and the collectorate schools, are all that will probably be wanted
before the sanction of the Honorable Court can be received. The
sum for which we ought to request their sanction ought not to be
less than half a lakh of rupees. None of the endowments in the
Collectors’ reports are applicable to the present object; they do
not exceed 20,000 rupees in all, and only a small portion of
them are public grants, and this small portion belongs chiefly to
the teachers of Theology, Law and Astronomy. Whatever expense
government may incur in the education of the people, will be
amply repaid by the improvement of the country; for the general
diffusion of knowledge is inseparably followed by more orderly
habits, by increasing industry, by a taste for the comforts of life,
by exertion to acquire them, and by the growing prosperity of the
people.
- It will be advisable to appoint a Committee of Public
Instruction, in order to superintend the establishing of the
public schools; to fix on the places most proper for them, and
the books to be used in them; to ascertain in what manner the
instruction of the natives may be best promoted, and to report to
government the result of their inquiries on this important
subject. - We must not be too sanguine in expecting any sudden
benefit from the labours of the School-Book Society. Their
disposition to promote the instruction of the people by educating
teachers, will not extend it to more individuals than now attend
the schools; it can be extended only by means of an increased
demand for it, and this must arise chiefly from its being found to
facilitate the acquisition of wealth or rank, and from the im-
provement in the condition of the people rendering a larger
portion of them more able to pay for it. But though they cannot
educate those who do not seek or cannot pay for education, they
can, by an improved system give a better education to those who
do receive it; and by creating and encouraging a taste for knowl-
edge, they will indirectly contribute to extend it. If we resolve to
educate the people, if we persevere in our design, and if we do
not limit the schools to tehsildaries, but increase their number
so as to allow them for smaller districts, I am confident that
success will ultimately attend our endeavours. But, at the same
time, I entirely concur in the opinion expressed in the 5th Report
of the Calcutta School-Book Society, when speaking of the
progress of the system, that ‘its operation must therefore of
necessity be slow; years must elapse before the rising generation
will exhibit any visible improvement.’
(Signed)
Thomas Munro.