Page:Adam's reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Behar, submitted to Government in 1835, 1836 and 1838.djvu/103

Rh that they could not hope to prosper while the villagers could get their boys instructed without cost in the Company’s schools, were very excusably hostile to the new establishments and endeavored to obstruct or prevent them. Thus, in the only instance in which a school was violently broken up, it was done by the zemindar at the instigation of the old teacher. Mr. May at one time contemplated the probability that, when the Natives were fully convinced of the utility of the plan of education which he had established, some means might be adopted whereby every village might entirely, or at least partly, support its own school. No attempt, however, certainly no successful attempt of this kind, appears to have been made. It is doubtful also whether the rivalry which is alleged to have been excited among the Natives led to the formation of schools similar to those of Mr. May; for I find it expressly stated in a report on the Chinsura schools made in 1823, that the only independent school that had grown out of the Chinsura schools was one founded by the Rajah of Burdwan and placed under the control of Mr. May’s successor. After Mr. May’s death the number of schools and scholars was reduced; but subsequently in 1821-22, in the reduced number of schools nearly an equal number of scholars attended. In 1824 the Chinsura schools were placed under the superintendence of the General Committee, when they were again apparently in a declining state, in consequence of which some of the members of the Committee in 1827 expressed doubts as to the utility and expediency of maintaining them. They were, however, continued some time longer, but have recently been entirely abandoned by the General Committee. An offer was made to the Calcutta Diocesan Committee of the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts to transfer the buildings and existing materials of such of the schools as that Committee should agree to continue, and an occasional supply of books being also guaranteed by the Committee of Public Instruction, it has been judged advisable by the Diocesan Committee to undertake the maintenance of tbe six most central among them, which appear most eligible from their locality and the numbers in attendance. The advantages resulting from the Chinsura schools do not appear to be highly estimated. The system adopted was in principle the Native one, the practice being modified according to that of Dr. Bell. The difference between Mr. May’s system and that of the Native schools is stated to be that in the latter the boys are taught chiefly by the ear, and in the former they were taught more by the eye. The number of boys under one teacher amounted in some cases to 120, and in all he was assisted by the monitors, the ablest boys being employed to teach the rest. The teachers at first received five rupees for 40 scholars and one rupee for every 20 more; and afterwards they were all allowed one rupee for every 10 scholars or ten rupees for 100, which equalled