The History, Design and Present State of the Religious, Benevolent and Charitable Institutions, Founded by the British in Calcutta and Its Vicinity/Government Chinsurah Schools
CHINSURAH SCHOOLS.
It was originally the intention of the Writer to confine his account of the several Establishments, which this Work professes to describe, to those in Calcutta, or in its immediate vicinity; but in tracing the varied and extensive course which the stream of education has lately taken, it has become indispensible to the completeness of the narrative, to deviate from that first purpose, and to point out an humble, though important source, at a short distance from the Capital, whence may be expected to flow the most essential benefits to the cause of moral improvement throughout India.
The Establishment of Native Schools, on Dr. Bell’s system, by the late Mr. May, is here alluded to. At the beginning of July, 1814, this benevolent and meritorious individual, while residing at Chinsurah, as a Dissenting Minister, with a very narrow income, opened a School, in his dwelling house, proposing gratuitously, to teach the Natives reading, writing, and arithmetic. On the first day 16 Boys attended. In the course of the month of August, the Scholars became too numerous to be accommodated under his lowly roof, but a spacious apartment being allotted to him in the Fort, by Mr. Forbes, the Commissioner of Chinsurah, the list of attendance at the commencement of October, had swelled to 92. In January, 1815, Mr. May, opened a Village or Branch School, at a short distance from Chinsurah, and in the following month of June, not twelve months since the commencement of his undertaking, he had established sixteen Schools, including the central one at Chinsurah, to which, 951 pupils resorted.
Mr. May encountered some slight impediments in the commencement of his labours from the prejudices of the Natives; chiefly, however, among the old teachers of the indigenous schools, who, from interested motives, naturally did not fail to foment the apprehensions at first entertained by some, that he intended to convert them to Christianity. His wise and conciliatory measures, however, soon removed distrust from their minds, and satisfied them that he meditated no interference with their religious opinions. The objection of the school-masters did not long exist, for the extension of the Branch Schools on the new principle ultimately created a demand for additional teachers, who were in many cases provided from the class above mentioned. Although the opposition alluded to was ultimately overcome, it must not be supposed that the establishment of the schools was achieved without considerable difficulty: the introduction alone of a new plan of education among an ignorant people, notorious for their indolence, apathy, and attachment to established habits, involving frequent journies, visits, and conferences, effected in an hostile climate, and with very imperfect accommodation, required no common exertion of patience, self denial, fortitude and perseverance. Add to this the labour of superintendance, and Mr. May’s indefatigable efforts, may be justly appretiated. The Branch Schools were situated, some of them, ten miles above, and some, six miles below, Chinsurah: nevertheless Mr. May and his assistants contrived to visit 26 Branch Schools sixty times in three months.
The success of Mr. May, and his unexceptionable mode of intercourse with the natives, having been brought by Mr. Forbes to the notice of the Government, a monthly sum of 600 Rupees was granted to enable Mr. May to prosecute his undertaking, Mr. Forbes being desired to superintend the detailed application of the funds.
Towards the latter end of 1815, the attendance on Mr. May’s establishments was somewhat diminished, by the formation of several Schools by natives, partly from motives of ostentation, and partly with views of opposition to Mr. May, but it soon became manifest that his plan of education was as inoffensive to their prejudices, as it was superior to their own mode of instruction, and it’s progress now exceeded his most sanguine expectation.The attendance of the children in the Fort being inconvenient, the Central School was removed to a short distance from Chinsurah, and Mr. May, adverting to the increase of the Schools, and the great augmentation of the number of children on the books, which amounted early in 1816, to 2136, projected the formation of a School for teachers, as necessary to the extension of his plan, and the perpetuation of the means of instruction. A few youths were accordingly taken on probation, their education, food, and clothes, being furnished to them, free of expense. After performing for a time the duties of monitors at the Central School, and receiving more especial instructions from Mr. May, they were sent to the Village Schools to learn accurately the plan observed there, and thus they became qualified to discharge the duties of instructors themselves. So popular was the latter institution, that a blind man performed a journey of three days on foot, for the purpose of securing a place in it for his nephew.
Nor did the higher class of natives in the vicinity withhold their confidence from the general scheme of education. The Rajah of Burdwan, and two other individuals of consideration, each established a School, the former of whom subsequently transferred his School to English superintendance. From the earliest stage, one third of the children in attendance at the Schools were Bramins. At first a Bramin boy would not sit down on the same mat with one of another cast. The teachers also made the same objection, which has of late been voluntarily relinquished.
From the preceding pages, the reader will be prepared to expect the rapid progress and full success of Mr. May’s experimental institutions, and it will not be necessary, therefore, to trace with minuteness, the further circumstances, which led to this happy result. In consequence of the great demand for the establishment of Village Schools, the Government was induced to enlarge it’s monthly donation to 800 Rs. It was already evident, from the experience of three years, that the natives were eager to receive the benefits of knowledge, communicated to them on those principles of reason, discretion, and good faith, which the Government has uniformly inculcated, and that under a continuance of judicious management, the want of means would oppose the only obstacle to its unlimited dissemination. On this occasion, and when the first allowance in support of the Schools was granted, the Government expressly enjoined the most scrupulous adherence to the long avowed and indispensible condition of not interfering with the religious opinions of the Natives, an injunction which was pointedly and wisely reiterated by the Court of Directors, when they sanctioned the pecuniary aid in question.
In August 1818, Mr. May’s course of usefulness was arrested by death: but this excellent man was not removed from the scene of his labors, until he had witnessed how complete was their present beneficial operation, to which satisfaction he might have added, had his modest and unassuming nature admitted of it, the anticipation that future generations would be indebted to his care, for their redemption from ignorance and degradation. At the time of his decease, the existence of 36 Schools attended by above 3,000 Natives, both Hindoos and Mohomedans, attested his zeal, his prudence and benevolent perseverance; and surely if the consciousness of having done good can furnish consolation, at the dying hour, his reflections must have cheered him in his awful extremity, and soothed the pangs of dissolution. Mr. May was succeeded in the charge of the Government Schools by Mr. Pearson, who assisted by Mr. Harle, followed his footsteps, with equal ability and judgment. The endeavors of these Gentlemen were, at first, chiefly directed to the introduction of further improvements in Native Education, the plan of instruction approaching, as nearly as possible, to that adopted in the National Society’s Schools in England, with the modifications suggested by local circumstances, and some ingenious and expedient additions made by the new Managers.
The system having now reached a stage of matured improvement, the superintendants were directed to impart it as a model in every practicable degree to the Schools supported by Natives. This plan of proceeding had been acted upon with great success by the Calcutta School Society (an Institution, the formation of which, and of the School Book Society will shortly be noticed) by the cordial co-operation, and principally through the immediate agency of some of the most respectable and wealthy Natives of the Metropolis.
According to the latest accounts, the Government Schools, established on a solid basis of excellence, have experienced little variation in their extension, or system of instruction. Parents of the lower class, being accustomed to take away their Children from the Schools, as soon as they have acquired sufficient knowledge to enable them to enter upon the common purposes of life,the benefit which the Institution was otherwise calculated to secure, is greatly diminished. The education of the children is consequently limited to the acquisition of a grammatical knowledge of their own language, to the power of reading works composed in a plain style, and on simple subjects, to writing with tolerable ease and correctness, and to the application with great readiness and accuracy of the rules of arithmetic, which are taught according to the European as well as the Native system. The higher order of Scholars are also prematurely removed, for the purpose of learning English, a knowledge of which is supposed to lead to wealth, and distinction, and which tongue, most classes, who have it in their power, study with remarkable eagerness. It has been proposed, therefore, to establish an English class for such boys, as shall have made the greatest progress in their own language, in order to induce them to remain at the Schools for a longer period. But, notwithstanding these deductions, it may be safely asserted, that the foundation of more extensive and higher knowledge, is securely laid in the establishment of these Schools, and that an abundant harvest of intelligence, knowledge, and morality will ultimately arise from the seed thus judiciously and benevolently sown.
The obstacle experienced by Mr. May, in the outset, from an apprehension of authoritative religious interference, and the great increase in his Schools when that apprehension was removed, presents a striking proof of the indispensible necessity, which cannot be too often, and too strongly inculcated, of divesting all plans for the extension of education among the natives of this Country, of any thing calculated to excite the remotest suspicion of such a design. This truth seems to be deeply impressed on the mind of the Government, and almost all persons in authority under them, and it is earnestly to be hoped that the sentiment is as general, as it is undeniably founded on sense and experience.
The Schools, which are the subject of the preceding pages, have latterly derived the most essential assistance and support by ample supplies of Books, from the School Book and School Societies, whose establishment will now be described.