Page:Second Report on the State of Education in Bengal (1836).djvu/45

Rh of written language and accounts preserved in families from father to son and from generation to generation. This domestic elementary instruction is much more in use than scholastic elementary instruction, and yet it is not so highly valued as the latter. The reasons why the less esteemed form of elementary instruction is more common cannot in all cases be accurately ascertained. The inaptitude to combination for purposes of common interest sometimes alleged against the Natives might be suggested; but the truth is that they do often club together, sometimes to establish and support schools, and sometimes to defray the expenses of religious celebrations, dances, and plays. In those cases in which scholastic instruction would be preferred by the parents, and I believe such cases to be numerous, poverty is the only reason that can be assigned; and in other instances, as of the zamindar and the brahman pandit, the pride of rank and station in the one case, and of birth and learning in the other, acting also upon circumscribed means, may prevent the respective parties from looking beyond their own thresholds for the instruction which their children need. Inability to pay for school instruction I believe to be by far the most prevalent reason, and this is confirmed by the fact that in at least six villages that I visited, I was told that there had been recently Bengali schools which were discontinued, because the masters could not gain a livelihood, or because they found something more profitable to do elsewhere. The case of the Dharail school shows the difficulty with which a small income is made up to a school-master by the community of a village. From all I could learn and observe, I am led to infer that in this district elementary instruction is on the decline and has been for some time past decaying. The domestic instruction which many give to their children in elementary knowledge would seem to be an indication of the struggle which the ancient habits and the practical sense of the people are making against their present depressed circumstances.