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vulgar tongue. In the Junior Classes one-third of the school hours was reserved for direct instruction in the vernacular, and in the Senior Classes, about one-fourth. To give the vernaculars an added importance, a paper in these languages formed a part of the examinations upon whose results were awarded Junior and Senior Scholarshipsencouragements which about this time were provided by Lord Auckland.

English tended to eclipse Vernaculars.

In spite of every precaution to prevent it, the study of English unfailingly tended to take complete possession of the schools. Mr. Kerr informs us that comparatively little attention was given to the object of conveying instruction through the medium of the vernacular. To correct this, the General Committee more than once drew the attention of teachers to the importance of making exercises in translation a means of imparting sound knowledge in every subject of general interest-morals, history, science and literature-and not merely a vehicle for the purpose of "furnishing vocables" of the English and Vernacular languages. Nevertheless, it has to be recorded that the vernacular languages in the Anglo-Vernacular schools continued to be overshadowed by English.

Educational Funds in 1840.

The funds at the disposal of the Government for educational purposes in 1836 amounted to nearly 4 lakhs of rupees. This sum was compiled from the following

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To this amount in 1840 Lord. Auckland added a further grant of nearly 11⁄2 lakhs, thus raising the educational funds of Government to about 5% lakhs of rupees a year.

The General Committee replaced

by the Council of Education.

The General Committee of Public Instruction had now superintended the educational operations of Government for all but twenty years-twenty years of good repute and evil repute. It had not wavered when misunderstood or criticized. Out of no recognized system it had evolved principles of education which were well defined and which had become established. But its business had attained such dimensions, and the funds under its control were now so considerable, that the Government felt that the time had come for it to take education more directly under its own supervision. Accordingly, in 1842, the General Committee of Public Instruction was disbanded, and in its stead the Council of Education was installed, with the President of the Indian Law Commission, the Indian Law Commissioner, the Secretary to the Government of Bengal, the Secretary to the Law Commission, the Superintendent of the Eye Infirmary, and two Hindu gentlemen, as members, and Dr. Mouat as Secretary.

CHAPTER IV.

From the Days of the Council of Education to Lord Stanley's Education Despatch, 1842 to 1859.

The Council of Education assumed control of the Hooghly College, the Sanskrit College, the Hindu College, the Calcutta Medical College, the Calcutta Madrasah, and later on of the Colleges at Krishnagar and Dacca. Eventually it became responsible for all the provincial schools in Bengal save those in which purely vernacular instruction was being imparted.

Statistics for the Year 1842-1843.

The following are the statistics of Education in Bengal for the year 1842-1843, the first year of the Council of Education:

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Number of masters, 58; number of assistant masters, 133.

N.B.-The Statement does not include the schools and colleges unconnected with Government, and it altogether omits the tols, muktabs, patshalas and madrasahs which were in the Province.

The North-Western Provinces separated from Bengal.

The year 1842 witnessed an event of great importance, viz., the separation of the North-Western Provinces of Bengal from the Lower Provinces, and their constitution into a new Government whose headquarters were at Agra. In the following year the sum of two lakhs of rupees was allotted to the Lieutenant-Governor of the NorthWestern Provinces, from the total provision of 5% lakhs for education, for expenditure upon the schools within his jurisdiction.

Mr. Thomason gives effect in the N.-W. Provinces

to Mr. Adam's plan of Mass Education.

Mr. Thomason, the first Lieutenant-Governor at Agra, was a man of strong personality and independence of action. His experience of the people committed to

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his trust was intimate, and his understanding of their needs was unerring. He was familiar with the recommendations which Mr. W. Adam had submitted in 1835 to 1838 for the consideration of the General Committee of Education, and he regarded them as worthy of acceptance. No one knew better than he did how steeped in ignorance were the raiyats of his province. From particular enquiry he ascertained that less than 5 per cent. of boys of school-going age were receiving instruction, and that of the most apologetic description. True, there was nothing singular in this. It was the same in every part of the Indian possessions of the East India Company. But from the facts before him, Mr. Thomason made deductions that were strange to the times in which he lived. He declared that such a state of affairs was a standing reproach to the British Government, whose bounden duty it was to remove it, and to have every peasant in the country taught to read, write, and cipher with sufficient intelligence to keep the accounts of his own lands, and to understand the nature of his own rights and his own tenure. As the best means of arousing the mass of the people to a sense of the value of a sound elementary education, he determined to associate education in the minds of an agricultural people with the revenue system of the country. "In this view," to quote Mr. Howell, every village of a certain size was to have its own school and master supported by an endowment of not less than five acres of land from the village community, of the annual value of Rs. 20 to Rs. 40. Where the village community would grant the land, the Government would remit the public demand on the land so assigned. To the principle of endowment the Court of Directors, however, objected. While they entirely approved of Mr. Thomason's object, and declared themselves ready to sanction means for its attainment, they doubted the propriety of endowments of the kind proposed, as having the tendency to assume the character of permanent and hereditary rights, irrespective

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of the competency of the actual incumbents. The Court was in favour of money-payments to the school-masters, and invited the Lieutenant-Governor to submit a scheme revised on the basis of allowances to teachers. Mr. Thomason, however, was opposed to the creation of a new and large body of men on the footing of regular Government officials. He thought that such a measure would involve numerous petty disbursements difficult to check in remote Districts, and would fail to secure the co-operation of the people-on which alone a national system could be safely based. His revised scheme, therefore, took a new form. He determined to establish a Government or Model School in each Tahsildari revenue district, and from there as a centre to supervise all the surrounding indigenous schools, and to furnish the people and teachers with advice, assistance, and encouragement, together with special rewards for the most deserving schoolmasters. All these arrangements were to be made under a Civilian with the title of Visitor General, on a salary of £1,200 a year, and suitable travelling allowance. The expense of the measure throughout the 31 Regulation Districts of the Province was estimated at a little more than £20,000 a year; but in the first instance, it was to be introduced into eight selected Districts at an annual cost of £3,600. These proposals were sanctioned by the Court of Directors, and on the 5th February, 1850, the measure was formally established by a Resolution of the Local Government (No. 14 of the 3rd October, 1849). In 1853 the Lieutenant-Governor submitted a full report on the experiment. He showed that more than 1,400 schools with nearly 20,000 scholars had been created by the new agency; that the quality of the instruction had been greatly improved; that sound elementary treatises had been made popular; and that everywhere a new spirit of energy and mental activity had been aroused. These results were confirmed by a visit of personal inspection

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