Page:Adam's reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Behar, submitted to Government in 1835, 1836 and 1838.djvu/263

Rh the 2nd report, p. 27—29, 93 Persian schools and 8 Arabic schools.

Seven of these schools are found in one village and three in another, six villages contain two each and eighty-two villages contain one each.

There are three Musalman teachers to the three schools for the formal reading of the Koran, and twelve Musalman teachers to the eight schools of Arabic learning; two of these schools having each three teachers, of whom one teaches Arabic, the second Persian, and the third watches over the manners and general conduct of the pupils. The ninety-three Persian schools have the same number of teachers, of whom eighty-six are Musalmans and seven Hindus. Of the latter four are Kayasthas, two Brahmans, and one a Gandhabanik. The average age of all the teachers is 39.5 years.

Twenty-two teachers instruct gratuitously, and of that number six also support and clothe the whole or a part of their scholars. I have not found any instance in which Hindu students receive from a Musalman teacher or patron anything beyond gratuitous instruction. Thus in one instance a maulavi gratuitously instructs seven Hindu scholars, but in addition to gratuitous instruction he gives also food and clothing to eleven Musalman students; in another, a maulavi gratuitously instructs two Hindu and six Musalman students, and he gives also food and clothing to five other Musalman students; and in a third case, a maulavi has thirteen Musalman students, all of whom he both instructs and supports. The rule appears to be that those students, whether Hindus or Musalmans, who are natives of the village in which the school is situated, receive gratuitous instruction only, while those Musalman students who are natives of other villages, and have come from a distance for the sake of instruction, receive also food and clothing. On the other hand, when a Hindu is the patron, as in the case of the Rajah of Burdwan, who supports two Persian schools, Musalman and Hindu scholars enjoy equal advantages, although the number of the former is less. Thus in one of the Rajahs schools 13 Hindus and 2 Musalmans, and in the other 13 Hindus and 1 Musalman, receive instruction and food for four years, after which they may continue to study but without receiving food. Some of the patrons and gratuitous teachers are men of great wealth or high character, and others, without possessing either of these, are holders of land by the tenure of Ayma which was apparently regarded in several instances as involving an obligation to give gratuitous instruction. This is more apparent in one case from the fact that the holder of the land, after long neglecting this obligation, lately sent three or four scholars to the neighbouring