Page:Adam's reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Behar, submitted to Government in 1835, 1836 and 1838.djvu/129

Rh Hindoos to one Mahomedan. From the beginning of July to the end of November the district is nearly submerged.

Indigenous Elementary Schools.—I do not find in any publication or authority the slightest reference to the state of elementary education in this district, although it is not to be supposed that the inhabitants are entirely indifferent to the instruction of their children.

Elementary School not Indigenous.—In a letter published in one of the monthly journals dated September 1834 from Rampore Bauleah, I find mention made of a school at that station under the superintendence of an English gentleman; but no account is given of it except by saying that it was succeeding beyond expectation.

Indigenous Schools of learning.—There is no doubt that in this district there are several schools of Hindoo learning, but I find no mention of any of them except two which are supported by an allowance from Government. In June 1813, the Collector of Rajshahy forwarded to the Revenue Board a petition from Kassessur Bachusputy, Govindram Sirhat, and Hurram Surma Buttacharjee, stating that their father had received from Rani Bhowannee an allowance of 90 rupees per annum for the support of a college, which allowance on the decease of their father had been continued to their elder brother till his decease; and that since the date of that event they had kept up the establishment, and, therefore, prayed that the allowance might be continued to them.

The collector corroborated the averments in this petition, observing that Kassessur discharged the duties of one college in the town of Nattore, and that his two brothers had established another in the Mofussil.

The Revenue Board, in forwarding the collector’s letter and the petition to Government, observed that the pension had been conferred by the authority of Government on the late Chundar Sikar Turkanshes for his life, on a representation from the collector that he had no other means of subsistence, and was properly qualified and taught the sciences gratis; that he was attended by many students; was the only capable teacher in Nattore; and that the continuance of his pension might be deemed a public benefit.

The Revenue Board further submitted that, as it appeared the brothers maintained the institutions of their father in full efficiency, the pension might be continued to them and their heirs in perpetuity, on the condition of their continuing to uphold these establishments under the supervision of the local agents of the British Government. The Bengal Government fully acquiesced in this suggestion, and sanctioned the payment of the allowance of 90 rupees per annum on the condition stated by the Revenue Board.