educational enthusiasm will never do. Half a loaf is better than no bread. Improve the diet of the children as much as you like, but pray do not starve the majority in order that a small minority may have sumptuous dinners.

Is it a right policy to drive away pupils from Schools?

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We have seen above how in one district alone thirty thousand children have been deprived of the benefit of elementary education. But this original method of improving education is not confined to elementary schools. Mr. Stapleton, Inspector of Schools, Dacca division, has ordered the managing committees of committees of several unaided schools to schools to reduce the number of students to 500 in each school. Some of them contain more than 700 students. The Inspector could have asked for the opening of more sections of classes, the appointment of teachers, the provision of a larger number of more commodious class-rooms, &c., if necessary. But why should hundreds of boys be driven away from school? Has Mr. Stapleton provided new schools for them to attend? If not, is he paid to reduce the number of students? But perhaps we are unjust to him. Probably he is acting under orders. But whoever may be ultimately responsible for this policy of spreading darkness instead of light, is guilty not only of a wrong done to students and their guardians and therefore to the country, but also of an act of far-reaching political unwisdom. For, if some of the boys that may be deprived of education, go astray, if for lack of something useful to do, they fall a prey to the seductive wiles of "political" or other dacoits or of the bomb-throwing enemies of the Government, it would no doubt be easy to throw all the blame on agitators and journalists, but would it be possible to blind the allseeing eyes of Nemesis in that way? Would it be possible to undo the mischief by simply blaming somebody?

Theoretically one may question the power of Mr. Stapleton to order any unaided high school to reduce the number of its students; for these schools are controlled only by the University. But practically it is idle to raise such a question. For there are many ways in which the education department may make the position of

schools insecure and intolerable. As for the University, it is bound in the long run to carry out the behests of the Government; if it does not, the University Act is sure to be amended in the direction required.

Before Mr. Stapleton or anybody else orders school managers to drive away students in excess of 500 per school, it is absolutely necessary to provide new schools for the students to be so driven away. They must have education. They cannot sit idle at home. To have education is a valued right. Nobody has any moral or legal right to deprive boys of the enjoyment of this right. If on account of Mr. Stapleton's order even a few students who are at present attending school be deprived of that advantage, somebody who is responsible ought to be sued and made liable to pay damages to their guardians.

Why 500?

We do not know why Mr. Stapleton has fixed the maximun numerical strength of schools at 500. Harrow and Rugby contain more than 500 boys each. "The average number of pupils of Eton exceeds 1000." Are these far-famed schools inefficient? In "The Educational System of Japan" by Mr. W. H. Sharp, M.A., published by the Government of India, we read: "Some of these primary schools are very large; several of those visited reckoned over 1,000 pupils, whilst the largest had 2,300 children in the ordinary course, and 1,270 in the higher, with 49 teachers." (P. 82.). In another place we read of "an ordinary and higher school at Yokohama, with 2,100 children," "another, with 1,250 children." Of secondary schools it is said: "Many of the schools visited had six, seven, or even eight hundred boys."

No one will have the hardihood to say that Japanese schools are inefficient.

What has happened in the whole
of Bengal.

From the Government Resolution on the Report on Public Instruction in Bengal for the year 1912-13 we learn with great pain and dissatisfaction that

The number of primary schools for boys fell by 513, viz., 148 upper and 365 lower primary; and the number of pupils by 11,690.

The loss in upper primary schools occurred in Eastern Bengal and is attributed to the reduction in status of some schools and the growing unpopularity

of a purely vernacular education. The loss in lower primary schools occurred in West Bengal, where some such institutions were converted into 'maktabs' while others which had previously struggled for existence, disappeared for want of aid from public funds. The main reasons assigned for the decrease in numbers, however, are the rise in the price of food, which compelled many teachers to leave their schools in search of other work, and the insistence upon improved methods of teaching with no corresponding pecuniary advantage to the teachers.

While we do not call in question the correctness of the reasons assigned for the decrease in the number of primary schools and pupils, we firmly believe that Government could have easily prevented the decrease by applying the proper remedy. While the population increases year by year, it does not speak well for the educational enthusiasm of Government that pupils at any stage should be actually decreasing.

It is satisfactory to learn that "the stipend of untrained teachers has now been raised by Re. 1 a month and that of trained teachers by Rs. 3 a month." But the observation that "the introduction

of a general scheme of reform has, how ever, been delayed for want of funds" will not cause any rejoicing. When shall we hear the last of this utterly unconvincing plea of "want of funds" for educa

tion?

The decline in the number of pupils was shared by both Hindus and Mahomedans; but among the former it amounted to 35 per cent., while among the latter it was only 15 per cent. Moreover, the

decrease in the number of Mahomedan boys in primary schools was counterbalanced by the increase in the number of "maktabs." Among boys of schoolgoing age 33.8 per cent. Hindus and 241 per cent. Mahomedans are now reading in primary schools; the corresponding figures for the preceding year being 34 8 and 24:4 respectively.

It cannot be that Hindu boys and their parents are less eager for education than before. Why then is there a greater decrease among Hindu pupils than among Mussalman pupils?

The following paragraph tells us how the Imperial grant assigned for primary education was expended :

Out of the Imperial grants assigned for primary education Rs. 2,30,000 was allotted to East Bengal and Rs. 2,31,168 to West Bengal. In East Bengal, the grant was expended mainly on the construction of board primary school buildings, the supply of apparatus to primary schools and the deputation of teachers to training schools. In West Bengal the

objects to which the grant was devoted were the equipment of "guru" training schools, the re-construction and repairs of "guru"-training school and primary school buildings, furniture and equipment for

primary schools and the erection of a cheaper type of primary school buildings.

Provision was made for the construction of 589 board schools in Eastern Bengal and 400 primary school buildings of a cheap type in West Bengal. During the current year it is hoped to construct Eastern many more board school buildings in both Western Bengal.

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As the power to build houses is one of the things which distinguish man, particularly civilized man, from other mammals, we are anxious to assert that we understand and appreciate the uses of all sorts of houses. Nevertheless, we could wish less money had been expended on the construction of buildings in order that more might be spent for preventing the decrease in the number of schools and pupils, if not also for increasing their number.

Buildings and Education.

Architecture is one of the fine arts. We know we have little knowledge of Art. But we love the fine arts, though, it may be, not wisely. For in the opinion of some level-headed persons, the money that we spend on illustrations and in publishing articles on painting, music and architecture is sheer waste. Whether that be true or not, we hope nobody will accuse us of hostility or indifference to any of the fine arts, if we assert that the location of educational institutions in fine buildings does not necessarily mean that the education imparted there is of higher quality than what is given in institutions less splendidly housed. splendidly housed. Nor can it be said that the province which possesses the finest school and college buildings is necessarily the most educationally advanced in the country. We believe we have no partiality for mean habitations. We also think that to live and move and have one's education in the midst of impressive surroundings may do one good. But the essentials of teachers, libraries, museums, apparatus, the provision by scholarships and other means of the wherewithal to live while studying, and above all, arrangements to educate all who want to be educated, irrespective of the length of their purses,these essentials, we say, must come first. Fine architecture may be thought of when these have been satisfactorily attended to.

The Japanese have not cared much to have fine buildings for their schools and colleges* and yet in the course of the last

half century illiteracy has been almost banished from Japan. On the other hand, no province in India, we believe, possesses such fine educational buildings as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. Yet among the major provinces educationally it is the least advanced. Corsidered architecturally the Bengal schools and colleges are surpassed by those in most Provinces of India. Yet "in respect of literacy Bengal is superior to the other Provinces. Not only can it boast of a larger number of persons able to read and write, but the proportion of the latter to the whole population is higher than elsewhere." (Bengal Census Report, 1911, p. 365.)

What the King-Emperor wished.

His Most Gracious Imperial Majesty the King-Emperor, in replying to the address of the Calcutta University on the 6th January 1912, said :

"It is my wish that there may be spread over the land a network of schools and colleges, from which will go forth loyal and manly and useful citizens, able to hold their own in industries and agriculture and all the vocations in life. And it is my wish, too, that the homes of my Indian subjects may be brightened and their labour sweetened by the spread of know. ledge with all that follows in its train, a higher level of thought, of comfort and of health. It is through education that my wish will be fulfilled, and the cause of education in India will ever be very close to my heart."

The King-Emperor's servants are not doing much to give effect to his wishes. Instead of spreading over the land a network of schools and colleges, some of them seem determined, in the name of improvement and efficiency, to reduce the number of schools and pupils. In the Government of India Resolution on Educational Policy, dated the 21st February 1913, it has no doubt been said that "it is the desire and hope of the Government of India to see in the not distant future some 91,000 primary public schools added to the 100,000 which already exist for boys and to double the 44 millions of pupils who now receive instruction in them." Mr. Montagu also in the course of the Budget Debate in the House of Commons in 1912, promised an addition of 75 per cent. in the number of schools. But the question is, when are these 91,000 new schools to come into

to spend on education, the explanation lies partly in the economy they practise in the matter of salaries and of buildings.-The Educational System of Japan, p. 83.

existence? Within this century, we hope. "The not distant future" is a beautifully vague expression. When the late Japanese Emperor desired that illiteracy should cease to exist in all Japanese towns, villages and homes,* his servants carried out his wishes so earnestly and loyally that before half a century had passed his desires had been well-nigh fulfilled. That was because his servants were one with his people and felt that they were one.

When His Majesty King George V. wished that the homes of his subjects "may be brightened" by the spread of knowledge there can be no question that he meant that the homes of all his Indian subjects might be so brightened. But some of his servants, instead of lighting lamps of knowledge in homes that are now dark, are putting out the earthen lamps burning in humble home, in order, as they say, kerosene or electric lamps may be lighted in a few.

The Government Policy.

many a

The policy of the Government regarding increasing the number of educational institutions is laid down thus:

"The steady raising of the standard of existing institutions should not be postponed to increasing their number when the new institutions cannot be efficient without a better-trained and better-paid teaching staff."

It is also said that "subject to the principle stated" in the above paragraph, "there should be a large expansion of lower primary schools teaching the three R's" &c.

We may at once say that the policy laid down by Government is a wrong policy. But supposing that were the right policy to be pursued in an illiterate and educationally backward country like India, what can it mean at the worst ? Simply, that the first thing to be attended to is the steady raising of the standard of the existing institutions, and the next, the starting of new efficient institutions with an adequately paid and adequately trained

teaching staff. It does not and cannot mean that some existing schools are to be wiped out in order that the standard of the others may be raised. If it meant that, it would be unworthy of any civilized and solvent Government.

As for trained teachers, seeing that even in such an advanced country as Great Britain untrained teachers are employed in large numbers and new schools are opened in spite of the inadequate supply of trained teachers, it cannot be said that in India the increase in the number of schools should depend on the supply of trained men. According to the report of the Board of Education in Great Britain the school staff in 1912-13 included 164,124 adult teachers, of whom 106,013 were certificated. This means that more than 35 per cent. of the teachers were untrained. Yet the number of schools and pupils has neither been reduced nor remained stationary, but has gone on steadily increasing. If in a country like Great Britain where illiteracy is rarely met with, it be necessary to start new schools inspite of the dearth of trained teachers, should it not be ten times more desirable to start a large number of new schools in this country, though trained teachers be not available in sufficient numbers? Great Britain could not all at once make arrangements for training a sufficient number of teachers. In 1890 arrangements existed for training only 1615 teachers a year. In 1912-13 the number per annum that could be trained was 5650.

Bill for the protection of minor girls.

Mr. Dadabhoy's Bill has taken a practical shape and the Government of India have now before them a measure which has already passed through the committee stage. In view, however, of certain radical changes proposed by the Select Committee the Bill has been republished for public criticism. The crux of the whole question now is, will a magistrate have power to send a girl to the custody of guardians or societies whose religious persuasion are different from her own? Certain members of the committee have, it is stated, demurred to confer such power on the magistracy, and the Government India in accordance with their well known. attitude in such matters are unwilling to interfere. It is for the enlightened public now to decide whether the 'rescue' clause in the

of

be

original Bill shall be allowed to thus whittled down. It is the is the most important part of the Bill and should be allowed to stand. Everybody who walks with his eyes open through the streets of Calcutta or any other city, must have noticed the huge proportions the evil has assumed. Every brothel has several minor girls in it awaiting initiation into the vile trade. If they allowed to remain in the custody of their mothers, mothers, as they are called, or in the custody of anybody even remotely connected with the trade, you may compel the guardians to execute a bond but cannot protect the girls from 'moral and physical contamination.' Complete segregation must be insisted upon even if it be necessary at times to send a Hindu or Mahomedan girl to a Christian Home. The claims of humanity stand superior to the claims of a community and if a community fails to take care of its unfortunates it has no business to say that any other community shall not do it. The Government of India must rouse itself from the torpor of its Delhi surroundings and try to feel the pulse of living humanity. Hindu-Muslim Feast.

We read in the Empire :

Some Hindu and Muslim merchants of Pollachi, Coimbatore district, had a common feast at Ambasampalayam. It was effected on a co-operative basis. There were about 100 people present. There was a gramophone after breakfast and music after dinner. In the evening a photograph of the party was taken. As this step towards society-building proceeds from a class of people who greatly lack Western culture and education, the same is highly admirable and commendable. It is said that the same merchants are going to collect funds for such feasts to be held every year and to induce as many people as pos-. sible to join them in their mission.

Progress and Tradition.

"Why was it, he asked, that at that time there was this almost unbroken feeling of satisfaction that those traditions were resumed? It was not because Oliver Cromwell was a statesman indifferent to tradition. If he failed--and with all his genius it is manifest that he did fail-it was not because he was indifferent to the traditions of his country, it was not because he had some cut-and-dried theory as to how Englishmen should be governed.

"It was because he broke firmly and absolutely with the traditions of the past, to which the English people were profoundly and deeply attached, that the whole country turned back to the old position.

"The lesson to be learned is that if men are really to make the best of the future they must never ignore the past. It is the task of the men who love their country to turn their ancient institutions to modern uses, but not to break the continuity.

"I really believe that the days of those who think they can remodel heaven and earth under a new pattern invented in some professor's study are over. We now realise that one generation is not merely the phykal but the spiritual child of preceding generations.' It is true, as the Christian Register of Boston says, that

Institutions grow up out of the soil of social and political life. It is better to reform them than to destroy them, for once lost they never come again. All our fruits and flowers have been developed by human care and foresight out of wild stock. The wild stock being preserved, all the rest might be restored if they were destroyed, but, the wild stock being extirpated, nothing like it will ever come again. It is easy to destroy the passenger pigeons and buffaloes, but by no human power can a passenger pigeon or a buffalo be created. Nobody knows the origin of the seedless banana. Its production antedates the history of civilization. It would be as easy to put an end to many of the institutions of society as to put an end to the banana crop.

Mysore Village Improvement Scheme.

The Government of Mysore has recognized that nine-tenths of the population of that state reside in villages and, when the agricultural operations are slack, people in rural areas suffer from want of employment for many months in the year, particularly during years of deficient rainfall or scarcity. It has therefore considered it important that a beginning should be made to stimulate economic and other activities in rural areas in order to provide subsidiary occupations and increase production and the earning power of the people. After discussion with officers of Government and a large number of Representative Assembly Members and others, a form has been prepared showing the essential statistics to be collected to enable the people of a village to take stock of their progress from year to year.

The form is intended merely to record progress from year to year. But it is essential that there should be in each village

or a group of villages, an agency which will prepare a programme of the special measures of improvement necessary and hold itself responsible for giving effect to the programme. The following are some of the principal matters which require the attention of the village agency:

(1) Improvement of education, including the education of adults and instruction in some industry or industries subsidiary to agriculture. Spreading enlightenment by means of newspapers, lectures, demonstration, etc.

(2) Increasing production and occupations by improved methods of cultivation and irrigation and encouraging rural industries and trade with a view to enable the people to earn more and live better.

(3) Improvement of village sanitation by keeping the village clean, and free from uneven surfaces and hollows, and by providing good water-supply and drainage.

(4) Improvement by co operative effort in respect

of:(a) repairs to, and maintenance of irrigation tanks and channels, cart-tracts and village school houses, temples, mosques, etc;

(b) providing facilities to travellers;

(e) establishment of co-operative societies for supplying capital, for agricultural and industrial undertakings, for disposal of produce and other objects;

(d) supply of fodder, fuel and other requirements of village life.

to

(5) All other objects calculated increase production in the village and add to the comfort of the people.

(6) Collecting funds and expending the same judiciously for all these objects.

In villages which have already been constituted into Unions and for which Panchayats have been appointed, a small committee of not less than three and not more than five members will be elected by the Panchayet to attend to the work of village improvement. In other villages containing not less than 300 inhabitants, the people of the villages should be induced to appoint a committee consisting of a sufficient number of members, preferably by election, for having less than 300 inhabitants, should be grouped the same purpose. Smaller villages, that is, villages together and a single committee appointed jointly for the group, which should not exceed six villages in number. In the latter case, the meetings of the committee and the people may take place in the village of the group, or in each village by turns.

In places where it is difficult to form such committee the local officers concerned should endeavour to carry out the objects of the scheme by the aid of honorary workers and collect statistics required through the village officers.

The committee will usually be appointed for one year at the time and no member should be retained on it unless he continues to render useful service.

The following instructions of the Mysore Government are very important and suggestive, and show how villagers in British India also may improve their con dition by self-help :

Wherever there is sufficient enterprise in a village or group of villages, an endeavour should be made