Page:Adam's reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Behar, submitted to Government in 1835, 1836 and 1838.djvu/336

276 profession; whereas in bestowing money-rewards it will be difficult, although not impossible, to ascertain the amount that will have the effect of stimulating the zeal of teachers without checking the exertions and sacrifices of parents. An additional consideration is this that if the other forms of reward and distinction I am about to suggest are found to be ineffectual, or effectual in too limited a degree, we may afterwards have recourse to money-rewards, but if we begin with the latter we cannot afterwards so easily discontinue them without abandoning the whole plan. We may ascend from weaker to stronger motives, not descend from stronger to weaker ones. It might be admissible, however, even from the first to give, according to the price of grain in the district, one, two, or three annas per day to each approved teacher as travelling expenses and subsistence-money,—the amount of the former to be determined by the number of days’ journey in coming from and returning to his home, and that of the latter by the number of days he remains in attendance on the examiner.

The first reward I would hold out to teachers is the gift of books. Each will receive a copy of the first book of the series already described with an engagement to return it in six months; and he will make it his own only by studying its contents, and undergoing a thorough and satisfactory examination on the subject which it treats. This examination will also entitle him to receive a copy of the second book of the series, at first on loan and for use only, but ultimately to become his own property in the same way. Still further the same examination will entitle him to receive three, six, or twelve copies of the first book of the series for the use of his scholars, to be accounted for in the manner hereafter described. That these books will be received not as mere compliments, but as substantial gifts equivalent to money, is probable, because the use and possession of them will both raise the qualifications of the teacher and afford him increased facilities for the instruction of his scholars in his own increased knowledge, for which he will naturally demand and receive increased compensation from their parents.

The next reward I would propose to hold out would be one tending to gratify the love of distinction, common to all and strong in them. The names and designations of those who have sustained the examination may be enrolled in a separate register, transmitted to the General Committee of Public Instruction, on the approval and recommendation of that body published in the official gazette, and on their appearance in the gazette proclaimed by the order of the magistrate throughout the district as the names and designations of persons constituting an approved class of native vernacular teachers. A written certificate may also be given to each, stating the extent of his qualifications and signed by the president and Secretary of the Committee of Instruction, or a