Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/243

200. The present mode in which this very useful department is conducted is very unsatisfactory. There is no rule as to what students are expected to study English: but it is entirely left to their own option. They commence the study when they please, leave it off at their own option and commence again when it suits their purpose. Many students on being attached to the Grammar Classes, at their first admission, Immediately commence English, but from the difficulty of the first principles of both languages, the greater part being unable to carry on both at once, some after a short time neglect their English and others the Sanscrit. It is the case with many to retire from the English class just before the Examinations. The very same students come again to be admitted at the beginning of the next session. There is another circumstance which causes great confusion, which is that one English class is constituted of students of various Sanscrit classes. Take for instance, the components of the 3rd and 4th classes. The 3rd class consists of 13 boys, 4 of whom belong to the Smriti Class, 1 to the Nyaya, 1 to the Alankara, 3 to the 3rd Grammar Class and 4 to the 4th Grammar Class. The 4th class consists of 33 boys, 2 of whom belong to the Alankara Class, 5 to the Sahitya, 2 to the 1st Grammar Class, 6 to the 2nd, to to the 3rd, 6 to the 4th and 2 to the 5th Grammar Class. From the circumstance of students of various Sanscrit Classes coming to attend the English class, it becomes altogether a difficult affair to secure regular attendance in the latter. Again the study of English being optional, some portion only of each