The work of Vernacular education in connexion with the Church Missionary Society, was begun in Burdwan under the superintendence of Captain Stewart in 1816, by his establishing two Vernacular Schools; in 1818 they increased to ten, containing 1,000 children, costing monthly 240 rupees. Captain Stewart, at the commencement of his labours, encountered considerable opposition: reports were industriously circulated among the natives that it was his design to ship all the children to England, and it was then sufficient objection to a book being read if it contained the name of Jesus, and a case occurred near Burdwan where a Hindu, rather than give up his child to be educated by the missionary, left it out at night to be devoured by jackals! There were five Brahmanical schools in Burdwan, the masters of which were afraid that their own institutions should be broken up by the Missionary School; they, therefore, fulminated curses against any natives who should send their children to Captain Stewart’s schools, but he chose his teachers from the ablest natives in the villages where his schools were to be established, and thus he disarmed opposition by the bait of interest, and the five Brahmanical schools were soon abandoned. The introduction of printed books into the schools at first caused some alarm; the natives apprehended it was some plan for ensnaring their children and destroying their caste! as all instruction was previously conveyed through manuscript, and it was remarked of the village masters, ‘if you put a book into their hands, they are unable to read it, except with great difficulty, and are still less able to understand its general contents’. Captain Stewart carried out the system of the late Mr. May, of Chinsura, with improvements of his own. Besides the outlines of astronomy, and of the History of England, which were introduced into these schools, Captain Stewart also caused instruction to be given “in some few of the preambles of the Honorable Company’s Regulations, which are particularly calculated to convince the people of India that Government anxiously desire to promote their comfort and advantage. In reading these, their first and most deeply-rooted impressions are in favour of their rulers, and submission will consequently follow from attachment and love.”
The Rev. T. Robertson, in 1818, makes the following remarks respecting the mode of tuition:—
“Once a month the head classes from all the schools are brought into Burdwan by their respective teachers, when a general examination takes place. It is thus seen which of the schools has made the greatest progress. Two classes are confronted with each other, and examined by the visitor in all the subjects learned during the past month. After this the boys are allowed to question each other. The highest boy of one class puts his question to the highest boy of the other; if he cannot reply, it passes down to each in succession, until it reaches the last. If any boy is able to solve it, he takes precedency; but if not, a mark is made of the failure. This class is now at liberty in its turn to put a question to the other which, if not answered, is noticed as in the former case. In the end it
