Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/341

 be carried out to the extent which her well-wishers desire, it must be altogether by means of native agency, and that even in the higher branches of education native agency must be largely and increasingly employed. At the present time, the Senate of this University have under their consideration an important proposition of which the practical effect would be to substitute Sanscrit for the vernacular languages in the higher examination in the Faculty of Arts; a proposition which I believe might be adopted without in any way hindering the acquisition of that knowledge of the vernacular languages which every educated Hindoo ought to possess : provided only,—and this I hold to be an essential proviso, that we had the means of so conducting our examinations in the languages which we retain in our curriculum, as to render them practical tests, not only of the candidate's knowledge of the language to which the examination more particularly relates, but of his power of explaining himself with elegance and precision in his mother-tongue. I never read the examination papers which are printed Annually in our University Calendar without being struck by the complete exclusion of the vernaculars from the papers of questions on the English and Latin languages. In all these papers, and even in those which specially relate to the native languages, English is treated as if it were the mother-tongue of all the candidates. This, of course, arises from the fact that for the most part both teachers and examiners are Englishmen, most of them professing either no knowledge, or, at the best, a very imperfect knowledge of the languages of India. All this must be changed if the vernacular languages are no longer to be made special subjects of examination, and both in teaching and in examining native agency must be much more largely employed.

Gentlemen, I am aware that the profession of a teacher is generally regarded as deficient in many of the attractions which are to be found in other walks in life. The position is usually considered to be less influential than those which may be attained in other professions. As a general rule, the emoluments are smaller, and the work, if it be done effectually, involves no slight amount of mental and physical labour. But the picture has its bright side as well. In no profession is a talented and conscientious man enabled to exercise a greater amount of real influence for good. In few does he see more speedily or more tangibly the results of his labours. And in the duties themselves, especially in the higher branches of the profession, there is surely much that must afford a constant interest and gratification to a cultivated mind,—much that is perfectly consistent with the