Correspondence on the subject of the education of the Muhammadan community in British India and their employment in the public service generally (Calcutta: Government Printing India, 1886)

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any particular creed or denomination, though he was willing to sanction special classes for
Mahomedans in exceptional circumstances. Accordingly, the Lieutenant-Governor had, in
1871, directed that if there were at any Government schools in Eastern Bengal, or elsewhere
in Bengal Proper, sufficient Mahomedan scholars who desired to learn Arabic and Persian,
arrangements should be made for teaching those languages in special classes. He submitted
to the Government of India his view that we should teach the general body of Mahomedans
of Bengal their own vernacular, which is Bengalee, in the Bengalee character, but with some
infusion of Persian words; that we should teach Western learning to such Mahomedans as
may seek it through the medium of English and vernacular, rather than through the medium
of Arabic or Persian; but that we should, at specially endowed colleges, teach the classical
languages of Persia and Arabia to Mahomedans in their own way, so far as to satisfy the
requirements of their religion, their ideas of a liberal education, and the genuine demand for
Oriental learning for its own sake.
2. While the Lieutenant-Governor thought that the Government funds could not be
properly devoted to separate Mahomedan colleges and schools to a greater extent than at
present, he also felt that the endowment of Mahomed Mohsin of Hooghly, which is managed
by the Government, afforded a legitimate means of promoting special Mahomedan education.
Accordingly, in submitting these views to the Supreme Government, the Lieutenant-Governor
proposed that so much of the Mahomed Mohsin endowment as is assigned for educational
purposes should be spent in giving practical effect to proposals for furthering Mahomedan
education throughout the country. In order that we might be able to devote the whole
proceeds of the Mohsin educational endowment to Mahomedan education, the Lieutenant-
Governor asked the Government of India to make some special grant to enable this Govern-
ment to set free from the general purposes of the Hooghly College the Mohsin funds, and with
the proceeds to defray the cost of Mahomedan Madrissahs at the centres of Mahomedan
population, such as Dacca, Chittagong, and Rajshahye.
3. The Government of India have now expressed their general approval of the Lieutenant-
Governor’s views and plans; and they have, with a liberality for which the Government of
Bengal is most grateful, made for the purpose indicated an addition of R 50,000 to the
grant for education in Bengal. This additional grant will enable the Bengal Government to
maintain as a full-power college the large and successful general college at Hooghly. His
Excellency the Viceroy in Council has also approved the appointment of a European officer on
a salary of not less than R 1,000 a month as Principal of the Calcutta Madrissah, and pos-
sibly as Superintendent of Madrissahs in Bengal; and has expressed a wish that Mahomedan
Madrissahs or departments should be grafted on to existing colleges and high schools at the
centres of Mahomedan population in Bengal.
4. The funds which the Lieutenant-Governor has at his disposal for special Mahomedan
education are-
R
(1) Grant to the Calcutta Madrissah and its attached schools, as per the Educa-
tional Budget of 1873-74 ........ 38,000
(2) Mahomed Mohsin Educational Endowment, yielding per annum about . . 55,000
Total . 93,000
From the sum available, as above-mentioned, must be met-
First,—The cost of the Hooghly Madrissah and boarding-house, and the difference
between the full college or school fees and those paid by Mahomedan
scholars. The grant for the Hooghly Madrissah and boarding-house during
the year 1873-74 is R5,000, besides scholarships; the Lieutenant-
Governor would make it in future R7,000, in accordance with plans for
other Madrissahs to be presently stated.
Secondlycost of the Calcutta Madrissah and Anglo-Persian department and
boarding-house, and of the branch school at Collinga. The Lieutenant-
Governor is satisfied that the Mahomedans of Bengal would wish the
Calcutta Madrissah to be retained, whatever other Madrissahs may be
established. Excluding scholarships, the grant for the Calcutta Madrissah
and its attendant institutions during the year 1873-74 was R34,500
gross, the fees being credited to Government. The new appointment of
a Principal and Superintendent of Madrissahs must considerably increase
this charge; and the Lieutenant-Governor would, if necessary, assign
R35,000 plus its fees, or about RIO,000 in all, as the cost of this
institution and its dependencies. The establishment of moulvies and teachers
at the Calcutta Madrissah requires revision. The number of teachers seems
too large, and the salaries of the junior teachers may be too small. For