DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68024#0256
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(III) .—That a Commission be appointed in the Province of Bengal to examine the
question and devise a practical scheme for the purpose.
(IV) .—That existing Mussulman endowments for educational purposes should be pre-
served, and that another Commission should be appointed to examine into the
nature of these endowments and to report regarding their application.
11. What the comprehensive scheme is to which the memorialists refer, I have no idea,
but presume reference is made to a scheme in course of elaboration by the Committee appoint-
ed in paragraph 22 of Government of India Resolution, dated 8th October 1881 ; but from the
remark of Mr. Fowler noted above, this scheme, I gather, will be more or less in accord with
the arrangements already in force in this Presidency; in other words, it will rest on a liberal
grant-in-aid basis. But there is nothing in the memorial to show that the memorialists are
aware of this, nor indeed do they sketch the scheme which they think would prove suitable;
but if they refer to a scheme the basis of which shall be exclusive of Muhammadan schools
managed by Government agents, then as to the first point I have the honor to state that, so
far as this Presidency is concerned, I see no sound reason for the adoption of such a compre-
hensive scheme, seeing that in most parts of the country the Muhammadan population is so
intimately connected with the Hindu community, that it is on the whole the wiser course—a
course approved, I believe, by most of the better educated members of that community—that
after the elementary stage Muhammadans should pursue their studies side by side with Hindus,
not only because such a system facilitates their acquisition of the English language and of
knowledge generally, but on account of the moral advantages of such a scheme. If this is the
growing opinion of educated men, it seems to me very undesirable to adopt or rather extend
measures which would have a retarding effect on the process of race approximation which is
now going on, and which has already softened the antagonistic feelings which in some places
exist between the two communities. For political as well as civil and social reasons it would
be well that the process should be accelerated. In this Presidency little has been done by
special agency for the education of the Muhammadan population, except in Madras by means
of the Madrasa, but the history of this institution has been hitherto one of more or less con-
tinuous failure, and the same may be said of the one or two special schools existing prior to
1873-74, when Lord Hobart’s Government established several others; but, as pointed out in
paragraph 4 of my letter of the 9th May, No. 2684, the extension of this special agency has
had little to do with the progress which this community has unquestionably made in the last
decade. This is evidenced by the fact that of the 21,1 17 Muhammadans under instruction in
1880-81, only 825 were in Government Muhammadan schools. The case of the town of Madras
illustrates this position still more forcibly, because here the Government have long maintained
a Madrasa and middle school-1—the one in Triplicane, the other in Mylapore (and have recently
established elsewhere a normal school with practising classes in the former locality) —the
great centres of the Muhammadan population, and yet here against 305 boys reading within
their schools, 1,911 are reading in other schools. The growing tendency in Madras to study in
Hindu instead of special schools is illustrated by the fact that whilst in the middle and high
departments of the three special schools for Muhammadans including the Harris’ School, with
all these advantages as to location, &c., there were reading in 1880-81 only 155 boys against
180 in other schools; in 1875-76 the figures were 14/ and 73 respectively. The increase, it
will be seen, is almost wholly in other institutions. This assertion is also strengthened by the
fact that although the Muhammadan community is unquestionably improving educationally,
and, as shown by Mr. Fowler, holding its own inefficiency against Hindus, yet I have not
received, during the period of nearly two years in which I have occupied this office, a single
application from a Muhammadan community to establish a special school for their sons. I
would also note that complaints as to negligence and apathy of Muhammadan pupils are far-
more rare in mixed than in special schools. Moreover, none of these Muhammadan schools,
with the exception of Vellore, have shown much tendency to improve; they hover between
the upper primary and middle standard. If the Muhammadans attached much value to
these special schools, they would most certainly press for their development, yet, for example,
in Madras they evince no wish to have the Madrasa reconstituted a high school, although this
course would add to the list of appointments open to Muhammadans; nor to have the second
grade middle school raised to a first grade, although it is the ambition of the Hindus of most
towns which have inferior middle schools, Government or private, to raise them to the first
grade, so that their sons may be prepared for the middle examination. It is possible that
this indifference arises in part from the fact that although the Muhammadans are even more
anxious than the Hindus, as the statistics already quoted show, to give their children primary
instruction, they are more or less indifferent to their sons obtaining Government service, or
hopeless of their prospects in that respect; and consequently satisfied with providing them
with knowledge which they consider sufficient for their private and trade affairs. Still there
is a certain section of the community who do look forward to Government employ for their
(III) .—That a Commission be appointed in the Province of Bengal to examine the
question and devise a practical scheme for the purpose.
(IV) .—That existing Mussulman endowments for educational purposes should be pre-
served, and that another Commission should be appointed to examine into the
nature of these endowments and to report regarding their application.
11. What the comprehensive scheme is to which the memorialists refer, I have no idea,
but presume reference is made to a scheme in course of elaboration by the Committee appoint-
ed in paragraph 22 of Government of India Resolution, dated 8th October 1881 ; but from the
remark of Mr. Fowler noted above, this scheme, I gather, will be more or less in accord with
the arrangements already in force in this Presidency; in other words, it will rest on a liberal
grant-in-aid basis. But there is nothing in the memorial to show that the memorialists are
aware of this, nor indeed do they sketch the scheme which they think would prove suitable;
but if they refer to a scheme the basis of which shall be exclusive of Muhammadan schools
managed by Government agents, then as to the first point I have the honor to state that, so
far as this Presidency is concerned, I see no sound reason for the adoption of such a compre-
hensive scheme, seeing that in most parts of the country the Muhammadan population is so
intimately connected with the Hindu community, that it is on the whole the wiser course—a
course approved, I believe, by most of the better educated members of that community—that
after the elementary stage Muhammadans should pursue their studies side by side with Hindus,
not only because such a system facilitates their acquisition of the English language and of
knowledge generally, but on account of the moral advantages of such a scheme. If this is the
growing opinion of educated men, it seems to me very undesirable to adopt or rather extend
measures which would have a retarding effect on the process of race approximation which is
now going on, and which has already softened the antagonistic feelings which in some places
exist between the two communities. For political as well as civil and social reasons it would
be well that the process should be accelerated. In this Presidency little has been done by
special agency for the education of the Muhammadan population, except in Madras by means
of the Madrasa, but the history of this institution has been hitherto one of more or less con-
tinuous failure, and the same may be said of the one or two special schools existing prior to
1873-74, when Lord Hobart’s Government established several others; but, as pointed out in
paragraph 4 of my letter of the 9th May, No. 2684, the extension of this special agency has
had little to do with the progress which this community has unquestionably made in the last
decade. This is evidenced by the fact that of the 21,1 17 Muhammadans under instruction in
1880-81, only 825 were in Government Muhammadan schools. The case of the town of Madras
illustrates this position still more forcibly, because here the Government have long maintained
a Madrasa and middle school-1—the one in Triplicane, the other in Mylapore (and have recently
established elsewhere a normal school with practising classes in the former locality) —the
great centres of the Muhammadan population, and yet here against 305 boys reading within
their schools, 1,911 are reading in other schools. The growing tendency in Madras to study in
Hindu instead of special schools is illustrated by the fact that whilst in the middle and high
departments of the three special schools for Muhammadans including the Harris’ School, with
all these advantages as to location, &c., there were reading in 1880-81 only 155 boys against
180 in other schools; in 1875-76 the figures were 14/ and 73 respectively. The increase, it
will be seen, is almost wholly in other institutions. This assertion is also strengthened by the
fact that although the Muhammadan community is unquestionably improving educationally,
and, as shown by Mr. Fowler, holding its own inefficiency against Hindus, yet I have not
received, during the period of nearly two years in which I have occupied this office, a single
application from a Muhammadan community to establish a special school for their sons. I
would also note that complaints as to negligence and apathy of Muhammadan pupils are far-
more rare in mixed than in special schools. Moreover, none of these Muhammadan schools,
with the exception of Vellore, have shown much tendency to improve; they hover between
the upper primary and middle standard. If the Muhammadans attached much value to
these special schools, they would most certainly press for their development, yet, for example,
in Madras they evince no wish to have the Madrasa reconstituted a high school, although this
course would add to the list of appointments open to Muhammadans; nor to have the second
grade middle school raised to a first grade, although it is the ambition of the Hindus of most
towns which have inferior middle schools, Government or private, to raise them to the first
grade, so that their sons may be prepared for the middle examination. It is possible that
this indifference arises in part from the fact that although the Muhammadans are even more
anxious than the Hindus, as the statistics already quoted show, to give their children primary
instruction, they are more or less indifferent to their sons obtaining Government service, or
hopeless of their prospects in that respect; and consequently satisfied with providing them
with knowledge which they consider sufficient for their private and trade affairs. Still there
is a certain section of the community who do look forward to Government employ for their