The First Report: A Survey of Post-1800 Material
Adam’s first report is a general statement of the situation and a
presentation of the data which he could derive from post-1800
official and other sources. His conclusions: first, every village
had at least one school and in all probability in Bengal and
Bihar with 1,50,748 villages, ‘there will still be 1,00,000’ villages
that have these schools.^59 Second, on the basis of personal
observation and what he had learnt from other evidence, he
inferred that on an average there were around 100 institutions of
higher learning in each district of Bengal. Consequently, he
concluded that the 18 districts of Bengal had about 1,800 such
institutions. Computing the number studying in these latter at
the lowest figure of six scholars in each, he also computed that
some 10,800 scholars should be studying in them. He further
observed that while the elementary schools ‘are generally held in
the homes of some of the most respectable native inhabitants or
very near them’, the institutions of higher learning had buildings
generally of clay with ‘sometimes three or five rooms’ and ‘in
others nine or eleven rooms’, with a reading-room which is also
of clay. These latter places were also used for the residence of
the scholars; and the scholars were usually fed and clothed by
the teachers, and where required, were assisted by the local
people. After describing the method of teaching in both types of
institutions and going into their daily routine, Adam then
presented and examined the post-1800 data on the subject,
district by district. Table 10 gives an abstract of this
examination.
The Second Report: Survey of Nattore Thana
The second report was wholly devoted to Adam’s study of the
situation in the Thana of Nattore in the district of Rajshahy. It
was like a modern pilot survey in which Adam developed his