Page:Adam's reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Behar, submitted to Government in 1835, 1836 and 1838.djvu/54

40 Sir J. Grant’s plan in 1861 of giving rewards to old gurus has been modified; the gurus are selected now by the villagers and sent to the Normal Schools; after receiving certificates they go back to their villages and are paid by fixed salaries, subject to reduction in case of their pupils not progressing. The people choose their own gurus; last year the Government paid 25,000 rupees in stipends, the people paying 31,000 rupees. These schools are supplied with maps made by their own gurus; each guru after receiving his certificate remains a fortnight at the normal school to draw the maps of Asia, India, Bengal, and the World.

In 1863 a plan had been begun of establishing three Normal Training Schools to provide village school-masters for their zillahs; the opening of patshalas under the teachers trained in these schools commenced at the beginning of 1864, and the beginning of 1868 has provided for the system 1,125 patshalas and 33,831 pupils.

The statistics of Government vernacular education up to March 1867 in Bengal exhibit the following:—

There are 23 Government normal vernacular schools having 1,224 students on the rolls, and 3 private normal schools under inspection containing 129 pupils.

Such is what has been done, among the things which remain to be done the following deserve consideration:

As one way of meeting the objection that if a boy goes to school he is not fit for the plough, some knowledge of agricultural instruction ought to be communicated in a popular way through class books which ought to be read in schools, and prizes ought to be awarded for proficiency in them; this is done with success in Ireland; peasant boys exhibiting a taste for the study might be sent to an institution which is greatly needed for training gardeners and agriculturists; at present enormous sums of money are wasted in importing valuable plants which the present race of gardeners do not know how to train up.