Page:Adam's reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Behar, submitted to Government in 1835, 1836 and 1838.djvu/50

36 villages and are destined to return to them as Teachers, and it seems possible that by giving them simple instruction as to the objects aimed at by Agricultural improvements and the gains to be anticipated from them, useful hints may be widely spread among the actual cultivators of the soil, and gradually influence them in a right direction.”

In a letter to the Bengal Government from the Secretary of the Landholders’ Association of the 21st October 1864, it is stated:—

"“The formation of an Agricultural class in some one or more of the Educational Establishments supported by Government under a Professor or Instructor well grounded in the principles of Agriculture and of Agricultural Chemistry.

“The class from which the Committee have the greatest hopes is that of the Talookdars and the sons of Traders and Artisans whose fathers have acquired moderate Wealth, and have invested it in the purchase of land. Many of the smaller Talookdars are resident on their properties, and many are understood to have portions of their land in their own possession, or at least under their own control, and if these men had the opportunity of attending an Agricultural class when at School or College, it may be hoped that some of them would apply the teaching they had received to the improvement of their crops.

“This seems to the Committee the most likely means of introducing improved modes of cultivation, and of gradually breaking down the prejudice which separates Practical Agriculture from Education, and if a certain number of these small Talookdars and sons of Tradesmen and Artisans should take to improvement and succeed, the most intelligent of the ryots would adopt the system which they saw to pay, and would learn, from observation and practical experience what they never could have been taught from theoretical education in the Schools.“"

The Secretary of the Agricultural Society recommends the study of Agriculture in the Normal Schools.

The Honorary Secretary of the British Indian Association, which is composed chiefly of Zemindars, writes:—

“The Committee deem it highly desirable that some arrangements should be made for rendering instruction in Agriculture a part of the general scheme of Education in this country. They admit that it would be premature to establish an Agricultural College. The maintenance of such an Institution would be attended with an expense which would not be justified in the present position of things. But the Committee think the object aimed at may be attained by the establishment of Agricultural Teacherships in Vernacular Village Schools in the way suggested by Babu Harimohun Banerjee, as it will bring a knowledge of improved Agriculture within easy reach of that class of the community who are directly engaged in the cultivation of the soil, and to whom it is likely to prove of the greatest use and importance.

“By way of supplement to the above arrangement, the Committee would recommend that greater attention may be directed to the study of the physical sciences in the Collegiate Institutions of the country, particularly to the study of those branches of science which are allied to Practical Agriculture. That alone can effectually remove the deep-rooted prejudices which now prevail in the country against Agriculture and the industrial arts generally. Chairs for some of the sciences already exist, and the Professorial staff may be strengthened in such proportion as may be deemed advisable. Each of the Colleges ought further to be supplied with a well furnished Laboratory, which, the Committee are informed, none of the Mofussil Colleges now possess to the desired extent. The Professors will then have opportunities to introduce practical experiments in illustration of the theories they teach.

“Scientific education will not only assist in the alternation of the crops and the renovation of the soil, but it will aid materially in the development of the general resources of the country. Hence it is that the Committee urge the