Art. III.-FREE AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION IN INDIA. THE HE following among other points deserve special consideration in connection with the subject under enquiry. (1) The present position and the advisability of free and compulsory mass education. (2) The best means of introducing compulsion. (3) The constitution of the body who will govern the scheme. (4) The financial means by which free education could be spread. (1) It is a matter of deep congratulation that the country is now in possession of a sound and practical scheme in the shape of a Bill introduced in the Imperial Legislative Council of India by the Hon'ble Mr. G. K. Gokhale, C.S.1., round which would cluster the pros and cons of a momentous problem On its satisfactory solution depend the material and moral improvement of the country. Such being the case one fails to see why there should be any opposition at all to such a salutary measure. The situation in India presents a sad contrast with that of other countries. Taking the question of literacy, we find that Europe leads off with 98 per cent. Even backward Russia has 25 per cent., but India can show only a paltry 6 per cent. who can read and write. The school attendance is also portionately small here. In America it is 21 per cent., Great Britain 20 per cent., Japan 11 per cent., in India. only 19 per cent. The small and inadequate expenditure on education accounts for such poor results. While America spends 16d. per head, England 10, Japan 1-2, India spends only 1d. per head. Not to speak pro of advanced European countries, India's backwardness is manifest on a comparison of her position of affairs with that of countries similarly situated like herself. Education has spread with marvellous strides in the Philippine Islands. One of the first things the Americans did was to make education entirely free and at her Own cost and latterly compulsory. The Philippinos living under American administration for about 13 years have got 6 per cent. of them educated, whereas the Indians enjoying the benefits of the generous and benevolent British rule for a century and a half can only show a progress of 2 per cent. The same remarks are applicable to the people of Ceylon who cannot be regarded as superior to the Indians. Education there was compulsory at Government schools. But in accordance with the recommendation of a Commission of Enquiry appointed in 1905, the scope and extent of compulsory education was much enlarged. Some areas were selected in which the boys were to be freely and compulsorily educated for six years, the costs to be met out of the road cess and the management to be under District Committees. The latest official report shows that the experiment has been a success. Coming nearer home the principality of Baroda shows a record of better results. His Highness the Maharaja, who is a thoroughly enlightened and liberalminded prince, made education compulsory throughout the State after a tentative extension of it to small selected areas for short periods. Boys between 6 and 12 and girls between 6 and 10 years of age must attend. It is gratifying to notice that within a few years 79 per cent. of the boys of this age were at school as against 21 per cent. in British India. Whilst Baroda with its limited resources expends 6d. per head, India spends only 1d. per head. In the light of the above-mentioned facts there cannot be two opinions on the question that Mr Gokhale's Bill, which is one of the most temperately worded documents ever seen and which is admirably adapted to the present condition in India, will supply a long-felt desideratum. He proposes to introduce com pulsion only in areas where there is already 33 per cent. of attendance. He confines it to boys at present and limits the period of study to four years in lieu of six years prevalent elsewhere. The advisability of free and compulsory mass education cannot be disputed on any reasonable grounds. It is in the interests of the masses that they should be enabled by means of education to prevent them from being victims of the unscrupulous money-lending classes and the grasping agents of their landlords; from being in the clutches of political fanatics who may try to seduce them from loyalty and allegiance to the powers that be by specious arguments and cunning misrepresentations intended to show that their miserable lot is the direct result of defective and bad foreign rule. This view is supported by Adam Smith, who said it was an advantage to the State that the people should be instructed in elementary education, for then they would be more disposed to examine and more capable of seeing through the interested complaints of faction and sedition. To such remedial advantages may be added others of a positive kind. Education will enable the masses to carry on agricultural and manufacturing industries on modern improved lines. On this subject the presidential speech of Mr. Sarada Charan Mitter (a distinguished Judge of the Calcutta High Court who since his retirement has been taking active and intelligent interest in a spirit of commendable sympathy and benevolence in all questions regarding the elevation of the down-trodden and depressed classes) at the Albert Hall Meeting, which was a masterpiece of eloquence and erudition dealing with the momentous problem in all its bearings, may be usefully referred to. What would India be, he very properly asked, if the masses do not know how to increase the production of the soil, how to manufacture the articles which we urgently need in this country? They must not be left in darkness-in barbarism. The difference between the higher and lower classes should be minimised. We must be consolidated as a people for the social and economic good of the country. The only means by which we can achieve India's good is education. We have been trying to raise the depressed classes, and it is our duty to raise them. It is our duty to see that those who are untouchables are educated. It should be noted that the character of the education proposed for the masses will, in the fulness of time, be of a technical kind which will enable them to carry on their callings or crafts with better advantage. That is to say, they will be able to produce two blades of grass where only one grew before. Besides making a near approach to the level of thought prevailing in the higher orders of society they will be enabled by elementary education of the technical kind to improve their material condition. Mass education, therefore, may be viewed as a nucleus of social reform and economic improvement. As education and moral worth and not mere accident of birth should be the standard of caste distinction, the spread of education though of an elementary character among the masses imbuing them gradually but surely with enlightened views will go a great way towards raising their status in society and will protect them from the contemptuous treatment to which they are now subjected. It is not difficult to understand how true and honest Swadeshism will be promoted by technical education. The recipients of such education being able to produce country goods equal in price and quality to foreign imported ones and sufficient in quantity there will be more demand for and preference to the former. And this seems to be the natural and normal method of promoting indigenous industries which may be called harmless boycott. (2) The best means of introducing compulsion. The common objections to compulsory education are that the time is not yet ripe for it, that the masses will lose rather than gain by it, that the heterogeneous character of the Indian society would make the trial a failure, that financial difficulty stands in the way of its successful introduction and so forth. The last objection will be dealt with under its separate head. The first one, viz., that the time has not come, is untenable as no noble undertaking can be accomplished if we wait indefinitely for favourable time and tide. A thing fairly begun is half done. As with individuals so with nations, good opportunities and concurrence of favourable circumstances, unless availed of as they present themselves, are often lost. We must take the current when it serves or lose our ventures. We must strike the iron while it is hot. We must not let the grass grow under our feet. It should be remembered that under the civilising influence of British rule in India and the blessings of English education the indolent apathy and dormant inertness born of pernicious social customs and the crude doctrine of fatalism, have given place to a healthy awakening of national consciousness destined to achieve high ends. The culture and public spirit of |