Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/450

Rh period, they will be able to make any satisfactory progress in their studies, if they are made to attend public schools and go through their prescribed routine course. The course of instruction in those Institutions commences with the Alphabet and ends with the University Entrance Standard, and it generally takes 9 years for an ordinary student to go through this course. But a student, who has successfully passed this ordeal, can scarcely be considered to have acquired that amount of information and knowledge of the English language which would prove useful to him in after life. It can therefore be easily imagined how inconsiderable is the progress made by those who do not complete this course, but leave off in the middle. Unfortunately, such has been and shall be the case with the Wards in a great majority of instances, if the present mode of educating them in Public Schools is continued. As however it seems highly desirable that they should leave the Institution with a fair amount of useful knowledge, I would beg leave respectfully to suggest a new arrangement for their education.

I. That the Institution be turned into a sort of Boarding School instead of being merely the residence of the Wards as at present. II. That a separate course of Instruction, especially suited to the necessities of the Wards, be framed for them. III. That the requisite staff of efficient teachers be entertained for their Instruction.

"The advantages of this system over that followed in Public Schools are so self-evident that it would be superfluous in me to enter into any detailed explanation. At school a teacher of a class has to teach at least 30 boys, and notwithstanding his best endeavours, he can scarcely succeed in expounding more than a few lines a day from a class-book. To learn this the Wards have to remain 6