preferable: "Simple addition and subtraction of numbers of not more than four figures."

The number of marks to be allowed, is also a question of some importance. The writer was present when a deputy inspector in the Madras Presidency was examining a vernacular school. He was kindly furnished with a copy of the table used. Under the head of "READER," there were four columns. First was Reading," which had 5 marks; next followed three columns for "Meaning," each of which had 5 marks. "Meaning" had 15 marks and "Reading" 5. In the case of beginners especially, this is a most absurd scale.

Full instructions to Inspectors, like those of the Committee of Council, should be issued, copies of which should be obtainable by managers of schools.

NECESSITY OF NORMAL SCHOOLS.

The importance of the teacher in education is well expressed by the axiom: "As is the master, so is the school." The following remarks apply in some respects with special force to India:

"To very poor children the school is a substitute for a home; they frequently have no other experience of domestic comfort and decency, and the teacher and those who take an active interest in the school are the only persons of tolerably cultivated minds with whom they are brought into any thing approaching to an intimate relation. The influence which the personal character of the teacher exercises over the scholars is accordingly very great. As I go from school to school,' said Mr. Moseley, 'I perceive in each a distinctive character, which is that of the master; I look at the school and at the man, and there is no mistaking the resemblance. His idiosyncracy has passed upon it; I seem to see him reflected in the children as in so many fragments of a broken mirror.'"*

The late Mr. Howard thus pointed out the qualifications desirable in teachers of primary schools in India :

"The master must be a man of the people, not raised so much above them by knowledge and social position, as to alienate their sympathies. His business is to instruct, not to astonish.

"He should be able to teach intelligent reading, writing, and rational arithmetic, and this is all I would require him to teach in the way of positive knowledge. His own training will, however, require the most anxious care. It should be essentially the culture of the heart, and those modest virtues which elevate and sweeten the lot of the poor.

"The love of honest labour and independence, truthfulness of character, habits of order, cleanliness, and punctuality, frugality and forethought in money matters, loyalty and contentment. These are

*Report of the Education Commission, 1861, p. 89.

the hopeful seeds of civilization and not the knowledge which puffs up of a little literature and science.

"That we may have masters fitted to impress such a stamp on their pupils, they must be carefully selected, and placed for training and supervision under the very best men we can find. No rules or system can be trusted to; we must get men for our training masters, and pay them Well."*

Contrast with the above ideal to be aimed at, the indigenous teacher as described by Adam :-

"As to any moral influence of the teachers on the pupils-any attempt to form the sentiments and habits and to control and gaide the passions and emotious, such a notion never enters their conceptions."

Such men may indeed teach reading, writing, and arithmetic in a mechanical way, but as to their imparting any education worthy of the name, one might as well look for grapes on thorns. To attempt to educate the masses through small grants on results to indigenous teachers, may have the recommendation of cheapness, but it will be little more than mockery so far as real education is concerned. Though at the outset, it may not be wise to overlook such men, they should as soon as possible be superseded by carefully trained teachers.

According to the native proverb, an old bamboo will not bend. Training will have very little effect upon men whose habits are confirmed. Old teachers should be induced to send sons or some other relatives to be trained, in order that they may eventually take their place. Even in the case of the young, the training must not be too short. The opinion of Babu Bhudev Mukerji of the teachers who spent a year at a Normal School, quoted at page 22, is proof of this. Nor should the teachers of primary schools be prepared for their work by persons of low acquirements themselves. On the contrary, as Mr. Howard remarks, they should be placed under "the very best men we can find."

When men have been trained, they must also receive suitable salaries. In the case of primary schools these cannot be high; but they must meet their necessary wants and have some degree of certainty. Though in England grants on results are now the rule, yet the teachers are under Committees, and receive their salaries regularly. Some such arrangement is necessary in India to secure satisfactory teachers. Really competent men will be unwilling to depend upon a precarious grant once a year. The primary school will thus be, as it has been, the "refuge of the destitute."

* Bombay Public Instruction Report, 1858-59, p. 239.

Every civilized country in Europe and America has recognized the importance of Normal Schools for the training of teachers. It is fully acknowledged in the Despatch of 1854 :—

"67. In England when systematic attempts began to be made for the improvement of education, one of the chief defects was found to be the insufficient number of qualified schoolmasters, and the imperfect method of teaching which prevailed. This led to the foundation of Normal and Model Schools for the training of masters, and the exemplification of the best methods for the organization, discipline, and instruction of elementary schools. This deficiency has been the more palpably felt in India, as the difficulty of finding persons properly educated for the work of tuition is greater; and we desire to see the establishment, with as little delay as possible, of Training Schools, and classes, for masters, in each Presidency in India. It will probably be found that some of the existing institutions may be adapted wholly or partially, to this purpose, with less difficulty than would attend the establishment of entirely new schools."

The next paragraph directs attention to the Pupil Teacher System. The following acknowledges the necessity of taking into consideration the teacher's income, and of improving the indigen

ous masters:-

"69. You will be called upon, in carrying these measures into effect, to take into consideration the position and prospects of the numerous class of natives of India who are ready to undertake the important duty of educating their fellow-countrymen. The late extension of the pension regulations of 1831 to the educational service may require to be adapted to the revised regulations in this respect; and our wish is that the profession of schoolmaster may, for the future, afford inducements to the natives of India, such as are held out in other branches of the public service. The provision of such a class of schoolmasters as we wish to see must be a work of time; and, in encouraging the 'indigenous schools,' our present aim should be to improve the teachers whom we find in possession, and to take care not to provoke the hostility of this class of persons, whose influence is so great over the minds of the lower classes, by superseding them where it is possible to avoid it. They should, moreover, be encouraged to attend the Normal Schools and classes which may hereafter be instituted for this class of teachers."

The Friend of India remarks: "In a backward country like India the Normal School is the root of all successful education. If a man is what his mother makes him, still greater in such a country is the influence of his teacher. It is sad to be under the necessity of writing such platitudes year after year, but it is necessary." Though the training of teachers has not been entirely neglected by the Indian Government, it must be con

* Nov. 7th, 1867.

fessed that it has not received the attention it deserves.

Hand in hand with the efforts to provide improved class books, should be the training of teachers. The Lieut.-Governor of the Punjab justly remarks, that on Normal Schools "all satisfactory educational progress must depend, and no endeavour to improve the character of their training should be wanting."*

The object of the writer is mainly to draw attention to School Books. The foregoing remarks are inserted to show that he fully realizes the importance of the training of teachers.

MANUALS FOR TEACHERS.

Three text-books of this class are required.

1. Directions to Indigenous Teachers.-A small manual of this kind will be of some service. It should explain, in the simplest manner, the subjects which require to be studied, the arrangement of classes, the keeping of registers, the rules for examinations, &c. One or two publications of the kind have already been issued.

2. Manual for Vernacular Normal Schools. This would form a text-book for students under training, and be useful to them when they commence their work. In addition to the usual subjects, it would be well to add some remarks fitted to make them useful in the villages where they labour. They may promote sanitary improvements; they may cultivate habits of forethought, they may endeavour to prevent law suits, and in many other ways seek to advance the welfare of the people. Prudence is of course necessary, the want of which, accompanied by self-conceit, has too often made "reformers" stink in the nostrils of those sought to be benefited.

3. Text-book for Teachers in English Schools.+-This may not seem to be much wanted, as the works of Currie, Gill, Morrison, Laurie, Stow, and others are available. But there is not in them the principle of adaptation to India which has been so strongly urged. Let them be studied by all means, but let the teacher have, in addition, a treatise specially intended to fit him for his peculiar work in India. Many valuable hints would thus be given, not to be found in English manuals.

PREPARATION OF AN IMPERIAL SERIES OF SCHOOL BOOKS.

The great object of the foregoing remarks is to show the urgent necessity which exists for a complete series of School Books,

* Punjab Public Instruction Report, 1871-72, p. 11.

+ Mr. Fowler, Inspector of Schools, Madras, prepared "Discipline and Instruction," forming Part I. of Method. It is very good, but it never seems to have been completed.

adapted to India, and 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.

The

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. 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.