Police.

Jails.

Education.

POLICE. Excluding the village watch, still maintained as a subsidiary police in many parts of the country, the regular police of all kinds in British India in 1882 consisted of a total strength of 145,421 officers and men, being an average of I policeman to about 6 square miles of area, or to about 1369 of the population. The total cost of maintenance was £2,378,143, of which £2,201,437 was payable from imperial or provincial revenues. The former figure gives an average cost of about £2, 15s. per square mile of area, and threepence per head of population. The average pay of each constable was Rs. 7 a month, or £8, 8s. a year.

In 1882-83, the total number of places of confinement in British India, including central and District jails and lock-ups, was 452; the total number of prisoners admitted during the year, or remaining over from the previous year, was 391,319; the daily average was 97,218. The places of transportation for all British India are the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where there are two penal establishments, containing, in 1882, a daily average of 11,454 convicts.

PUBLIC INSTRUCTION in India is directly organized by the State, and is assisted by grants-in-aid, under caretul inspection. But at no period of its history has India been without some system of popular education, independent of State organization or aid. The origin of the Deva-Nágari alphabet is lost in In ancient antiquity, though it is generally admitted not to be of indigenous invention. Inscriptions on stone and copper, the palm-leaf records of the temples, and in later days the widespread manufacture of paper, indicate not only the general knowledge, but also the common use, of the art of writing.

India.

From the earliest times the Brahman caste preserved, first by oral tradition, then in manuscript, a literature unrivalled in its antiquity and for the intellectual subtlety of its contents. The Muhammadan invaders introduced the profession of the historian, and attained a high degree of historical excellence, compared with European writers of the same mediæval period. Throughout every change of dynasty, vernacular instruction has been given, at least to the children of respectable classes, in each large village. On the one hand, the tols or seminaries for teaching Sanskrit philosophy at Benares and Nadiya recall Sanskrit the schools of Athens and Alexandria; on the other, the importance attached to instruction in accounts reminds one of the picture which Horace has left of a Roman education.

Village schools.

tols.

MISSIONARY AND STATE SCHOOLS.

473

Even at the present day, a knowledge of reading and writing, taught by the Buddhist monks, is as widely diffused throughout Burma as in many countries of Europe. Our own efforts to stimulate education have been most successful, when based upon the existing indigenous institutions.

efforts at

Madrasa

During the early days of the East India Company's rule, the Our first promotion of education was not recognised as a duty of education. Government. Even in England, at that time, education was entirely left to private, and mainly to clerical, enterprise. A State system of instruction for the whole people is an idea of the latter half of the present century. But the enlightened mind of Warren Hastings anticipated this idea by founding the Calcutta Madrasa for Muhammadan teaching (1781), and by Calcutta extending his patronage alike to Hindu pandits and European and other students. Lord Wellesley's schemes of imperial dominion led Colleges. to the establishment of the college of Fort William for English officials. Of the Calcutta seminaries, the Sanskrit College was founded in 1824, when Lord Amherst was Governor-General; the Medical College, by Lord William Bentinck in 1835; the Húglí Madrasa, by a wealthy native gentleman in 1836. The Sanskrit College at Benares had been established in 1791, the Agra College in 1823.

Meanwhile, the Christian missionaries made the field of Mission vernacular education their own. Discouraged by the autho- Schools. rities, and under the Company liable to deportation, they not only devoted themselves with courage to their special work of evangelization, but they were also the first Europeans to study the vernacular dialects spoken by the people. Nearly two centuries ago, the Jesuits at Madura, in the extreme south, had so mastered Tamil as to leave works in that language which are still acknowledged as classical by native authors. About 1810, the Baptist mission at Serampur, above Calcutta, raised Bengali to the rank of a literary prose dialect. The interest of the missionaries in education, which has never ceased to the present day, although now comparatively overshadowed by Government activity, had two distinct aspects. They studied the vernacular, in order to preach to the people, and to translate the Bible; they also taught English, as the channel of Western. knowledge.

system of education.

After long and acrimonious controversy between the advo- State cates of English and of vernacular teaching, the present system was based, in 1854, upon a comprehensive despatch sent out by Sir C. Wood (afterwards Lord Halifax). In the midst of Indian unithe tumult of the Mutiny, the three Indian Universities

versities.

Education Commission of

were founded at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay in 1857.1 Schools for teaching English were by degrees established in every District; grants-in-aid were extended to the lower vernacular institutions, and to girls' schools. A Department of Public Instruction was organized in every Province, under a Director, with a staff of Inspectors. In some respects this scheme may have been in advance of the time; but it supplied a definite outline, which has gradually been filled up. A network of schools was extended over the country, graduated from the indigenous village institutions up to the highest colleges. All received some measure of pecuniary support, granted under the guarantee of regular inspection; while a series of scholarships at once stimulated efficiency, and opened a path to the university for the children of the poor.

In 1882-83, an Education Commission, appointed by Lord Ripon's Government, endeavoured to complete the scheme 1882-83. inaugurated in 1854 by the Despatch of Lord Halifax. It carefully examined the condition of education in each Province, indicated defects, and laid down principles for further development. The results of its labours have been to place public instruction on a broader and more popular basis, to encourage private enterprise in teaching, to give a more adequate recognition to the indigenous schools, and to provide that the education of the people shall advance at a more equal pace along with the instruction of the higher classes. Female education and the instruction of certain backward classes of the community, such as the Muhammadans, received special attention. The general effect of the Commission's recommendations is to develop the Department of Public Instruction into a system of truly national education for India, conducted and supervised in an increasing degree by the people themselves.

Educational

In 1877-78, the total number of educational institutions of all statistics, sorts in British India was 66,202, attended by an aggregate of 1878-83. 1,877,942 pupils, showing an average of one school to every 14 square miles, and one pupil to every 100 of the population. In 1882-83, the total number of inspected schools of all classes in British India had risen to 109,216, with an aggregate of 2,790,773 scholars, showing an average of one school to every 8 square miles of area, and one pupil to every 71 of the population. Male pupils numbered 2,628,402, showing one boy at school to every 38 of the male population; and female pupils, 162,371, or one girl at school to every 610

1 By Act II. of 1857 for Calcutta ; by Act XXII. of 1857 for Bombay; and by Act XXVII. of 1857 for Madras.

THE INDIAN UNIVERSITIES.

475

females. These figures, however, only include State inspected or aided schools and pupils. The Census Report of 1881 returned 2,879,571 boys and 155,268 girls as under instruction throughout British India, besides 7,646,712 males and 277,207 females able to read and write, but not under instruction. The figures are evidently below the truth, and it will be remarked that the Census returns the total number of girls attending school at 5000 less than those returned as attending the State-inspected schools alone.

finance,

In 1877-78, the total expenditure upon education from all Educasources was £1,612,775, of which £782,240 was contributed tional by the provincial governments, £258,514 was derived from 1878-83. local rates, and £32,008 from municipal grants. These items may be said to represent State aid; while endowments yielded £37,218, subscriptions £105,853, and fees and fines £277,039. The degree in which education has been popularized, and private effort has been stimulated, may be estimated from the fact that in Bengal the voluntary payments now greatly exceed the Government grants. In 1882-83, the total educational expenditure throughout British India amounted to £2,105,653, of which £578,629 was contributed by the provincial governments, £347,376 was derived from local rates, £63,832 from municipal grants, £93,924 from subscriptions, £49,695 from Native States, £58,675 from endowments, £516,925 from fees and fines, and the remainder from other sources.

ties.

The three Universities of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay The Indian were incorporated in 1857, on the model of the University of UniversiLondon. They are merely examining bodies, with the privilege of conferring degrees in arts, law, medicine, and civil engineering. Their constitution is composed of a Chancellor Their conVice-Chancellor, and Senate. The governing body, or Syndi- stitution. cate, consists of the Vice-Chancellor and certain members of the Senate. A fourth University, on a similar plan, but including the teaching element, and following more oriental lines, has been founded at Lahore for the Punjab. The Universities control the whole course of higher education in India by means of their examinations. The entrance examination for matriculation is open to all; but when that is passed, candidates for higher stages must enrol themselves in one or other of the affiliated colleges. In the ten years ending 1877-78, 9686 candidates success- University fully passed the entrance examination at Calcutta, 6381 at statistics. 1878-1883. Madras, and 2610 at Bombay; total, 18,610. For the ten years ending 1882-83, out of 23,226 candidates at Calcutta, 10,200 successfully passed the entrance examination; at

Colleges.

Boys' schools;

upper

schools;

Madras, out of 28,575 candidates, 9715 passed; and at Bombay, out of 11,871 candidates, 3557 passed. Total passed entrance examination in the ten years ending 1882-83, 23,472. Many fall off at this stage, and very few proceed to the higher degrees. During the same ten years ending 1882-83, 1036 graduated B.A. and only 281 M.A. at Calcutta ; 896 B.A. and 22 M.A. at Madras; 456 B.A. and 34 M.A. at Bombay: total of B.A.'s and M.A.'s in the ten years, 2725. Calcutta possesses the great majority of graduates in law and medicine, while Bombay is similarly distinguished in engineering. In 1877-78, the total expenditure on the Universities was £22,093; and in 1882-83, £21,790.

The colleges or institutions for higher instruction may be divided into two classes,-those which teach the arts course of the Universities, and those devoted to special branches of knowledge. According to another principle, they are classified into those entirely supported by Government, and those which only receive grants-in-aid. The latter class comprises the missionary colleges. In 1877-78, the total number of colleges, including medical and engineering colleges and Muhammadan madrasas, was 82, attended by 8894 students. Of these, as many as 35 colleges, with 3848 students, were in Lower Bengal; and 21 colleges, with 1448 students, in Madras. In the same year, the total expenditure on the colleges was £186,162, or at the rate of £21 per student. In 1882-83, the total number of colleges, including medicine and engineering colleges and Muhammadan madrasas, was 96, attended by 8707 students. Of these, 34 colleges with 3754 students were in Bengal, 32 colleges with 2329 students were in Madras, and 9 colleges with 1203 students were in Bombay. In the same year, the total expenditure on colleges in British India was £173,213, or a fraction under £20 per student.

The boys' schools include many varieties, which may be sub-divided either according to the character of the instruction given, or according to the proportion of Government aid which they receive. The higher schools are those in which English is not only taught, but is also used as the medium of instruction. They educate up to the standard of the entrance examination at the Universities, and generally train those candidates who seek employment in the upper grades of Government service. One of these schools, known as the zilá or District school, is established at the head-quarters station of every District; and many others receive grants-inaid. The total number of high schools in 1882-83 was 53°,