inspection and comparison of the different institutions suggest that a more correct view of the state of elementary scholastic instruction will be conveyed by distributing them into four classes, according to the languages employed in them, viz.—first, Bengali; second, Persian; third Arabic; and fourth, Persian and Bengali, with or without Arabic.
1. Elementary Bengali Schools,—It is expressly prescribed by the authorities of Hindu law that children should be initiated in writing and reading in their fifth year; or, if this should have been neglected, then in the seventh, ninth, or any subsequent year, being an odd number. Certain months of the year, and certain days of the month and week, are also prescribed as propitious to such a purpose; and, on the day fixed, a religious service is performed in the family by the family-priest, consisting principally of the worship of Saraswati, the goddess of learning, after which the hand of the child is guided by the priest to form the letters of the alphabet, and he is also then taught, for the first time, to pronounce them. This ceremony is not of indispensable obligation on Hindus, and is performed only by those parents who possess the means and intention of giving their children more extended instruction. It is strictly the commencement of the child’s school education, and in some parts of the country he is almost immediately sent to school; but in this district I do not find that there is any determinate age for that purpose. It seems to be generally regulated by the means and opportunities of the parent and by the disposition and capacity of the child; and as there is a specified routine of instruction, the age of leaving school must depend upon the age of commencement.
The Bengali schools in Nattore are ten in number, containing 167 scholars, who enter school at an age varying from five to ten years, and leave it at an age varying from ten to sixteen. The whole period spent at school also varies, according to the statements of the different teachers, from five to ten years; two stating that their instructions occupied five years, one six years, three seven years, two eight years, one nine years, and one ten years—an enormous consumption of time, especially at the more advanced ages, considering the nature and amount of the instruction communicated.
The teachers consist both of young and middle-aged men, for the most part simple-minded, but poor and ignorant, and, therefore, having recourse to an occupation which is suitable both to their expectations and attainments, and on which they reflect as little honor as they derive emolument from it; they do not understand the importance of the task they have undertaken; they do not appear to have made it even a subject of thought; they do not appreciate the great influence which they might exert over the minds of their pupils; and they consequently neglect the highest duties which their situation would impose, if they were better
