ments. The most competent officer available in the educational department should be set apart for three years on special duty for its superintendence. The writer may venture to name Mr. Woodrow, for many years Inspector of Schools in Bengal and recently officiating Director of Public Instruction. His qualifications in every respect are such as to command the confidence of all. To be adapted to India and include the latest educational improvements, the officer appointed should have the means of becoming thoroughly acquainted with the state of education in India, and with the best schools and school books in Europe and America. He must know, as far as possible under the circumstances, all that can be known. No man in India, however able, can do the work satisfactorily without this preliminary information. The Commissioner would have the Reports of the Committees to start with. But these are not sufficient. It is desirable that he should be able to discuss plans with some of the members themselves, and ascertain with his own eyes the state of education over the country. Report on Education in India.-Valuable General Reports, like Mr. Howell's "Note," have appeared at various times.* What is wanted however, is a Special Report of a different character. Educational establishments may be roughly classified as follows: The Commissioner should visit every great division of India, and personally inspect representative schools of each class. He should see good, medium, and inferior specimens. The average number of pupils in each, with their ages, the occupations of their parents, and the time they usually remain in school, should *The "Notes" are very creditable to Home Under-Secretaries, with so many other important duties. It seems desirable, however, to have an educational Secretary to Government, or Minister of Public Instruction. There are numerous changes in the Home Under-Secretaries. They have not sufficient time to master the subject of education, and when they have gained some knowledge of it, they are posted to other offices. The Secretary might annually review the progress of education and literature in India, offering suggestions. Both subjects are of growing importance and the expenditure on such an office would be amply repaid. adapted to India, aud including the latest educational improvements. Numerous attempts have been made in India to produce the books required. Though containing several good points, there are none up to the mark. The results seem to prove that a somewhat different course must be followed to secure what is wanted. Lord Northbrook's Resolution requests the different local Governments to appoint Committees to examine and report upon existing text-books. This is admirable as a first step. The views of some of the ablest and most experienced men in India will be elicited, and valuable suggestions offered. Still, too much must not be expected from them. Helps has the following remarks on statesmen being pressed for time : "As it is, we are governed by men whose time and attention are so much occupied by all manner of details and claims upon them of all kinds, that they must look upon every body who approaches them as a bore to be got rid of. If the wisest man in the world wished to submit to a British minister the best suggestion of a fruitful brain, and if he succeeded in working his way to an interview with the minister, the probability is that the great functionary's pervading thought would be, How soon shall I get rid of this man? how much of my time will he оссиру ?"* There are no gentlemen at large in India. All are busily engaged with important duties. When required to serve on Committees, probably, in most cases, they have somewhat of the feeling described by Helps. Valuable as Committees are in many respects, for executive purposes they are far inferior to a single officer. The second step is the appointment of an Educational Commissioner to consider all the suggestions offered, to obtain any further information which seems desirable, to carry out plans with the very best assistance which can be obtained, and then to submit the results to the consideration of the Committees before they are finally adopted. The preparation of an Educational Series is somewhat like designing a large magnificent building. Unity is necessary. It would never do to assign one wing to one architect and another to another. There must be one presiding mind. At the same time, the architect would employ subordinates to work out details, each according to his capacity. It is a trite remark that nothing very valuable is to be obtained without great labour. To secure an educational series worthy of India, corresponding efforts must be employed. The work cannot be executed by men burdened with numerous other engage * Essays written in the Intervals of Business, pp. 144, 145. Specimens should be obtained of all existing Indian School Books. Translations should be made of the most important of those in the vernacular, and selections of the most suitable apologues, &c. The best photographs procurable of subjects required for illustrations, should be collected. Procedure in England.-The Commissioner should go home when the Report on India has been drawn up. Specimens should be collected of the best English School Books,* and information obtained regarding the instruction given in Educational Institutions of different grades. The Secretary of State should obtain through the Ministers of Public Instruction, or other officers, sets of the three best series of School Books used in France, Switzerland, Holland, Prussia, Wurtemberg, Saxony, and the United States, with details regarding the classification and time-tables of the schools in which they are taught. Some time should be devoted to the study of the materials thus collected. The Commissioner should next visit some of the best schools in Britain and on the Continent to get a better insight into their working, to see the educational apparatus, to make inquiries on doubtful points, and consult educationists about plans for India. It would also be advantageous to go over to America. The Board of Education, New York, has an excellent collection of the best American School Books. The Commissioner's office at Washington would yield some valuable information. Having thus gathered materials and suggestions from all quarters, the preparation of the series would be commenced. The books necessary for each grade of schools, with their size, would require to be considered. The allotment of space to each subject, and the periods at which it should be taken up, would be a very difficult question. Here consultation with different scientific men and others would be specially necessary. Officers connected with the "Science and Art Department" could give valuable advice. The best writers for children would be employed on the elementary lessons. Scientific men distinguished both for their attainments and power of conveying knowledge in a simple form, should be engaged, each to prepare a series of lessons on his special subject. Professor Huxley, for example, might take Physiology. The conditions would be somewhat like the following: Suppose that he had an opportunity of giving three short lec *These might afterwards form the nucleus of an Educational Library in Calcutta. Specimens of cheap school apparatus should be added. tures on the subject to children of eight years of age, what would he say ? This would form the first course. Some of the children might attend future lectures; some would not. The next would be a course of six lectures to children ten years of age who had attended the first course; the third, one of nine lectures to children twelve years old. Professor Tyndall might prepare similar lessons on Physical Science ; Natural History, Botany, Manufactures, &c., might be taken up by other competent men. In some cases, simplification would be necessary. Any alterations of this kind, might be shown to the writers. Lessons on several subjects could best be written in India. The Commissioner should have full power to obtain assistance from any quarter. At the same time, it would often be desirable that articles from India should be revised by practised writers at home. Illustrations by the best engravers should be provided. The Commissioner would be editor-in-chief, but skilled subeditors should be employed to fit together the different lessons and suggest changes where they seemed desirable. Explanations should be given of difficult words and allusions. Small editions of the books, with broad margins, should first be printed. Specimens should be sent out to the Indian Directors and School Committees for report. The remarks made. should be carefully considered, and after any changes which seemed necessary had been made, the books might be stereotyped. The English editions would thus be provided. Final Report.-It has been suggested that the Commissioner's first work should be to report upon the existing state of education in India. His last duty would be to draw up a Report, embodying the principal results of his inquiries, and stating the courses of instruction he would recommend for the different grades of Educational Institutions in India. As far as space would admit, he might show the practice under a few of the best educational systems. One illustration may suffice. It would be interesting to know the course of instruction in a village school in Holland, Prussia, Switzerland, &c., respectively. The Reports on French, German, and American Schools by Messrs. Arnold, Pattison and Fraser, though able, do not enter sufficiently into detail. A Report on Education in Europe by President Bache gives a better idea of what is required. It is now rare, but extracts are given in Barnard's "Education in Europe." University studies would be an interesting subject. If time permitted, they might be included in the Report. VERNACULAR EDITIONS. The principal works in all the Indian vernacular languages are free translations from Sanskrit originals. The same course might be followed with School Books. The English, prepared with the greatest care in the manner previously mentioned, would be transfused into the various vernaculars by the most competent native scholars. To secure accuracy of idiom, there should be associated with each a good scholar unacquainted with English. The Madras Public Instruction Report for 1858-59 thus states the advantages of the above plan : "It is of more importance than it may at first sight appear that every Indian School book should be written in English in the first instance. It does not follow, nor is it probable, that the persons most competent to make use of the vernacular languages will be always equally well qualified to prepare a school book or to judge of the merits of one when prepared. If the basis be laid in English, the merits of the book can be judged of by those most qualified to form a judgment as regards the manner in which the subject is treated. The style of the translation must, of course, be left to the translator and to those appointed to superintend and revise his labours." Some changes would indeed be necessary. The introductory lessons in the First Book, though prepared on the same principle, would be totally distinct. There the subject-matter must be made subordinate to teaching to read. There would be some other changes desirable. Jute, for example, might be specially noticed in Bengal; cotton in some other parts of India. The selections from native books would also differ. PRICES OF Books. The English School Books should be stereotyped in England. Printers and binders might supply copies at certain rates. By degrees, the Vernacular Editions may also be stereotyped. A knowledge of the process is slowly spreading over India. The prime cost of Editions on such a scale and without the profit of private publishers, would be low. In fixing prices, different rates should be adopted for English and the Vernaculars. The former is learned simply as a means of obtaining more lucrative employment. The pupils are generally in fair circumstances, and are both able and willing to pay reasonable prices for their text-books. On the other hand, the Vernaculars are much less valued, and studied by the poorer classes. The course should, therefore, be to raise the prices of English books so as to make them cover the cost of agency, &c., and to sell the Vernacular editions at the lowest rates possible. |