Page:General report on the public instruction in the lower provinces of the Bengal Presidency (1844-45).djvu/13

as largely and as early as possible by the result of the measures adopted of late years for the instruction of the people as well by the Government as by private individuals and societies, has resolved that in every possible case a preference shall be given in the selection of candidates for public employment to those who have been educated in the institutions thus established, and especially to those, who have distinguished themselves therein by a more than ordinary degree of merit and attainment.

The Governor-General is accordingly pleased to direct that it be an instruction to the Council of Education and to the several Local Committees and other authorities charged with the duty of superintending public instruction throughout the provinces subject to the Government of Bengal to submit to that Government at an early date, and subsequently on the 1st of January in each year returns (prepared according to the form appended to this resolution) of students who may be fitted, according to their several degrees of merit and capacity, for such of the various public offices as, with reference to their age, abilities, and other circumstances, they may be deemed qualified to fill.

The Governor-General is further pleased to direct that the Council of Education be requested to receive from the Governors or Managers of all scholastic establishments, other than those supported out of the public funds, similar returns of meritorious students, and to incorporate them after due and sufficient enquiry with those of Government Institutions, and also that the managers of such establishments be publicly invited to furnish returns of that description periodically to the Council of Education.

The returns when received, will be printed and circulated to the heads of all Government offices both in and out of Calcutta, with instructions to omit no opportunity of providing for and advancing the candidates thus presented to their notice, and in filling up every situation of whatever grade, in their gift, to shew them an invariable preference over others not possessed of superior qualifications. The appointment of all such candidates to situations under the Government will be immediately communicated by the appointing officer, to the Council of Education, and will by them be brought to the notice of Government and the public in their annual reports. It will be the duty of controlling officers with whom rests the confirmation of appointments made by their subordinates to see that a sufficient explanation is afforded in every case in which the selection, may not have fallen upon an educated candidate whose name is borne on the printed returns.

With a view still further to promote and encourage the diffusion of knowledge among the humbler classes of the people, the Governor-General is also pleased to direct that even in the selection of persons to fill the lowest offices under the Government, respect be had to the relative acquirements of the candidates, and that in every instance a man who can read and write be preferred to one who cannot.