# General Report on Public Instruction in the Lower Provinces of the Bengal Presidency (1844-45)/General Report

GENERAL REPORT,
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On the 15th June the Supreme Government sanctioned the appointment of an Inspector of Colleges and Schools in the Lower Regulation Provinces. The necessity for this arrangement had been repeatedly and strongly urged by the Council of Education, and the experience of past years had left no room to doubt that without regular, strict, and systematic supervision by a responsible and highly qualified officer, having his attention directed to no other object, the means appropriated for the education of the people could not be applied with a prospect of adequate success. Mr. Ireland, the Principal of the Dacca College, who was employed last year to inspect some of the Zillah Schools, and had performed his duty in this, as in other respects, in an able and satisfactory manner, was selected to fill the situation of Inspector; and on the death of this deserving officer which took place in August, Mr. E. Lodge, Principal of the Agra College, was nominated to succeed him. Mr. Lodge entered upon his duties on the 27th November, and extracts from his first reports will be found in the Appendix No. 5.
The appointment of an inspector rendered it necessary to modify in some degree the functions of the Local Committees. The Circular Order of the 25th July 1844, No. 16, conveying the intimation of these changes to the several Committees will be found in the Appendix No. 1. Opportunity was also taken to explain the general views entertained by the Government on the subject of education, which may be gathered from the annexed extract:—
   The principal objects had in view by the Government, to the accomplishment of which your efforts will be mainly directed are,
   1st. The provision of means for imparting a high standard of moral and intellectual education through the medium of English in the Colleges of Dacca and Moorshedabad, as well as at any other institutions of a similar character which it may hereafter be expedient or practicable to establish.
   2nd. The acquisition by the students, at the same time, of a sufficient mastery of the Vernacular to enable them to communicate with facility and correctness in the language of the people the knowledge obtained by them at the Central College.
   3rd. The extension of the means of instruction in the zillahs by the ​establishment of Vernacular schools, or the improvement of those which already exist, in the more populous towns throughout the Presidency.
   4th. The preparation of a complete series of Vernacular class books.
   5th. The introduction of a more uniform and systematic course of study, and the improvement of discipline at all the Government Institutions.
The Balance at credit of the Education Fund at the close of last year arising partly from the increased payments by scholars for their tuition, partly from private contributions, and partly from the saving effected in consequence of vacancies in authorised establishments, was so considerable as to allow of the investment of Rs. 75,000 in Government securities, the interest of which adds Rs. 3,000 to the annual resources of the department.
The School at Patna has been erected into a Central College for the Behar Province, and a Zillah School has been established at Mozufferpore. Both these objects, as well as the foundation of Vernacular Schools in each of the regulation districts, have been attained with the funds at the disposal of the Local Government, and no additional grant of public money has been required for the purpose. The Patna College and Mozufferpore School will be more particularly noticed in their proper place, and the correspondence regarding the Vernacular Schools will be found in the Appendix No. 2. Numerous applications have been submitted to the Government by the Inhabitants of Towns and Villages in the interior for the establishment of Schools, and these have been transferred for consideration and disposal to the Local Revenue Authorities.
Great inconvenience and abuse having been found to attend the practice of allowing each Institution a certain monthly sum for the purchase of books at the discretion of the Local Management, it was determined with the advice of the Council of Education, to revert to the previously existing system of supplying books by means of a Central Agency at the Presidency. The correspondence connected with this subject, was circulated to the Local Committees, and will be found in the Appendix No. 1, (Circular No. 24, dated 20th November 1844.)
On the 10th October, the Governor-General passed the following Resolution:
   The Governor-General having taken into his consideration the existing state of education in Bengal, and being of opinion that it is highly desirable to afford it every reasonable encouragement by holding out to those who have taken advantage of the opportunity of instruction afforded to them, a fair prospect of employment in the public service, and thereby not only to reward individual merit, but to enable the State to profit ​as largely and as early as possible by the result of the measures adopted of late years for the instruction of the people as well by the Government as by private individuals and societies, has resolved that in every possible case a preference shall be given in the selection of candidates for public employment to those who have been educated in the institutions thus established, and especially to those, who have distinguished themselves therein by a more than ordinary degree of merit and attainment.
   The Governor-General is accordingly pleased to direct that it be an instruction to the Council of Education and to the several Local Committees and other authorities charged with the duty of superintending public instruction throughout the provinces subject to the Government of Bengal to submit to that Government at an early date, and subsequently on the 1st of January in each year returns (prepared according to the form appended to this resolution) of students who may be fitted, according to their several degrees of merit and capacity, for such of the various public offices as, with reference to their age, abilities, and other circumstances, they may be deemed qualified to fill.
   The Governor-General is further pleased to direct that the Council of Education be requested to receive from the Governors or Managers of all scholastic establishments, other than those supported out of the public funds, similar returns of meritorious students, and to incorporate them after due and sufficient enquiry with those of Government Institutions, and also that the managers of such establishments be publicly invited to furnish returns of that description periodically to the Council of Education.
   The returns when received, will be printed and circulated to the heads of all Government offices both in and out of Calcutta, with instructions to omit no opportunity of providing for and advancing the candidates thus presented to their notice, and in filling up every situation of whatever grade, in their gift, to shew them an invariable preference over others not possessed of superior qualifications. The appointment of all such candidates to situations under the Government will be immediately communicated by the appointing officer, to the Council of Education, and will by them be brought to the notice of Government and the public in their annual reports. It will be the duty of controlling officers with whom rests the confirmation of appointments made by their subordinates to see that a sufficient explanation is afforded in every case in which the selection, may not have fallen upon an educated candidate whose name is borne on the printed returns.
   With a view still further to promote and encourage the diffusion of knowledge among the humbler classes of the people, the Governor-General is also pleased to direct that even in the selection of persons to fill the lowest offices under the Government, respect be had to the relative acquirements of the candidates, and that in every instance a man who can read and write be preferred to one who cannot.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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