The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c10.s4.14

c10.s4.14

Let me now speak of Madras, that earliest settlement of British rule in India, and even now said to be the best educated province in the Empire. Sir T. Munro, in a Minute dated 10.3.1826 (Commons Report, 1832, p. 506) observes that, taking the male part of the population only, and taking children of between 5-10 years of age only, as school going population, (assumed to be one-ninth of the total population) there were 713,000 male pupils that would be at school. The actual number of pupils in recognised schools was found by him to be 184,110 which works out to be a little over a fourth of the total school-going population. Sir Thomas, however, was of opinion that the actual proportion was nearer one-third than one-fourth, owing to a large number of children receiving instruction privately, and so not included in the above calculation.