Page:Adam's reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Behar, submitted to Government in 1835, 1836 and 1838.djvu/386

326 Mohammadan schools of learning are not so numerous as those of Hindus; but they are in general more amply endowed, and the teachers enjoy the same high consideration in Mohammadan society and exercise the same powerful influence that belong to the corresponding class of the learned in Hindu society. The same remarks apply to those institutions that were made respecting Sanscrit schools. We have not called them into existence, nor is it any part of our object to increase their number. We find Arabic schools long established in the country possessing in several instances large resources, and taught by men intelligent, learned, revered, influential, anxious to compare their systems of knowledge with ours, and willing to aid us in the measures that may be devised for the instruction of their countrymen. In the search of instruments with which to work out good for the country, these institutions cannot be wisely neglected. The only question that can be raised is as to the way in which they may be made available.

Without minutely repeating the same details, it is sufficient to remark that the course which has been suggested to be pursued towards Hindu schools of learning will probably be found equally applicable to those of Mohammadan origin. A series of text-books in Arabic, public examinations both of teachers and scholars, and the distinctions and rewards appropriate to each already described would, there can be little doubt, produce the desired effect. Learned Musalmans are in general much better prepared for the reception of European ideas than learned Hindus; and when they shall have become convinced of the integrity of our purpose, and of the utility of the knowledge we desire to communicate, they will be found most valuable coadjutors.

The endowed Mohammadan institutions of learning present another class of means for improving the State of instruction. I would equally deprecate the appropriation by the state of the property belonging to such institutions and its misappropriation by private individuals. The rights and duties of all institutions of this class should be defined and general rules laid down to preserve their property, purify their management, and provide for their effectual supervision and real usefulness. With these views a determinate course of study should be prescribed, a visiting power exercised, and periodical returns required. It is utterly futile to leave the visiting and controlling power over such institutions in the hands of what are called the local agents under the Board of Revenue, since the offices of collector and magistrate, usually filled by the same persons, completely absorb their time and attention. In so far as such institutions exist for educational purposes, their superintendence and direction on the part of Government should be vested in the General Committee of Public Instruction and exercised through the officers subject to its