the actual admission of non-Christian students, produce very beneficial effects on the morals and intellect, the science and learning, of the country.

In connection with the Calcutta Diocesan Committee of the Incorporated Society, on the premises of the Tollygunge or Russapughlah mission there is an English school which appears to have been at one time in prosperous condition, containing fifty-two scholars, but a dreadful mortality swept many of them away. No less than sixteen died, while the parents of many of the others kept back their children through fear, as they had to come from a considerable distance. The school having been re-organized, twenty-five boys were in attendance, and at the date of the last report (1834) additions were daily made. It is also mentioned in the report of this committee that two grandsons of a zemindar at Barripore had received instruction in English from one of the missionaries.

The Calcutta Corresponding Committee of the Church Missionary Society has an English school on the mission-premises in Calcutta containing about 200 boys. It is carried on by Native teachers under the superintendence of a Native convert, who was educated at the Hindoo college, has become a catechist of the Society, and is an admitted candidate for holy orders. Reading, writing, grammar, geography, history, and astronomy are taught. Prominence is given to religious instruction and occasion is taken to include sentiments intended to serve as an antidote to the poison of political enthusiasm alleged by the head-teacher to be prevalent in this country. This is the only instance with which I am acquainted of a Native school being made the theatre of instruction in political partisanship. Lately a beginning has been made to teach Bengalee to the boys of the first class; and the assistant-teachers during a leisure hour every day have the advantage of attending lectures delivered by a missionary on the philosophy of the human mind.

The Church Missionary Association does not appear to have any separate English school under its care, but in the latest report (1835), it is stated that at the annual meeting which took place on the 18th February, 1834, the following resolution was passed, viz., “that it be an instruction to the committee, that they endeavour to devise a plan for the education and preparation of schoolmasters to meet the calls of the out-stations for instruments of English education.” This subject has accordingly been considered, and a course of instruction for bringing up Native teachers has been adopted, but there has not been time as yet for any particular result to attend the experiment.

The most prominent and popular English school in Calcutta among those that belong to the class I am now noticing, is the one in connection with the mission of the General Assembly of the church of Scotland. This institution does not publish periodical reports in India, and the following details have in consequence been chiefly drawn from magazine and newspaper articles. In 1823 the subject of Native education in India appears [to have been first brought before the General Assembly in a memorial from the Reverend Dr. Bryce and the gentlemen then forming the kirk session of St. Andrew’s Church of Calcutta, and the funds appropriated to this object had their origin in public subscription made at Calcutta, under the superintendence of the session, simultaneously with collections made in the different parishes in Scotland at the recommendation of the General Assembly. The institution has hitherto been maintained by the same means.

The number now under instruction at the school is not less than five hundred and fifty; and were the funds sufficient and the accommodation possessed by the institution more extensive, this number might be greatly enlarged. The branches of learning taught in this department of the school comprehend English grammar, reading, and arithmetic, geography political and physical, elementary mathematics including algebra and the use of logarithms, translation and composition in English and Bengalee, a brief survey of history ancient and modern, the Bible, and a comprehensive outline of the evidences and leading doctrines of Christianity. The conductors of the institution deem it essential to keep steadily in view the promotion of knowledge and the spread of education on Christian principles.

The modes of tuition and discipline introduced into this seminary are those which wore employed and, as far I am aware, first reduced to a system by Mr. Wood in the sessional school of Edinburgh. It is called the interrogative system, and consists in keeping up the spirit and attention of the scholars by a continual succession of questions and familiar examples, varied in every possible way likely to interest and amuse them and to engage their minds in their work. Particular care is taken that in the course of reading the pupils not only give the meaning in which a word is used, but trace it to its origin and mention as many of its compounds as they can recollect. No class is left idle for a moment, and to effect this object the lower classes are chiefly taught by the boys of the first class, who are relieved when they have to attend to their own lessons by the boys of the second, while all are under the constant superintendence and occasional examination, repeated several times every day, of the European head-teachers who also have several assistant-teachers under them. At the close of the day, the place which each boy occupies in his class is marked in a list, where an account is also kept of all those who have been absent and late, so that to determine each boy’s comparative place nothing further is necessary than to look at the lists of the last year, and in this way the prizes are decided. On every Saturday there is a general examination of the boys in all they have done during the week, and at the end of every month a certain number of questions on the month’s work in all its branches is written out and asked of each boy apart from the rest. These questions are indiscriminately selected and not by the person who teaches the department to which they relate, the teachers putting them alternately. The effect of this system in awakening and guiding the mind to the fit exercise of its intellectual powers and moral capacities, is found abundantly to answer the expectations of those who have adopted it.

Besides this elementary department there is to be attached to the institution a branch, having in view the higher object of qualifying native youth to become the instructors of their countrymen. The presbytery of Calcutta, recently constituted, have been invested with various powers relating to the Natives who seek to be employed in that capacity under the authority of the church of Scotland. It belongs to that body to prescribe the qualifications, literary and theological, required in such cases, and they are authorized to deprive a native preacher or teacher acting or believing wrongly of his license and station in the church, without reference or appeal to the superior judicatories.

An extension of this institution is proposed to be effected by admitting into it Native youth from other Christian seminaries, with a view to their being qualified to act in the capacity of teachers and religious instructors of their countrymen, under the superintendence and authority of the religious denominations to which they adhere. To meet demands also for non-Christian teachers it is proposed to offer the advantages of the institution to those Native youth who may desire to qualify themselves for becoming instructors of their countrymen in general knowledge, without reference to any profession of belief in the doctrines of Christianity. All the arrangements for the enlargement of the objects and operations of the Assembly’s school are at present, it is understood, only under consideration; but even with its original limited scope it must be pronounced one of the best managed and most successful English native schools in India.

At Kidderpore the Bengal Auxiliary Missionary Society in connection with the London Missionary Society has an English school containing 60 pupils; and in connection with this mission there is a Native Christian boarding school at Alipore, in which only Christian children, i.e., the male children of Native converts, are admitted, and in which they are boarded and lodged as well as instructed in English and Bengalee. In November, 1833, the latter institution was opened with 24 scholars; but in the latest report (1835) the number of scholars is not mentioned. In Bengalee the pupils are instructed in scripture, history and geography, besides English reading, writing and arithmetic. Their improvement in moral feeling and virtuous sentiments is stated to be remarkable.

The Calcutta Baptist Missionary Society has at Chitpore a Hindoo English school containing 120 scholars, and a Native Christian boarding-school for boys similar to that abovementioned as existing at Alipore. The number of pupils in the boarding-school is not mentioned. In these boarding-schools it is not to be understood that the pupils or their parents pay their board, but that board, as well as education, is given gratuitously; and this additional expense is incurred in the hope that the minds and characters of the children may be brought more completely under the influence of religious instruction and good example. In the English school, English only is taught, while in the boarding-school the children learn both Bengalee and English. In the former, geography, natural philosophy, and the evidences of divine revelation are taught; and in the latter, the instruction is still more thoroughly Christian.

One of the objects of the Calcutta School Society was to provide a body of qualified Native teachers and translators; and in pursuance of this object the Committee at first sent twenty boys, considered to be of promising abilities, to the Hindoo College to be educated at the Society’s charge; and subsequently ten others were added. There are thus always thirty scholars at the Hindoo College receiving an English education at the expense of the School Society; and the selection of pupils, to fill the vacancies which occur from time to time, affords considerable encouragement to the boys in the indigenous schools. In 1829 three of the young men who had received their education at the Hindoo College at the expense of the School Society, on leaving the college were engaged as English teachers in the Society’s own school for which they were eminently qualified, and others have obtained respectable employment in Calcutta. The Society’s scholars are said to rank among the brightest ornaments of the college.

In prosecution of the same views the Committee of the School Society in 1823 established an elementary English school, entirely under its own management, to teach reading, writing, spelling, grammar and arithmetic, the vacancies in which are filled by pupils selected from the indigenous schools for their proficiency; and those again who afterwards prove themselves particularly deserving are in due course removed for superior education to the Hindoo College to which this elementary school is intended to be preparatory. It was hoped that this school would excite the emulation of the Native boys, and that by raising the qualifications for admission, and thus inducing parents to keep their children longer than usual at the indigenous schools, it would have the effect of increasing the emoluments and respectability of the Native teachers. This object appears to have been in some measure attained, for in the report of 1829 it is expressly stated that several instances have come to the knowledge of the Society’s superintendence, in which the observance of the rules of admission has afforded considerable advantage to the Native teachers of the indigenous schools, by encouraging the boys to remain longer with them and thereby increasing their emoluments. In the above mentioned year the school contained about 120 boys who, besides the usual elements of reading, writing, spelling and arithmetic, acquired a considerable knowledge of the English language and its grammatical construction, could translate with some degree of correctness, had a good acquaintance with Grecian, Roman, and English history, and with the leading facts of geography, together with the political divisions of Europe and Asia. It was at that time deemed expedient to improve the means of instruction by employing a greater number of qualified teachers and allowing a larger supply of valuable books and materials, in order to keep pace with the acquirements of the students.

Attached to the Society’s Bengalee school at Arpuly already noticed was an English school, the pupils being selected from the one to learn English, in the other as a reward for their diligence. In 1829 there were ninety-three boys learning English in this school, from which promotions were occasionally made to the Society’s other English school, and sometimes to the Hindoo College; but this school was discontinued in 1833, at the same time with the Bengalee school at Arpuly, and for the same reasons.

2. The English institutions that have been hitherto enumerated are those which, after the Hindoo College, have principally contributed to create that desire to acquire a knowledge of the English language which prevails in this district, and more especially in Calcutta. They however by no means fully satisfy the desire they have produced, and to supply their defects a second class of English schools is arising amongst us, originating with the Natives and deriving resources exclusively from them. Perhaps the most zealous friends of English education in this country are not aware of all the efforts and sacrifices of the natives themselves to provide their children and their countrymen with English instruction. This class of schools may be subdivided into those that are pay-schools, and those in which the instruction is gratuitous.

The first English school of this kind is situated at Bhowanipore, and is called the Union school, in consequence of its having been formed by the union of two such schools respectively established at Bhowanipore and Kidderpore. They were established without any communication with Europeans by Native gentlemen for the instruction of Hindoo children in English, and were at first supported by voluntary subscription. In May, 1829, they were placed upon an improved footing; and in the management of them Europeans and Natives were then first associated. They were opened to pay-scholars, and the Calcutta School Society made them a monthly grant towards their support; but that resource not proving adequate to their wants, they applied to the General Committee of Public Instruction for assistance. Their immediate wants extended only to about 600 rupees for the necessary school-furniture; but the General Committee placed 1,000 rupees at the disposal of the School Society for the use of each school considering it to be “a great object to establish schools of this description which might in time serve as preparatory steps to the Hindoo College, and relieve that institution of part of the duty of elementary tuition.” The united school is supported partly by public subscriptions and partly by the fees of the scholars, of whom there are at present about 150. This is a day-school, instruction being given every day of the week from ten to three except on Sundays.

Another English school of this description is situated at Simliya, and has about 70 scholars. It is exclusively a pay-school, having no other resources except the fees paid by the scholars. There are three teachers, one Englishman and two Hindoos.

A third school of this kind is situated in Upper Circular Road and has 30 or 40 scholars. It is a pay-school, and the proprietor is a Christian, who supports himself by teaching.

A fourth pay-school is situated in Burra Bazar, and has 30 or 40 scholars taught by a Native.

The most popular school of this description is situated at Sobha Bazar and has about 300 scholars. The proprietors are a 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 for support either in, the form of public subscriptions or of school fees.

3. The third class of English schools consists of those which are principally designed for the instruction of the children of Christian parents, without excluding natives. Among the pupils are a few Europeans and some native children; but the majority consists of East-Indian and Indo-Portuguese. The schools are all proprietary and the instruction stipendiary. Those noticed under this head are boys’ schools.

The Calcutta High School, the first institution of this class, was established in 1830, and is the property of shareholders, each share being 250 rupees, bearing interest by dividends of profits not to exceed six per cent. per annum. The property is held by trustees; the school is managed by an elective committee; and visitors are appointed to visit the school and to control the appointment of masters. The masters are a rector, a second master, a third master, and as many junior and assistant masters as the state of the school may require. The school is divided into three departments, English, Commercial and Classical. The English department includes, besides the elements of the language, grammar, history, geography, and composition; the Commercial includes arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and book-keeping; and the Classical includes Latin from the rudiments to Horace and Livy, and Greek to the Collectanea Minora and Homer’s Iliad. In the first a boy remains three years, supposing him to be almost unacquainted with English when he enters. After that period he proceeds to the Commercial and Classical departments in which he continues five years. The classes that are engaged in the forenoon with the rector in the classics, go to Commercial department in the afternoon and vice versa. After being in operation only four years, five pupils from the High School had entered Bishop’s college where they are prosecuting their studies. The number of pupils is 150. The school is open to the sons of Hindoo or Musalman gentlemen, but it does not appear whether any receive instruction. This institution publishes annual reports of its proceedings.

The Parental Academic Institution is also managed by a committee and publishes annual reports. The objects of the Society that established it are to afford to youth the best education that existing circumstances admit, and as far as the state of the funds will allow, to provide education for the orphans of members who may die not possessed of property sufficient to pay for educating their children. Membership is created by contributing two rupees or more monthly, or 24 rupees or more annually, or 300 rupees or more in one sum. This institution is conducted on the principle of combining religious knowledge with useful information. The course of instruction embraces scriptural knowledge and Paley’s evidences, grammar, geography, Roman, Grecian, English and Indian history, astronomy, natural philosophy, Latin, geometry, algebra and political economy. The number of pupils is 160. Two free scholarships have just been established in this institution to be denominated the Metcalfe scholarships with the view of perpetuating the remembrance of the uniform liberality of Sir Charles Metcalfe towards the institution, especially evinced by a recent donation of 5,000 rupees for the purpose of liberating it from debt.

The Philanthropic Academy is an institution, established by the Armenian community of Calcutta, for the instruction of their children in the English and Armenian languages and in general knowledge. It does not publish periodical reports, and no details respecting it have reached me. It is regarded with much favour by the Armenians, and it is understood that several valuable bequests have been made to it. The institution has three branches, the Armenian, the Female, and the English department. The children of both rich and poor are taught without distinction, the former gratis and the latter at a monthly charge (sic).

The Verulam Academy is a private school, the property of the gentleman who conducts it. The system pursued is in some respects peculiar. The classics are not taught, and particular attention is paid to English literature, science, and natural history. There are three teachers and between sixty and seventy pupils. No lesson whatever is required to be repeated by rote. The teachers are required to take all the trouble. They read and explain to the pupils who are expected only to be attentive. Corporal punishment is never allowed, but solitary confinement is inflicted for great offences. After every hour and a half the classes change tutors and studies.

A widow lady in the Circular Road has a school conducted by individuals whom she appoints. This school professes to give instruction in spelling, grammar, geography, history, arithmetic, and also in geometry, algebra, and Latin.

The Classical Academy teaches spelling, reading, English grammar, arithmetic, and Latin.

There is a school in Goomghur, in which spelling, reading, English grammar, arithmetic, and history are taught.

A missionary residing in Entally has a school, of which I have not been able to learn any particulars whatever.

A classical and mercantile boarding and day-school is about to be opened by three of the Catholic clergymen lately arrived from Europe. It is to be called the College of St. Francis Xavier, will be placed under the patronage of the Vicar Apostolic, and superintended by the Rev. F. Chadwick as rector. Children destined for mercantile pursuits will receive a full mercantile education, comprising English grammar, reading, writing, arithmetic, book-keeping, geography, the use of globes, and ancient and modern history. Those destined for the learned professions will in addition to the foregoing, be taught the Latin and Greek classics, and mathematics. As far as I am aware this school has not yet gone into operation.

This is a very important class of English schools, for it is in these that the middling class of the indigenous Christian population receive their education. Several of them are little known, and what is occasionally said of others in the newspapers, is probably little to be trusted; for the notices that appear after the usual annual examinations may often be supposed to proceed from well-meaning but too partial friends. An impartial and independent estimate of the course of instruction and discipline pursued in these schools, I note here as a desideratum. It might have the effect of leading to the improvement of a class of schools which exercises a very extensive influence upon the character of the Christian population of this country.

4. The fourth class of English schools is distinguished from the preceding one only in being girls’ instead of boys’ schools. The pupils are the daughters of resident Europeans, East-Indians, or Indo-Portuguese, without any intermixture of the female children of Native parents. I do not suppose that the latter would be refused as pupils, but I am not aware of any instances in which their parents have sought instruction for them in those schools. The instruction is stipendiary and the schools are proprietary, the lady who is at the head of each establishment being the proprietress. According to my information there are eight schools of this description in Calcutta, but I possess so few details of each individual school that I can only give this general notice of them. The pupils receive instruction in reading, spelling, grammar, letter-writing, geography, history, arithmetic, and sewing. Music also is taught in some of them and drawing in others. One of them is a preparatory school for little children in which the instruction is limited to reading, writing, and spelling.

The remark made on the third is still more applicable to the fourth class of English schools. They are loo little known. They are not sufficiently under the public eye. A parent anxious for the welfare of his daughters has no means, except by personal investigation which few can make, of ascertaining the principles, if any, on which education is conducted, the course of instruction pursued, and the rules of discipline enforced. A public good would be effected if, without infringing on the freedom of instruction or on the delicacy due to female establishments of education, the conductors could devise some means of bringing their seminaries more directly under the influence of enlightened public opinion.

5. The fifth class of English schools consists of charitable and orphan institutions, designed principally for the instruction of the children and orphans of the poor Christian population.

The Free School Society was formed in 1789; and in 1800 the Old Calcutta Charity school which had existed some time before 1756, was merged into it, at which date the funds of the united institution amounted to rupees 2,72,009-15-1. The object of the Society was to provide the means of education for all children, orphans and others, not the objects of the care of the Military Orphan Society. In 1813 the benefits of the institutions were extended to day-scholars. The Old Court-house was part of the property of the Old Calcutta Charity school, and it was transferred to the Government in consideration of a perpetual payment of 800 rupees per mensem, which continues to be made. In 1826, the governors of the Free school represented to the Bengal Government that in consequence of the reduction of the rate of interest on the Government securities in which their funds were invested, they were unable to continue the school on its then extended scale, unless the Government would afford them aid. In support of this application, they urged the greatly increased demand for the admission of destitute children; that they had been compelled to reduce their numbers from 400 to 280, viz., 195 boys and 81 girls; and that, unless aid could be afforded them, they must make a further reduction. Under these circumstances the Government resolved that an allowance of 800 rupees per month, being the amount hitherto contributed by the Government to the Vestry fund, should be granted to the Free school. The Court of Directors confirmed this grant, suggesting at the same time the propriety of uniting the Free school with the Benevolent Institution, the two establishments appearing to be of a similar character; but the Bengal Government in reply stated points of difference which render such an union impracticable. In 1832 in consequence of alleged abuses, an investigation was made into the state of the institution, which terminated in various reforms—the election of four governors from the general body of subscribers; the appointment of two others by the Government; the investment of the permanent funds in Government securities to be placed in the hands of the Governor-General in Council; the appointment of a clergyman who should give his undivided attention to the duties of chaplain and superintendent; the appointment of an active qualified head-master; a general revision and re-modelling of the plan of education and of the domestic arrangements of the institution; and the establishment of effectual checks over the expenditure of the funds. In consequence of these changes the governors, with the aid of a special subscription, have been enabled to build additional accommodations for the girls, and considerably to increase the total number of children, viz., from less than 300 to 381. The number of girls under instruction is 151, and that of boys about 230, and notwithstanding this increase, the monthly expenditure is about 600 rupees less than it was before the reforms were made. The female department of the Free school includes an infant school in which the rudiments of knowledge are communicated to about 50 very young children. The manufacture of straw-bonnets and lace for sale has also been introduced into the girls’ department, and it is hoped that instruction in these mechanical arts will introduce two useful branches of trade into Calcutta where occupation for females is most urgently required. Hitherto the manufacture of straw has been confined to the country and to Natives, whilst the lower classes of Christians have abandoned themselves to idleness and begging. Many of the girls educated in the Free school, will now go forth habituated to industry and prepared to fill up the leisure of their domestic hours with an occupation of some profit and little toil.

The Benevolent Institution founded in the year 1810, is supported by voluntary contributions, and is under the management of the Serampore missionaries. The object of the institution is to afford instruction to youth of both sexes, the descendants of indigent Christians of all nations. It was proposed at first to educate only 50 such children, but in 1833 the number in the boys’ school alone had increased to 200, of whom 150 were East-Indians, 45 Hindoos, 8 Europeans, 3 Chinese, and 2 Africans. The absence of the headmaster in 1834 reduced the number to 121, but his subsequent return again brought it into a prosperous condition. In the last mentioned year there were eighty pupils on the list of the girls’ school, and more than fifty in constant attendance. The managers remark that, although a great many of the children are the offspring of Roman Catholic parents, no instance has occurred of any of the children having been taken from school because they were instructed in the Bible. The boys, with a view to fit them for usefulness in life, though it be in the humblest situations, are taught the simple and compound rules of arithmetic, the rules of English grammar, and the reading of the sacred scriptures. The three highest classes, including nearly a third of those in constant attendance, are acquainted with both the simple and compound rules of arithmetic, fractions, vulgar and decimal, and the square and cube root. They are also instructed in geography and the use of the globes, and acquire a familiar acquaintance with the rules of English grammar. Some of them are also taught to draw maps. The girls are taught reading, writing, spelling, grammar, arithmetic, and needle-work, in addition to catechetical and scriptural instruction. Needle-work, which is considered essential in their circumstances, receives a considerable portion of their time and attention. It is estimated by the managers that each child thus educated in the institution, on an average, costs less than two rupees per month, including the expense of teachers and books of every kind. Notwithstanding this extreme economy and the benevolence of the object of the institution, the funds do not appear to equal the expenditure. In 1826, the managers represented to the Bengal Government, that the average daily attendance of children of both sexes was 250, that more than 1,000 children had been educated in it, and introduced to public life under favourable auspices, and that it still enjoyed the sanction of public patronage; but that owing to the increase of charitable schools and the death or return to Europe of some of the early patrons of this institution, its funds were so materially diminished as to leave a balance against it on the year’s account. Under these circumstances they solicited the aid of the Company, which the Bengal Government consented to grant, and passed an order for the payment of the sum of rupees 13,000 on behalf of this institution. In 1827, in consequence of the continued insufficiency of funds, another application was made by the managers to the Bengal Government, by whom a permanent grant was made to the institution of 200 rupees per month. In 1833, a debt of 4,000 rupees had accumulated against the institution which had not been reduced in 1834.

The European Female Orphan Asylum was established for the reception and education of female European orphans, principally those of the King’s regiments in India. Such children are very seldom reared to maturity, through the ignorance, indolence, or cruelty of those who are entrusted with their management, and being exposed to the scenes and temptations of barracks are nurtured in vice and inured to profligacy. The regimental schools provide instruction for all the children of the regiment, but still leave the orphans in an unprotected state. The asylum was established for the purpose of giving them a suitable education and training them up to the management of a house and care over younger children, free from the corrupting influences to which they would otherwise be exposed. Those children only are admissible who are under ten years of age, whose fathers and mothers were both Europeans, and who have been deprived of both parents. The education given is in conformity with the principles of the church of England. For the purpose of economy and also of bringing up the orphans in habits of useful labour, all the business of the house is conducted, as far as is expedient and practicable, by a number of the senior children who take their various departments of labour in rotation under the direction of the head-mistress. It is made an object also that the institution should furnish its own teachers, and the orphans are so trained as to provide a succession of mistresses well qualified by previous discipline to carry on the whole business of the institution. They are made also to contribute by their manual labour to the funds of the institution in subordination to higher objects. The property of the institution is held in trust by a committee of five gentlemen, and the management is confided to a committee of ten ladies. At the date of the last report (1834), the number receiving the benefit of the asylum was 79; and the expenditure of the asylum was a little more than 1,000 rupees per month, including the board, clothing, washing, etc., of the children, and the salaries of the mistress and of the chaplain, servants, etc. The funds to meet the expenditure consist of voluntary contributions, with the exception of 191 sicca rupees per mensem, which is allowed by Government in consideration of the children being taken from the barracks. There is an annual sale of useful and fancy articles for the purpose of aiding the funds, and the work produced by the industry of the orphans in their leisure hours has averaged at the sales not less than between four or five hundred rupees each year. A considerable sum has also been gained for the asylum by needle-work taken in and executed by the wards.

The Calcutta Catholic Society was formed about five years ago, and has established two charity schools, one for boys and the other for girls. The objects of this Society are to rescue the offspring of professed Catholics in Calcutta from the corruption which ignorance and poverty always beget, to instruct that class of Christians in the doctrines and principles of Catholicism, and to purchase and disseminate such works of talented Catholic authors as afford a fair and correct view of the Catholic religion, and are calculated to raise the moral character of its followers. Both schools afford daily instruction to about 150 children, and the total expenditure does not exceed 150 rupees per month. This institution has recently been placed under the patronage of the Vicar Apostolic of Bengal, and under the management of a committee composed of ladies for the female, and gentlemen for the male, department.

There is a small school attached to the principal Roman Catholic church, and another to the Catholic church, Boitakhana, but there are no published accounts of them.

The St. James’s district schools are day-schools for the instruction of the children of indigent Christian parents, and are four in number—the boys’ school, the girls’ school, the infant school, and the sabbath school, in which about 160 children of all ages are taught. I have not found any very recent notice of these schools.

During the last four years a district school has existed in connection with the Old Mission Church. There are present 55 boys’ names on the books; but the average attendance during the hot weather is not more than 40. The system pursued is Dr. Bell’s. The school is supported by the contributions of a few of the Old Church congregation, and of late an annual sermon has been preached for it. The monthly cost is about 55 rupees, but no school-rent is paid. The object of the school is quietly and unobtrusively to promote the moral and religious improvement of the scholars, and the expectations formed by its supporters have been answered.

In 1834, a school which appears to have been established by some other means, was taken under the patronage of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. The school is situated in the Chitpore Road, near the Old China Bazar, in a place called Sukea’s Lane. It is under the care of a master and a mistress, and contains about 100 boys and 30 girls who are principally of Portuguese extraction.

The Martiniere, for the support and education of a prescribed number of indigent Christian children, for the establishment of which large funds were bequeathed by the will of Claude Martin, is at last, after a delay of more than 30 years, about to be carried into operation. A large and commodious building has been erected, a committee of gentlemen of different religious professions has been appointed by Government, and the rules for the management of the institution are now under consideration.

Native Female Schools.—The first attempt to instruct Native girls in Calcutta, in organized schools, was made by the Calcutta Female Juvenile Society, which has subsequently assumed the name of the Calcutta Baptist Female Society for the establishment and support of Native female schools. The thirteenth report, dated 1834, is now before me, from which it appears that there is one school in Calcutta, containing from 60 to 70 scholars; another at Chitpore, containing 110 to 120; and a third at Sibpore, in which 20 children of Native converts are instructed. The schools are superintended by a Committee of Ladies, and the teachers are Native women, formerly in some instances scholars. The girls are taught reading, spelling and geography, and much attention is given to religious instruction. In the Chitpore school writing is also taught, and in the Sibpore school six of the Christian girls have begun to learn English.

An examination of a number of Bengalee girls belonging to the school instituted by the above mentioned Society, on the occasion of a public examination of the Calcutta School Society’s schools, attracted the attention of the last-mentioned Society to the subject of female schools, and in the report of 1820 it is stated that, although attempts to promote female education are highly approved, yet as members of an Association composed jointly of Natives and Europeans, the former cannot be expected to act all at once upon the suggestions of the latter, militating against opposite sentiments of very long standing, and it was, therefore, determined that the time had not yet arrived for direct endeavors by the Society to establish Native girls’ schools under female teachers. The British and Foreign School Society, however, in consultation with the Calcutta School Society’s agent, Mr. Harington, and with Mr. Ward of the Serampore Mission, both then in England, opened a subscription for the outfit of a mistress to be sent to India, qualified to instruct females born or bred in this country in the Lancasterian method of mutual instruction, that they might afterwards diffuse the system throughout the country as opportunities offered. Miss Cooke (now Mrs. Wilson) accordingly arrived in November 1821, and as the funds of the Calcutta School Society were inadequate to her support, her services were engaged by the Corresponding Committee of the Church Missionary Society, and in connection with that Committee she gradually extended her labors until she had, in 1824, twenty-four schools under her superintendence, attended on an average by 400 pupils. In that year the Corresponding Committee relinquished the entire management and direction of their female schools to a Committee of Ladies who formed themselves into a Society called the Ladies’ Society for Native Female Education in Calcutta and its vicinity. Subsequently the number of schools was increased to 30, and that of the pupils to 600, but instead of still further multiplying the number of schools, it was deemed advisable to concentrate them, and a Central School was built for that purpose and occupied in 1828, since which the efforts of the Ladies' Society have been chiefly confined to that sphere of labor. An allowance is made of a pice a head to women under the name of hurkarees, for collecting the children daily and bringing them to school, as no respectable Hindoo will allow his daughters to go into the street except under proper protection. The school numbers 320 day-scholars, besides 70 Christian girls who live on the premises. The latter are orphans, and most of them have been collected from the districts south of Calcutta that have recently suffered from inundation and famine. Together with these, 40 poor women have been admitted by Mrs. Wilson to a temporary asylum, who are all learning to read and receive daily Christian instruction, and are at the same time employed in various ways to earn in whole or in part their own living. In connection with the Ladies’ Society, there is also a girls’ school on the premises belonging to the Church Missionary Society in Calcutta. The number of pupils fluctuates between 50 and 70. Spelling, reading, writing, needle-work, and religion are the subjects in which instruction is given. Many of the scholars have become teachers. Native ladies of the most respectable caste in society have both sent their daughters, and in some instances have themselves expressed anxiety to obtain instruction. The system of instruction pursued is also stated to have met the express concurrence and approbation of some of the most distinguished among the Native gentry and religious instructors. The majority of the more respectable Natives, however, still continue to manifest great apathy concerning the education of their daughters.

The Ladies’ Association for Native female education was originally instituted with a view to establish schools for Native girls, which could not be undertaken by the last-mentioned Society. This Association had at one time ten schools under its management, which, for the purpose of concentration, were reduced to two and afterwards to one. The school is conducted by a Christian master and mistress, with the assistance of an elderly Christian woman and three of the best scholars as monitors. The school is situated in the Circular Road, and has about 50 scholars, chiefly Mahomedan, who receive Christian instruction in the Native language. About 30 of the girls read the various school-books, and 20 learn to spell, &c. The monthly expenditure is Rupees 40.

There are three schools connected with the London Missionary Society in Calcutta. In a school situated in the Thunthunnya Road there are 45 scholars; in the Creek Row school 25; and in the Mendee Bagan school 28; in all 108. In these schools the girls are taught reading, writing and arithmetic, besides plain needle-work and marking. In order to assist in supporting the schools, it is intended to receive plain work, to be charged at a very moderate rate.

It has already been mentioned that 70 orphans are lodged and educated in the Central School belonging to the Ladies’ Society for Native Female Education; and it is now proposed to build a suitable separate establishment for the reception of one hundred Native orphan girls. It is intended that these children shall receive a good plain education both in their own and in the English language, be trained to habits of industry and usefulness, and remain in the institution until they marry. A public subscription has been opened, and it is contemplated to purchase ground on the bank of the river, four or five miles north of Calcutta, where land can be bought comparatively cheap.

Infant Schools.—In the account of the Calcutta Free school it was stated that the female department included an infant school in which the rudiments of knowledge are communicated to about 50 very young children.

Another infant school was established in 1830, and in October of that year there were about 48 children in daily attendance from two years old to eight. They attended from nine in the morning till five in the afternoon, and received a meal at one o’clock. This is probably the infant school mentioned already as one of the St. James’s district schools. It appears to have been suspended until the arrival of teachers from England who re-commenced the school in December, 1834, in the neighbourhood of St. James’s church. Measures are in the progress for giving it efficiency as a school for training and preparing masters and mistresses for other schools, and for introducing the system amongst the Natives both in Bengal and the Page:Reports on the State of Education in Bengal (1835 & 1838).djvu/120

Reports on the State of Education in Bengal (1835-38)/First Report on the State of Education in Bengal/Section 1

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