Page:Reports on the State of Education in Bengal (1835 & 1838).djvu/526

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Although it was not made a part of my duty to report on the condition of Regimental Schools, yet perceiving that those institutions admit of improvement, I trust that no apology will be deemed necessary for briefly referring to the regulations under which they are conducted and to the changes by which their efficiency may be increased.

A General Order by the right Honourable the Governor General in Council, dated Fort William 4th March, 1825, appears to constitute the basis of existing arrangements for Regimental Schools and it is here quoted entire:—“No. 70 of 1825. It is hereby directed that a Pundit and Moolvee be added from the 1st proximo to the interpreter and quarter-master’s establishment of every regiment of native cavalry and infantry of the line on an allowance of 8 sonat rupees per mensem each. These men, as well as the regimental Moonshee allowed to each interpreter, shall be borne upon the muster-rolls of that officer with the rest of his establishment, regularly paid and accounted for in the acquittance-rolls, and drawn for separately in the abstract, by name. The Pundit and Moolvee are expected to be well versed in the native languages, the first in the Hindee and Nagree reading and writing, the second in the Persian; and their duties will consist in attendance at all courts martial or courts of inquiry, to swear in the members of the court and the evidence according to their respective faith. They will likewise swear in all recruits previous to joining the regiment, with the usual solemnities, in front of the colours, after, completing their course of drill, by which time the recruits will have acquired a stronger sense of the obligation. It will be their duty also to assist and direct all men in the corps anxious to qualify themselves for promotion by the acquisition of reading and writing in one or both languages, and generally to perform all similar duties that may be assigned to them by the commanding officer or the quarter-master of the regiment. Sixty (60) sonat rupees will be admitted for a shed as a school and for stationery, &c.,