every spelling book or Primer he may have occasion to purchase, and, as Native school-boys generally destroy six or a dozen before they master its contents, the matter, to their poor parents, is one of great moment. Yet the School Book Society receives a grant of Rupees 500 a month from Government for the express purpose of selling good cheap school books.
“Some caution and foresight are necessary, lest in our well intentioned zeal and anxious endeavours to render this great Empire wealthy, and its people prosperous and happy, we do not deluge the country with a large class of discontented men, dissatisfied with their position in society and in life, and disgusted with the world, themselves, and the Government that took them from what they were, to make them what they are. This would be to fill our bazars with socialism, and red republicanism instead of contentment and prosperity, and for the Government to incur a responsibly it is alarming even to think of."
In 1860, Sir J. Peter Grant, when Governor of Bengal, submitted the following plan:—
“One of the matters particularly urged on the attention of the Government of India in Lord Stanley’s Despatch of April 1859 was the extension of Vernacular Education among the masses of the population, and Local Governments were desired to take it into careful consideration and report fully on the means, respectively, at their disposal for promoting the object in view, having regard to the peculiar circumstances of each Province or Presidency.
“It was in the first place observed that the agricultural peasantry of Bengal was the class to be acted upon; and secondly, that the instruction to be imparted to it should range no higher, at least for some time to come, than that which was afforded by the indigenous Private Schools already in existence in large numbers over the whole country. The object, therefore, should be to bring them under such influences as would improve and elevate their character and efficiency, and ultimately confirm and extend their usefulness.
“When the requisite number of Schools shall have been selected, the Inspector must endeavour to make the gurus, or the proprietors and supporters of the Schools, who are often talookdars and middlemen, to submit to periodical inspection.
“Books should be supplied to the Schools at a very low price. These books should contain, in a compact form, all that has hitherto been taught at such places by dictation, namely Arithmetic, Agricultural and Commercial Accounts, Forms of Agreements, Quittances of Rents, Bonds, and even models of the complimentary or formal letters which inferiors constantly address to their superiors. The Lieutenant-Governor does not feel warranted in despising this last kind of instruction, because it is not conveyed to the son of an English peasant. It is sufficient for our purposes that such instruction has been imparted in India for generations. The above course will enable any lad of ordinary intelligence to read and write correctly, and to see that he is not cheated in his accounts by the mahajun or the agent of the zemindar.
“He would be offered a reward in hard cash, within a limited amount at the discretion of the Inspector, and on the latter being satisfied that the state of the School justified the encouragement, which should not exceed half the schooling fees realised by the guru from his pupils; and assuming the fees at Rupees five per mensem, the guru would be paid on an average Rupees 30 per annum by Government.
“‘If the time should ever arrive when we could show one thousand Village Schools to a district, aided by Government, and affording the agriculturists a simple and practical education commensurate with their wants, the State, in such a case, might be held to have fairly done its duty by a neglected portion of its subjects.’”
