Page:Reports on the State of Education in Bengal (1835 & 1838).djvu/105

Rh parents to keep their children longer than usual at the indigenous schools, it would have the effect of increasing the emoluments and respectability of the Native teachers. This object appears to have been in some measure attained, for in the report of 1829 it is expressly stated that several instances have come to the knowledge of the Society’s superintendence, in which the observance of the rules of admission has afforded considerable advantage to the Native teachers of the indigenous schools, by encouraging the boys to remain longer with them and thereby increasing their emoluments. In the above mentioned year the school contained about 120 boys who, besides the usual elements of reading, writing, spelling and arithmetic, acquired a considerable knowledge of the English language and its grammatical construction, could translate with some degree of correctness, had a good acquaintance with Grecian, Roman, and English history, and with the leading facts of geography, together with the political divisions of Europe and Asia. It was at that time deemed expedient to improve the means of instruction by employing a greater number of qualified teachers and allowing a larger supply of valuable books and materials, in order to keep pace with the acquirements of the students.

Attached to the Society’s Bengalee school at Arpuly already noticed was an English school, the pupils being selected from the one to learn English, in the other as a reward for their diligence. In 1829 there were ninety-three boys learning English in this school, from which promotions were occasionally made to the Society’s other English school, and sometimes to the Hindoo College; but this school was discontinued in 1833, at the same time with the Bengalee school at Arpuly, and for the same reasons.

2. The English institutions that have been hitherto enumerated are those which, after the Hindoo College, have principally contributed to create that desire to acquire a knowledge of the English language which prevails in this district, and more especially in Calcutta. They however by no means fully satisfy the desire they have produced, and to supply their defects a second class of English schools is arising amongst us, originating with the Natives and deriving resources exclusively from them. Perhaps the most zealous friends of English education in this country are not aware of all the efforts and sacrifices of