INCREASE OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

477

of which 492 were for males and 38 for females, the attendance in the year comprising 68,434 males and 1165 females. The middle schools, as their name implies, are inter- middle mediate between the higher and the primary schools. Gene- schools; rally speaking, they are placed in the smaller towns or larger villages; and they provide that measure of instruction which is recognised to be useful by the middle classes themselves. Some of them teach English; others only the vernacular. This class includes the tahsili schools, established at the headquarters of every tahsil or Sub-division in the North-Western Provinces. In 1882-83, the middle schools numbered 3796, with an attendance of 170,642 pupils. In 1877-78, the total expenditure on both higher and middle schools was £478,250, and in 1882-83, £491,262.

schools.

schools in

The lower or primary schools complete the series. They are primary dotted over the whole country, and teach only the vernacular. Their extension is the best test of the success of our educational system. No uniformity prevails in the primary school-system through- Increase of primary out the several Provinces. In Bengal, up to the last fifteen years, primary instruction was neglected; but since the reforms Bengal; inaugurated by Sir G. Campbell in 1872, by which the benefit of the grant-in-aid rules was extended to the pathsálás or roadside schools, this reproach has been removed. In 1871-72, the number of primary schools under inspection in Lower Bengal was only 2451, attended by 64,779 pupils. By 1877-78, the number of schools had risen to 16,042, and the number of pupils to 360,322, being an increase of about six-fold in six years. By March 1883, when Sir G. Campbell's reforms had received their full development: the primary schools in Bengal had increased to 63,897, and the pupils to 1,118,623, being an increase of over seventeen-fold in the eleven years ending 1882-83. In 1877-78, the expenditure on primary schools. in Bengal from all sources was £78,000; towards which Government contributed only £27,000, thus showing how State aid stimulates private outlay in primary education. The total expenditure in 1882-83 was returned at £318,680. This increase, however, is more apparent than real, and results from a large number of schools previously private being brought under the inspection of the Education Department, and included in its financial statements.

The North-Western Provinces owe their system of primary in Northinstruction to their great Lieutenant-Governor Mr. Thomason, whose constructive talent can be traced in every branch of the

Western
Provinces ;

in

administration. In addition to the tahsíli or middle schools already referred to, a scheme was drawn up for establishing halkabandi or primary schools in every central village (whence their name), to which the children from the surrounding hamlets might resort. The system in the North-Western Provinces has been developed by means of the educational cess added to the land revenue. Sir William Muir, during his long service in the North-Western Provinces, ending in the Lieutenant-Governorship, did much for both the primary and the higher education of the people.

These

In Bombay, the primary schools are mainly supported out of Bombay; local funds raised by a cess added to the land revenue. in Burma ; In British Burma, on the other hand, primary education is still left to a great extent in the hands of the Buddhist monks, who receive little or no aid from Government. monastic schools are only open to boys; but there are also lay teachers who admit girls to mixed classes. The local administration shows a wise disposition to avail itself of the indigenous monastic system. Government has comparatively few schools of its own in Burma, the deficiency being supplied by several missionary bodies, who obtain State aid.

in Madras.

Primary education finance.

Girls'

schools.

In some localities of the Madras Presidency, also, the missionaries possess a practical monopoly of primary education at the present day.

In 1877-78, the amount of money expended upon lower and primary schools in British India was £406,135, or just onefourth of the total educational budget. In 1882-83, the total expenditure on lower and primary schools throughout British India was £911,121, or a little less than one-half (£2,105,653) of the total educational expenditure of the year. Under the recommendations of the Education Commission of 1882-83, the importance assigned to primary instruction, and the proportion of the public educational funds devoted to it, will constantly tend to increase.

Of late years something has been done, although not much, to extend the advantages of education to girls. In this, as in other educational matters, the missionaries have been the pioneers of progress. In a few exceptional places, such as Tinnevelli in Madras, the Khasi Hills of Assam, and among the Karen tribes of Burma, female education has made real progress; for in these localities the missionaries have sufficient influence to overcome the prejudices of the people. elsewhere, even in the large towns and among the Englishspeaking classes, all attempts to give a modern education to

But

success.

FEMALE EDUCATION.

479

women are regarded with scarcely disguised aversion, and have obtained but slight success. Efforts were at one time made by the Bengal Government to utilize the female members of the Vishnuite sects in female education, but without permanent Throughout the North Western Provinces and Oudh, with their numerous and wealthy cities, and a total female population of over 21 millions, only 8999 girls attended school in 1877-78, and 9602 in 1882-83. In Lower Bengal, the corresponding number was less than 12,000 in 1877-78, but had increased to 57,361 in 1882-83. Madras, British Burma, and in a less degree, Bombay and the Punjab, are the only Provinces that contribute to the following statistics in any tolerable proportion :-Total girls' schools throughout British India in 1877-78, 2002; number of pupils, 66,615: mixed schools for boys and girls, 2955; pupils, 90,915: total amount expended on girls' schools, £78,729, of which £27,000 was devoted to the 12,000 girls of Bengal. The total number of girls' schools in 1882-83 in British India was 3487, attended by 162,317 pupils. This branch of instruction will now, it is hoped, receive a further development from the recommendations of the Education Commission.

and other

In 1877-78, the normal, technical, and industrial schools Normal numbered 155, with a total of 6864 students; the total exspecial penditure was £54,260, or an average of under £8 per schools. student. In 1882-83, the number of these special institutions was 213, attended by 8078 students. Total expenditure in 1882-83, £98,571, or an average of over £12 per head. Schoolmistresses, as well as schoolmasters, are trained; and here also the missionaries have shown themselves active in anticipating a work which Government subsequently took up.

Of schools of art, the oldest is that founded by Dr. Schools of A. Hunter at Madras in 1850, and taken in charge by the Art. Education Department in 1856. This institution, and the Art Schools at Calcutta and Bombay, founded on its model, have been successful in developing the industrial capacities of the students, and in training workmen for public employment. Their effect on native art is more doubtful, and in some cases they have tended to supersede native designs by hybrid European patterns. Museums have been established at the Provincial capitals and in other large towns.

Schools for Europeans have also attracted the attention of Schools Government. Foremost among special schools are the asylums for Euroin the hills for the orphans of British soldiers (e.g. Utakamand and Sanáwar), founded in memory of Sir Henry Lawrence.

peans.

Vernacular press.

paper.

Closely connected with the subject of education is the steady growth of the vernacular press, which is ever active in issuing both newspapers and books. The missionaries were the first to cast type in the vernacular languages, and to First news employ native compositors. The earliest vernacular newspaper was issued in Bengali by the Baptist Mission at Serampur, in 1818. For many years the vernacular press preserved the marks of its origin, being limited almost exclusively to theoThe theological controversy. The missionaries were encountered with logical their own weapons by the Theistic sect of the Brahma Samáj, period. and also by the orthodox Hindus. So late as 1850, most of the vernacular newspapers were still religious or sectarian The politi- rather than political. But during the last twenty-five years, cal period. the vernacular press has gradually risen into a powerful engine of political discussion.

Statistics

The number of newspapers published in the several verof native naculars is estimated at 250 to 300, and their aggregate sale journalism. at over 250,000 copies.1 But the circulation proper, that is, the actual number of readers, is very much larger. In Bengal, the vernacular press suffers from the competition of English newspapers, some of which are entirely owned and written by natives. In the North-Western Provinces and Punjab, from Lucknow to Lahore, about 100 newspapers are printed in Hindustání or Urdu, the vernacular of the Muhammadans

Books.

throughout India. Many of them are conducted with considerable ability and enterprise, and may fairly be described as representative of native opinion in the large towns. The Bombay journals are about equally divided between Marathi and Gujarátí. Those in the Maráthí language are characterized by the traditional independence of the race of Sivaji: the Gujarátí newspapers are the organs of the Pársís, and of the trading community generally. The vernacular newspapers of Madras, printed in Tamil and Telugu, are politically unimportant, being still for the most part devoted to religion.

As regards books, or rather registered publications, in the vernacular languages, Lower Bengal takes the lead; the Punjab, Bombay, the North-Western Provinces, and Madras follow in order. In a previous chapter, the exact number of works published in the native languages of India in the various

1 The above estimate must be regarded as the result of intelligent inquiry, and not as an actual enumeration. Steps are now (1885) being taken to procure accurate returns of the vernacular press. But the ephemeral existence of many native newspapers, and other features of vernacular journalism, render the undertaking not free from difficulty.

INDIAN PUBLICATIONS, 1878-83.

481

departments of literature, has been stated.1 The following figures refer to the years 1878 and 1882-83, and comprise the whole registered publications, both in the native languages and in English. There is probably a considerable number of minor works which escape registration.

Total of registered publications in 1878, 4913. Of these, 576 Book were in English or European languages, 3148 in vernacular statistics, 1878. dialects of India, 516 in the classical languages of India, and 673 were bi-lingual, or in more than one language. No fewer than 2495 of them were original works, 2078 were republications, and 340 were translations. Religion engrossed 1502 of the total; poetry and the drama, 779; fiction, 182; natural science, 249; besides 43 works on philosophy or moral science. Language or grammar was the subject of 612; and law of no fewer than 249 separate works. History had only 96 books devoted to it; biography, 22; politics, 7; and travels or voyages, 2. These latter numbers, contrasted with the 1502 books on religion, indicate the working of the Indian mind.

In 1882-83, the registered publications numbered 6198, of Book which 655 were in English or European languages, 4208 in statistics, 1883. vernacular dialects of India, 626 in the classical languages of India, and 709 bi-lingual or in more than one language. Of the total number of published works in 1882-83, 1160 were returned as educational, and 5038 as non-educational works. Original works numbered 3146; re-publications, 2547; and translations, 505. Publications relating to religion numbered 1641; poetry and the drama, 1089; fiction, 238; natural and mathematical science, 281; philosophy and moral science, 160; history, 143; languages, 784; law, 338; and medicine, 235. Politics were represented in 1882-83 by only 11 publications, travels and voyages by only 4, while works classed as miscellaneous numbered 1231.

1 Ante, chap. iv.

VOL. VI.

2 H