Page:Gódávari.djvu/180

154 resided at Narasapur, formed a society at that town for the purpose of advancing education, and established schools in Narasapur (the nucleus of the existing Noble high school) and three others of the chief towns of his charge, all of which were supported by local subscriptions. His system spread throughout his subdivision, largely owing to the interest taken in the matter by the ryots themselves. Attracted by the novelty of the institutions already established, they applied to Mr. Taylor to open primary vernacular schools in a number of villages, and proposed to defray the cost by a fixed annual addition to the revenue demand of each village at the time of the annual settlement, which should form a permanent fund to be applied solely to educational purposes. The movement was brought to the notice of Sir Walter Elliott, then Commissioner1 of the Northern Circars, who recommended it warmly to the attention of Government; and a scheme was ultimately sanctioned by which this addition to the revenue demand was levied in the three taluks of Mogalturru, Tanuku and Undi (all now in the Kistna district) and schools were maintained from the proceeds.2 The higher educational institutions now in existence in the district comprise three colleges (namely the Government arts and training colleges at Rajahmundry and the Pithápuram Rája's college at Cocanada); seven upper secondary schools for boys; and 53 lower secondary schools, of which eighteen provide ordinary instruction for boys, fifteen similar instruction for girls, and twenty are Sanskrit schools for boys. There is only one district in the Presidency (Tanjore) in which there are more colleges, and only four where there are more lower secondary schools. The number of pupils under instruction in these two grades, and also in the upper secondary schools, is also very much above the average. Primary education, on the other hand, both in the number of institutions and of pupils, is considerably below the average of other districts. Detailed statistics regarding the subject will be found in the separate Appendix to this volume.

The most important educational institution in the district is the Government college at Rajahmundry. This was originally established by Government in 1853 as a Zilla school for imparting instruction to the children of the four districts of the Northern Circars up to the present secondary standard. In 1868 it was raised to the rank of a Provincial school, but owing