The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c5.s27: XXIX
The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c5.s27
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XXIX
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BOARD OF REVENUE TO CHIEF SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT: 21.2.1825
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*(TNSA: BRP: Vol. 1011, No. 46 Pro. 21.2.1825 pp. 1412-26)*
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1. With reference to the instruction of government conveyed in a letter from the Secretary to government in the Revenue Department under date the 2nd July 1822 and to Mr Secretary Stoke's letter of the 21st ultimo, I am directed by the Board of Revenue to submit for the information of the Honorable the Governor-in-Council the correspondence noted in the margin regarding the actual state of education in the Provinces under this government.
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*Circular to all Collectors dated 25th July 1822*
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From the Collector of Ganjam dated 27 October in consultations: 6th November 1823.
From the Collector of Vizagapatam 14th April in consultations: 1st May 1823
From the Collector of Rajahmundry 19th September in consultations: 2nd October 1823
From the Collector of Masulipatam 3rd September in consultations: 13th January 1823
From the Collector of Guntoor 9th September in consultations: 14th July 1823
From the Collector of Nellore 23rd June in consultations: 30th June 1823
From the Collector of Bellary 17th June in consultations: 25th August 1823
From the Collector of Cuddapah 11th June in consultations: 17th February 1825
From the Collector of Chingleput 3rd June in consultations: 7th April 1823
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From the Principal Collector in the Northern Division of Arcot 3rd June in consultations: 10th March 1823.
From the Principal Collector in Southern Division of Arcot 29th June in consultations: 7th July 1823
From the Collector of Salem 8th June in consultations: 14th July 1823
From the Principal Collector of Tanjore 28th June in consultations: 3rd July 1823
From the Collector of Trichinopoly 23rd June in consultations: 28th August 1823
From the Collector of Madura 5th February in consultations: 13th February 1823
From the Collector of Tinnevelly 18th October in consultations: 28th October 1822 & 7th November in consultations: 18th November 1822
From the Principal Collector of Coimbatore 23rd November in consultations: 2nd December 1822
From the Principal Collector of Malabar 5th August in consultations: 14th August 1823
From the Principal Collector of Canara 27th August in consultations: 5th September 1822
From the Assistant Collector of Seringapatam 29th October in consultation: 4th November 1822
From the Collector of Madras 13th October in consultations: 14th November 1822 & 12th October in consultations: 14th February 1825
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2. An abstract statement prepared from the reports of the several Collectors' is also submitted for the purpose of exhibiting at one view the information required by the government.
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3. This abstract is in the Form transmitted by government, with an additional column showing the amount of population in each district according to the Census as some of the Collectors have stated the numbers differently. Under the head of remarks the information required by the government regarding the time which scholars usually continue at school, the monthly or yearly charge to the scholars and other particulars is concisely stated.
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4. It will be observed that the schools now existing in the country are for the most part supported by the payments of the people who send their children to them for instruction. The rate of payment for each scholar varies in different districts and according to the different circumstance of the parents of the pupils, from 1 anna to 4 rupees per mensem, the ordinary rate among the poorer classes appears to be generally about 4 annas, and seldom to exceed ½ rupee.
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5. In a few districts only there are endowments for the support of schools and colleges. In Rajahmundry 69 teachers of Sciences possess endowments in land, and 13 allowances in money granted by former Zemindars. In Nellore certain individuals, Bramins and Mussulmans, are in possession of allowances in land and money granted by the Carnatic Government for teaching the Vedas, etc., and Arabic and Persian respectively to the amount of rupees 1,467 per annum.
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In the Northern Division of Arcot, 28 colleges are supported by mauniums and Marahs granted by former governments yielding rupees 516 per annum, and 6 Persian schools are maintained at the public expense at an annual charge of rupees 1,861. In Salem Enam lands estimated to yield rupees 1,109 per annum are appropriated to the support of 20 teachers of Theology, etc., and one Mussulman school has land allowed for its support yielding annually 20 rupees. In Tanjore 44 schools and 71 colleges are supported by His Highness the Rajah—There is no school, or college, endowed particularly by the Circar but there are free schools maintained by the Mission established in Tanjore which possess a Survamanniam, the annual value whereof is estimated at 1,100 rupees. In the District of Trichinopoly there are 7 schools which possess endowments in land to the extent of 46 cawnies supported by the Zamorin Rajah which has also some land attached granted by former governments. In Malabar there is one college to it.
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6. It does not appear from the Reports of the Collectors that any public endowments for the advancement of learning have been diverted from their original purpose or resumed except in Salem and Coimbatore. The Collector of Salem says that lands yielding rupees 384 formerly devoted to this object were sequestered before the acquisition of the country by the British Government and their produce has since been included in the revenue of government. The Principal Collector of Coimbatore reports that Mauniums, etc., granted in former times for the support of colleges to the value of rupees 2,208 have been resumed either by the Mussulman or the British Government.
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7. The late Collector of Bellary having stated in his report that none of the institutions for education at present existing in that district derive support from the state added ‘there is no doubt that in former times especially under the Hindoo Government very large grants both in money and in land were issued for the support of learning’, and further stated his opinion that many of the *Yeomiahs* and *Shrotriums* now held by Bramins in the district may be traced to this source. No conditions he observed ‘are stated in the grants issued by the former governments; they all purport to flow from the free bounty of the ruling power merely to aid the maintenance of some holy or learned man. But they were almost universally granted to learned or religious persons, who maintained schools for one or more of the Sciences and taught therein gratuitously; and though not expressed in the deed itself the duty of continuing such gratuitous instruction was certainly implied in all such grants.’ It does not appear upon what grounds Mr Campbell founded his opinion so confidently that the implied condition of the grants referred to was the continuance of gratuitous instruction; but it seems not to be the result of particular investigation. Mr Campbell further suggested with the view of covering the expense of a general arrangement proposed by him in this report for the improvement of education that it might be provided that ‘on the demise—of any persons now holding *Yeomiahs* or alienated lands a new enquiry be instituted and that though the same may have been continued for more than one generation by the British Government it may be resumed and carried to a new fund to be termed, “the school fund”, unless it is clearly stated in the body of the original grant to be hereditary, or the intention of the ruling power at the time to make such grant hereditary be clearly proved to the satisfaction of government.’ The Board have little doubt that the resumption of lands now alienated, in the manner suggested by Mr Campbell would produce ample funds for the purpose contemplated but they conceive that the two objects in view, namely, the recovery of alienated lands, and the establishment of a fund for the support of schools should be kept entirely distinct and separate. The establishment of schools in every part of the country under any general plan should be regulated by the wants of the people in the respect to education and should not in any degree depend upon the accidental circumstance of the amount of a particular fund being great or less in different situations.
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8. The Board think it proper to offer this remark in regard to the suggestion of Mr Campbell which has just been noticed, but it appears to them to be unnecessary at this time to discuss the plan proposed by him for the improvement of education and his general speculations on the subject conceiving it to be the desire of government at present only to receive information regarding the actual state of education in order that it may be seen what are the deficiencies to be supplied.
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9. That these deficiencies are lamentably great is shown in every one of the reports now submitted, and the general result of the whole from which it appears that out of a population estimated by the Census at above 12 million and a half only about 1,88,000 are receiving instruction or about 13¾ percent is most unsatisfactory.
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10. It will be remarked that no statement is submitted of the number of schools, etc., in Canara. The late Principal Collector reported that education is conducted in that district so much in private that any statement of the number of schools and of the scholars attending them would be of little or no use, but on the contrary rather fallacious in forming an estimate of the proportion of the population receiving instruction. He stated generally that there are no colleges in Canara for the cultivation of ‘abstract Science, neither are there any fixed schools and masters to teach in them. There is no instance known of any institution of the above descriptions having even received support in any shape from the former government.’
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11. Notwithstanding the observations of Mr Harris the Board have thought it proper to call again upon the present Principal Collector to furnish a Statement of Schools, etc., prepared in the form transmitted by government which shall be submitted to the Hon’ble the Governor-in-Council as soon as it is received.
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Fort St. George, 21st February, 1825.
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*J. Dent,* *Secretary.*
Linked texts (1)
- Veda — Sanskrit