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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78894 ***
+
+
+
+
+ Transcriber’s Note
+
+
+ 1. New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the
+ public domain.
+
+ 2. Certain typographic errors & hyphenation inconsistencies were
+ silently corrected.
+
+ 3. The text version is marked up as follows:
+
+ (a) italics are indicated thus _italic_;
+
+ (b) small-caps are indicated thus +Small-Caps+;
+
+ 4. Footnotes moved to the end of the file.
+
+ 5. Tables and Illustrations tags have been moved so they do not
+ break up the paragraphs. Page numbers in the List of Illustrations
+ and the Statistical Tables sections reflect the position of the
+ illustration in the original text, but the links point to the
+ current position of the illustrations.
+
+ 6. Page number references in the index are as published in the
+ original publication and have not been checked for accuracy.
+
+ 7. In Statistical Tables List, item "V" is a Footnote reference in
+ Page 107 original text. Hence, "Footnote [82] reference" is added
+ in text version List & Footnote reference [82] linked in HTML.
+
+ The Education of the Women of India
+
+ [Illustration: A Parsi Girl]
+
+
+
+
+ The Education of
+ the Women of India
+
+ By
+
+ MINNA G. COWAN, M.A. (+T.C.D.+)
+ Girton College
+
+
+ _ILLUSTRATED_
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+ Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier
+ Edinburgh and London
+
+
+
+
+ PRINTED BY
+ TURNBULL AND SPEARS,
+ EDINBURGH
+
+
+
+
+ Preface
+
+
+It has been well said that no Western should attempt to make any
+general statement about inscrutable India; the most he can venture
+to say is, that “in certain places certain things which he saw may
+possibly have been what he thought they really were.” The present
+volume is therefore based upon appearances which may or may not have
+represented reality, upon conversations with Government officials,
+missionaries and Indian friends, who kindly gave of their leisure
+to a stranger, and upon the study of Government Reports. Where any
+generalization has been made, the writer trusts it will be taken with
+the reservations which a very brief residence in the East renders
+needful. If the book help the women of the West to realize how critical
+is the present evolutionary period in the education of the women of
+India, especially in its relation to constructive Christianity, it
+will not have failed of its purpose.
+
+My thanks are specially due to Miss Richardson and Miss M’Dougall
+of Westfield College for aid in revision, to many friends for their
+unstinted help, and to the Faculty of Advocates for the use of their
+Library.
+ M. G. C.
+ +EDINBURGH+, _July 1912_.
+
+
+
+
+ To
+ the
+ G. A.
+
+
+
+
+ Contents
+
+
+ CHAPTER PAGE
+
+ I. +INTRODUCTION+ 13
+
+ II. +HISTORICAL SURVEY+ 29
+
+ III. +BURMA+ 60
+
+ IV. +EASTERN BENGAL AND ASSAM+ 78
+
+ V. +BENGAL+ 100
+
+ VI. +INTERESTING INSTITUTIONS IN THE UNITED PROVINCES
+ AND THE PUNJĀB+ 129
+
+ VII. +SIDELIGHTS ON SOME NATIVE STATES+ 146
+
+ VIII. +BOMBAY+ 160
+
+ IX. +UNIVERSITY EDUCATION+ 192
+
+ X. +THE RELIGIOUS ELEMENT IN EDUCATION+ 223
+
+ XI. +CONCLUSION+ 244
+
+ +BIBLIOGRAPHY+ 253
+
+ +INDEX+ 254
+
+
+
+
+ Illustrations
+
+
+ A Parsi Girl _Frontispiece_
+
+ OPPOSITE PAGE
+
+ Government Examination of Girls, Calcutta 52
+
+ Girls at St Luke’s Mission, Toungoo, Burma 62
+
+ Ghurka Girl Boarder at S.P.G. Girls’ School,
+ Mandalay 68
+
+ A Hill School, Eastern Bengal 80
+
+ High School Class, Eastern Bengal 90
+
+ Four Scholarship Girls. United Free Church
+ Mission School for Hindus, Calcutta 120
+
+ Standards I. to IV. United Free Church Mission
+ School for Hindus, Calcutta 126
+
+ The Isabella Thoburn College, Lucknow 136
+
+ C.M.S. Middle School, Amritsar--Hoop Drill 142
+
+ The Alphabet Class, Nasirabad 156
+
+ The University Settlement Students’ Hostel,
+ Bombay 208
+
+ Ludhiana School of Medicine--Hospital Court
+ Yard with Patients 216
+
+
+
+
+ Statistical Tables
+
+
+ TABLE CHAP. PAGE
+
+ I. Management of Girls’ Schools. All India II. 48
+
+ II. Classification by Race or Creed. All India II. 49
+
+ III. Management of Girls’ Schools. Burma III. 65
+
+ IV. Classification by Race or Creed. Burma III. 70
+
+ V. Comparative Figures. Bengal (Footnote [82] reference) V. 107
+
+ VI. Management of Girls’ Schools. Bengal V. 108
+
+ VII. Management of Girls’ Schools. United Provinces VI. 132
+
+ VIII. Management of Girls’ Schools. Bombay VIII. 168
+
+ IX. Classification by Race or Creed. Bombay VIII. 169
+
+ X. Classification of College Students IX. 197
+
+ XI. Diagram of University Courses IX. 204
+
+
+ APPENDIX
+
+ PAGE
+
+ A. Matriculation Course 250
+
+ B. Teachers’ Certificates 251
+
+ C. Growth of Female Education in India 252
+
+
+
+
+ I
+
+ INTRODUCTION
+
+ “That is true knowledge which can make
+ Us mortals saintlike, holy, pure,
+ The strange thirst of the spirit slake
+ And strengthen suffering to endure.”
+ +TORU DUTT.+
+
+
+To write a book on the education of Indian women is a prosaic action
+impelled by Western devotion to matter of fact; it would be more
+fitting to write of the veil of mystic romance which has hidden the
+sorrows and the joys of Indian women from the world; of the Rajput
+women who issued from the royal zenana to lead a forlorn cause against
+their country’s foes, or passed by hundreds to a fiery death rather
+than touch the conqueror’s hand; of those whose intrigue and strategy
+were redeemed from falseness by underlying devotion to others, of those
+who rose above the symbols of ritual and worship to the true perception
+of the Divine in life. But the modern world of the East has its own
+romance, that of the meeting of diverse civilizations, of the craving
+for truth and reality, of multitudes in the valley of decision. The
+old chivalry is there in a new form. It is not a little thing to open
+the door of self-realization, with its opportunity for an even greater
+selflessness, to the myriads of Indian women. The new thought and new
+ideals which are permeating the whole East have no more striking phase
+than their manifestation in the life of women. The tentative attitude
+towards growing freedom, the hesitation to enter in and possess, the
+recurring tragedy of those who are ahead of their times, and of others
+for whom the new wine is too strong, are only partial aspects of a
+problem which cuts deep into modern civilization. The women who live
+behind the veil in India, or who, though without, are utterly untouched
+by modern education and modern ideas, are still the vast majority,
+and there is in no sense a Feminist movement such as exists in Japan
+and to a certain extent in China; still, the new type is there, the
+pioneer in a transitional period and the fruit of modern education. A
+Mohammedan lady of good social standing in Bombay keeps a school for
+poor girls in her own house, and has completely given up _parda_;
+Brāhma-Samāj[1] ladies are doing excellent work on Government Education
+Committees; an orthodox Hindu lady goes on tour to advocate a special
+system of Hindu schools; an Ārya Samāj[2] widow staffs a school for
+high-caste girls in her own house with entirely voluntary teachers.
+An excellent Ladies’ Magazine is edited by an Indian woman graduate
+in Madras. A Parsi woman holds the position of Legal Adviser for
+_parda-nashin_[3] women to the Government of Bengal. Indian women
+are found doing excellent work as doctors, and a few as principals of
+girls’ schools. It would be easy to multiply examples not only of those
+who have taken up definite professional life, but also of others who
+share in the work and interests of their husbands as closely as any
+woman of the West, and who use their social influence on the side of
+progress; the Maharani of Baroda has written a book to interpret to
+her more secluded countrywomen the many phases of the Englishwoman’s
+life; the Begum of Bhopal, on her return from the Coronation, summoned
+the Ladies’ Club of her capital to exhort them once more on the
+never-failing theme of education as the root of all progress; the Rani
+of Gondal and many other Indian princesses take a personal interest in
+the welfare of their people. The same phase is also to be seen in other
+ranks; we find the orthodox Hindu wife of an Indian Deputy Commissioner
+accompanying him on tour through his district, rather than that he
+should live the greater part of his life apart from her.[4] Then there
+are the transitional types, women who venture thus far and tremble on
+the brink of many complicated problems; the wives of “England-returned”
+men, whose anglicized husbands have done their best to educate them,
+and by leading them painfully through the new ideas to bring them,
+to some extent at least, into the “reformed life.”[5] There is much
+that is pathetic here, and the tragedy of “The Broken Road,” has its
+counterpart to-day in the heart of many an Indian girl, who knows that
+the husband who is studying in Britain will, when he returns, have
+entered a new world in which she can never share. And so by many stages
+one passes back to the old, the real, India, where the woman graduates
+in suffering, and where the babies seem to grow, with no stage of
+girlhood, into little women on whom the burden of life falls heavily.
+Yet who can say whether the influence of these “secluded ones” is not
+even yet the most potent factor in modern India?
+
+The “advanced ones” have their corporate life, and one of the most
+interesting features in India to-day is the number of women’s societies
+which are springing up, partly in conjunction with European ladies and
+partly by entirely spontaneous effort. The traveller accustomed to read
+of secluded Indian ladies would be surprised to visit the Princess
+Mary Victoria Gymkhana in Bombay and meet Parsi, Mohammedan and Hindu
+women playing croquet and Badminton, or having tea with their friends,
+and even entertaining men of their acquaintance twice a year. It is
+true that Parsi influence marks off the social life of Bombay from that
+of more conservative India, but the Bombay women do not always remain
+in Bombay. Some of the societies are linked with the various religious
+movements, others are purely social and educational. One society, the
+_Bharat Stri Mahamandal_, in the United Provinces and in Bengal,
+has been founded by Hindu and Moslem women, but is intended to include
+all sympathizers. Its aim is “to form a common centre for all women
+thinkers and co-workers of every race, creed, class, and party in India
+to associate themselves together for the progress of humanity.”[6]
+Another, the _Gujerati Stri Mandal_, in Bombay, is a purely Hindu
+society, which aims at bringing many of the Gujerati women, who keep
+_parda_, into contact with other women, and has a definite if
+somewhat ambitious educational programme. _The Seva Sadan_, or
+Sisters Ministrant, a society established in Bombay in 1909, with four
+branches, is under a united committee of Hindu, Mohammedan, and Parsi
+representatives, and aims at philanthropic and educational work. “In
+the name of Him, Who has given us so many benedictions, we call upon
+every woman to become a Benediction, and we call upon all who realize
+that India’s two great sins are her sin against women and her sin
+against the depressed, to help us in creating Sisters Ministrant.”[7]
+The vow which these Sisters Ministrant are called upon to take, is to
+“look upon life as a sacred trust for loving, self-sacrificing service,
+and to do such service. So help me God.” It is true that when the
+high idealism of this prospectus and report are compared with actual
+fact, there is evident a certain lack of reality, characteristic of
+many Indian schemes. Still, good work, not unlike that of a London
+Settlement, is being actually done by two splendid women at the
+society’s Settlement in Bombay, and idealism never fails of its
+ultimate fruit.
+
+No account of the corporate life of Indian women would be complete
+without mention of the National Indian Association, which, though
+organized from London, has many Indian ladies as secretaries or
+committee members of its Ladies’ Branches in India. Amongst its
+many activities one of the most effective has been the holding of
+_parda_ lectures and other gatherings for the encouragement of
+education, and scholarships are also awarded through it to suitable
+candidates. Apart from all organization, the _parda_ party, pure
+and simple, whether given by the wives of Government officials, or by
+private individuals, has its own part to play. The honour of holding
+the first of these, as a species of feminine _durbar_, belongs
+probably to Lady Amherst.[8] At the request of the famous Baiza Pai,
+wife of the Maharaj of Scindhia, she received a deputation of Maratha
+ladies at Agra in 1827, and the account translated from a Persian
+letter by one of the guests reveals the quaint misconception of all
+things Western under which the deputation laboured. The number of Lord
+Amherst’s supposed wives, the English “nautch girls,” who played the
+table with the ivory teeth, the strange attitude of the English ladies,
+reveal a world far apart, and though the modern _parda_ party may
+not be needed to-day to dispel such extreme delusions, it is still a
+meeting ground for worlds far apart, and the source of many new ideas
+to both English and Indian ladies. These gatherings and societies
+have an extraordinary influence especially on those who have fought
+shy of the proffered friendship of the missionaries, or of Government
+educational effort, and they certainly count for much in the breaking
+down of artificial barriers to progress.
+
+The “secluded ones” of the real India have no corporate life and belong
+to no society save that of the family. The unit of Indian civilization
+is the family, and where that word includes the joint-family to
+remote degrees, one may perhaps faintly understand what the corporate
+influence of the women of the household means, and measure it against
+the impotence of a mere society.
+
+Such in all its variety is the diverse life of the women of India
+to-day, the meeting-place of two civilizations, and fraught with untold
+consequences and influences for the future. Hitherto the weight of
+woman’s opinion has been conservative and religious. “A combination
+of enforced ignorance and overdone religion have not only made women
+in India willing victims of customs unjust and hurtful in the highest
+degree, but it has also made them the most formidable because the most
+effective opponents of all change or innovation.”[9] But signs have not
+been wanting to show that this same influence has been inflammatory of
+revolution and sedition, and instances are given, by a recent writer,
+of ladies’ meetings in which sympathy was extended even to anarchists
+who had been guilty of murder, and in which ladies gathered together
+in zenanas were urged to do all they could to advance a mischievous
+propaganda.[10] True, this kind of influence is not widespread, but it
+is a natural result when impressionable characters are brought into
+contact with ideas which they have not the knowledge nor opportunity
+of weighing aright. There is the farther risk of recoil from enforced
+restraint towards the liberty which is not a law unto itself. The
+slavish imitation of the West which has marred much of the modern
+movement in the past and from which the Swadeshi of to-day is a
+reaction, is even more repellent in the life of women than of men,
+and the Indian world would lose much of its fascination and charm if
+instead of a rehabilitation of the ancient ideals of womanhood the
+modern type were to develop merely as a denationalized caricature.
+The classic Indian ideal of womanhood, with its wonderful vicarious
+suffering, its selflessness and devotion, is enough to make the world
+weep, yet it may be that it has proved throughout the centuries one
+of the subtlest temptations to the strong. “It is a terrible thing,”
+writes Sister Nivedita, who made the Hindu woman’s life her own; “it
+dwarfs the wife. I often think that it would be good for the husbands
+themselves if their wives were less soft and good.” But the glory and
+the grace of it may live, and its gentle womanliness transfigure modern
+life. The Indian woman need lose none of those qualities which made her
+loved in Vedic times, but may prove to the world that she is conscious
+of her own heritage and capable of choosing only what is good from the
+life of the West.
+
+History is made quietly, and the modern movement for the education
+of the women of India and its guidance along right lines is a matter
+of Imperial importance. On education of some sort they will insist.
+The latest Quinquennial Report (1907) shows an increase in the
+period of over 45 per cent. of the total number of girls at school,
+and since then some districts show even more.[11] The emphasis at
+present laid on girls’ schools is in part the result of the general
+educational ferment in India. One hundred years have elapsed since
+Lord Minto wrote his famous letter to the Directors of the East
+India Company, animadverting on the decay of Hindu and Mohammedan
+science and learning; this letter was followed two years later by the
+decision to spend a lac of rupees annually for educational purposes,
+a paltry sum in comparison with the Government’s educational outlay
+to-day, yet representing the inauguration of a new policy. The great
+principles of the systematic introduction of Western learning,
+with the English language as a medium of instruction in the higher
+stages; of the possession of English education as the criterion for
+Government service; of the direct responsibility of the State for
+secular instruction only, together with the encouragement of voluntary
+effort on other lines by a policy of grants-in-aid, have borne fruit
+far beyond the imagination of those who laid them down in the early
+half of last century. A vast system has grown up: five Universities
+with magnificent Government and missionary colleges, a network of
+Primary and Secondary schools both in British territory and the
+Native States, an Educational Department in every province under a
+Director of Public Instruction, centralized till recently under a
+Director-General, an expenditure in 1907 of public funds amounting
+to 559 lacs, and, along with all this, to-day, a grave criticism,
+representing various shades of political and religious opinion, of the
+work done, with a questioning of its beneficial influence and of the
+fundamental principles involved. Good results there certainly have
+been, but there is a tendency to-day to emphasize the weak points in
+the system rather than to lay stress on the actual good done, as always
+happens in a world bent on reform. The main points of the indictment
+brought against the system by current journalism are briefly these:
+an educated minority has been created, while only 28.7 per cent. of
+the present generation of boys are at school; the ranks of the lower
+Government services are overcrowded, and disappointed candidates turn
+only too readily to sedition; the Code tends to an abnormal development
+of the repetitive faculty; intellect is emphasized at the expense of
+character; the whole tendency is to take away from the Indian child
+his own historical heritage of thought and feeling. The Government is
+now devoting careful attention to the whole problem in its relation
+to the general political situation. In January 1911, a new Central
+Department of Education was formed, with a representative on the
+Governor-General’s Council. Under its auspices a special Conference
+of the higher educational officials and others was recently held at
+Allahabad to discuss outlines of future policy, with special emphasis
+on the burning topics of Primary education and moral teaching.
+Lord Hardinge personally visited incognito some of the students’
+“Messes”[12] in Calcutta to see the facts with his own eyes. The boon
+granted at the Durbar includes an additional expenditure of fifty lacs
+of rupees for educational purposes.
+
+Apart from Government there is an expression in Indian circles of
+the sense of crisis, and of the need for the extension of popular
+education. Though doubtless engineered by a minority, still it is
+not without value. The Indian National Congress and the All-Indian
+Moslem League have passed resolutions in favour of compulsory Primary
+education which show some sense of what education really means. “Its
+universal diffusion is a matter of primary importance, for literacy
+is better than illiteracy; education is something more than the
+mere capacity to read and write. It means a keener enjoyment of
+life and a more refined standard of living. It means the greater
+moral and economic efficiency of the individual.” In March 1911, Mr
+Gokhale introduced his Bill for Compulsory Primary Education to the
+Governor-General’s Council, and thereby awakened discussion throughout
+the country. Idealistic it certainly is, when the dearth of trained
+teachers is considered and the conservatism of the real India taken
+into account, but it marks the trend of a certain section of Indian
+opinion. There is, moreover, a movement on the part of others for the
+establishment of Mohammedan and Hindu Universities, as a reaction from
+the secularism of the Government institutions.
+
+It is not the purpose of this book to analyse such criticism but merely
+to show its relation to the problem of women’s education. To some
+thinkers the most fundamental flaw in the whole system has seemed the
+development of one-half of the community far beyond that of the other.
+In spite of recent progress the literate percentage is 10.50 for men,
+and only 10.4 for women;[13] the removal of this discrepancy might mean
+the raising of the whole of social life and go far towards the solution
+of other problems. Hence in every district there are ardent advocates
+of female education. “A realization of the necessity for an educated
+and emancipated womanhood is now no longer confined to those sections
+of the community which are directly influenced by Christianity, but
+is laying hold of Eastern nations as a whole.”[14] Hardly a Congress
+or debating society exists which does not pass resolutions thereon,
+hardly an Indian journal which does not emphasize the importance of the
+feminine factor. “Upon the condition of women depends the happiness and
+prosperity of the homes. Upon their fitness will hinge the evolution
+of our character. The schools and universities may make us highly
+intellectual, but as for character we must look to the home and the
+home alone. Let us frankly say to the Indian girl: ‘Here, child of God,
+take this key to the portals of knowledge: it belongs to you by right
+of birth. Enter then fearlessly and behold the beauty and the joys it
+reveals.’”[15] There is nothing more striking than the emphasis which
+is laid in these articles on the sanction found in the Vedic classics
+for the education of women and on the modern movement as a renaissance,
+and not an overthrow of ancient Aryan ideas. The Mohammedan case is
+a more difficult one to prove, but there are writers, such as Ameer
+Ali, strongly influenced by the Christian ideas of the West, who
+attempt it in spite of the Koran.[16] There is the even bolder spirit
+of those who hold that “though all the sacred _mantras_[17] were
+against it,” the education of her women is the only solution of India’s
+problem. The slow infiltration of the Christian ideal of woman has
+had its effect and the influence of missionary educational work has
+gained an increased momentum by the change in the Indian attitude.
+True, the conservative influence is still there with much of the old
+strength, as will be indicated in succeeding chapters, not only amongst
+the orthodox but amongst the more advanced. An Indian Reform Journal
+can still publish an advertisement of an undergraduate who desires
+a wife of eleven years, educated in Hindi and domestic matters. Such
+are the strange anomalies and contradictions of a country which defies
+generalizations. There is, however, abundant evidence to show that
+we have arrived at a highly critical period, in which the whole may
+be sacrificed to a part, in which, through lack of considering the
+question in all its bearings, the mistakes from which the education of
+men in India has not been wholly free may be repeated and intensified
+in the case of the women, and in which the opportunity of developing a
+national system in line with modern educational science may be lost.
+
+The present volume is an attempt to sift this evidence in the different
+localities visited, and to give, in so far as is possible to a writer
+who has no expert knowledge of Indian problems, an accurate description
+of the conditions of girls’ education, and of the three contributing
+factors, the Government, the missionary, and spontaneous Indian
+effort. Where other localities have been treated the intention has
+been to show that the same factors and, to a certain extent, the same
+problems prevail. The survey is in no sense exhaustive; the State of
+Bhopal, which doubtless presents many interesting features, is not
+included. The great districts of South India and the Madras Presidency,
+where women’s education is well developed, have unfortunately had
+to be omitted, and any generalization made must be taken with this
+reserve. The geographical division has been adopted, not because
+the same problems do not to a certain extent repeat themselves but
+because of the varying environment in which they are cast through
+diverse religious and social influences. A brief historical survey
+is included to indicate the general situation as well as certain
+outstanding features which are present throughout the whole country. No
+constructive theory is offered, but the need of such in relation to the
+moving life of the East and the impact of Christianity upon it is made
+apparent.
+
+The moral and religious problem lies at the basis of all education and
+is at the present moment that most acutely felt in India. A system
+perfected in every technical detail and embracing the whole country
+would prove a disintegrating and disastrous force if it lacked the
+religious basis for the training of character. Yet its provision
+through the highest revelation of religion is fraught with immense
+difficulty in a country of diverse and conflicting faiths. A secular
+policy for the education of boys has already produced its fruits,
+and may serve as a warning in the new feminine problem. In a final
+chapter this question is touched upon in its relation to the ultimate
+Christianization of Indian thought and life.
+
+
+
+
+ II
+
+ HISTORICAL SURVEY
+
+ “We have now before us in that vast congeries of people we call India,
+ a long slow march in uneven stages through all the centuries from the
+ fifth to the twentieth.”
+
+
+The history of the education of women in India must keep in view the
+three conflicting ideals of womanhood which have dominated Indian
+society at different epochs. These are the Vedic, the Moslem, and
+the Christian or Western. While our main concern is with the last, a
+brief glance into the early ages is necessary for a full comprehension
+of the conflicting currents found in the modern epoch. In the early
+Vedic times women apparently enjoyed an equal status with men. There
+was no child-marriage, no seclusion in the zenana, no _sati_, no
+prohibition of the re-marriage of widows. Ladies of culture composed
+hymns and performed sacrifices as men did. Some even remained
+unmarried and had their share of the paternal property. There are
+many passages in the Brāhmanas which show the high esteem in which
+women were held. Gārgā Vāchaknavi, a learned lady, is mentioned as
+taking active part in a great assembly of learned men summoned by
+Janaka, King of the Videhas, to decide which of them would prove the
+wisest. There is a celebrated conversation between Yajnavalkya and his
+learned wife Maitreyi on the possible comprehension of the infinite
+by the finite.[18] “One poem, the Bhagwan Manu, prescribes a positive
+punishment for parents who keep away from school their boys after five
+and their girls after ten years of their respective ages.”[19] It would
+appear, in fact, that girls had some share in whatever education was
+available.
+
+From about the fifth century +B.C.+ in successive Hindu codes
+we find limiting laws, many of which were embodied about +A.D.+
+200 in the Code of Manu. Their stringency is only weakened by a
+general recommendation that men “who seek their own welfare should
+always honour women on holidays and festivals with gifts of ornaments,
+clothes, and dainty food.” The possibility of education was closed by
+the exclusion of girls from the initiatory caste rites, which served as
+a prelude to the education of boys.
+
+“The nuptial ceremony is stated to be the Vedic sacrament for women and
+to be equal to the initiation, serving the husband equivalent to the
+residence in the house of the teacher, and the household duties the
+same as the daily worship of the sacred fire.”[20]
+
+“For women no sacramental rite is performed with sacred texts, thus the
+law is settled; women who are destitute of strength and destitute of
+the knowledge of Vedic texts are as impure as falsehood itself, that is
+a fixed rule.”[21]
+
+Fixed rules and settled laws do not always remain so where women are
+concerned, and there is considerable evidence that the women of the
+upper classes could often read and write, and, though the perusal of
+the sacred literature was denied, they certainly read and memorized
+the great popular epics, the Rāmāyana and the Mahābharāta, which
+embody many Indian traditions and ideals. In the Ajanta caves, which
+cover a period from the second to the seventh century +A.D.+,
+women are represented as engaged in study with books of palm leaves.
+Elsewhere they are referred to as musicians and artists. In the
+dramas of Kālidāsa about the fifth century the inevitable jest at the
+expense of learned women is current coin. The comic character says
+he must always laugh when he hears a woman read Sanskrit or a man
+sing a song.[22] Amongst the Rajputs, where status was determined by
+courage not literacy, the women held a high position. In the early days
+of the nineteenth century the records of these early periods were
+carefully searched by Indian enthusiasts to produce evidence of former
+literary achievements as an argument for the introduction of Western
+education. A lecture by Pyari Chand Mittra, a Government schoolmaster,
+offers an interesting list headed by the famous Lilavati, after whom a
+mathematical treatise of the ninth century is named. Either she was the
+authoress thereof,[23] or it was specially composed for her perusal.
+“Besides Lilavati there were many females of literary and scientific
+attainments. The Tamils boast of having possessed four female
+philosophers: viz. Avyar and her three sisters. Avyar was the daughter
+of one Bhaguvan, a Brahman, and outshone all her brothers and sisters
+in learning. ‘She was contemporary with Kumbur, the author of the
+Tamil Rāmāyana, and she employed her eloquent pen on various subjects,
+such as astronomy, medicine, and geography; her works of the latter
+description are much admired. Avyar remained a virgin all her life, and
+died much admired for her talents in poetry, arts, and sciences.’ I am
+given to understand by an intelligent Hindu gentleman, that he knew of
+one Hātta Vidyalancar, a female scholar at Benares, who was versed in
+Smriti[24] and Nyaya. We also hear of the literary proficiency of the
+wives of Kālidāsa and Kornut, Raja of Khona, the latter was conversant
+with astronomy and is well known by the sayings she has left behind;
+of Gargu, the wife of Yagnya Valkya, who is said to have possessed a
+good knowledge of Yog[25] Shastra.”[26]
+
+With the Moslem conquests came the _parda_ system with its
+withering influence. Devised by Mohammed, according to modern Moslem
+historians, for the protection of women in wild and lawless times, it
+has inculcated distrust of their character and capacities. In spite
+of the fact that many Indian women to-day look upon the _parda_
+as a sign of prestige and of their value in their husbands’ eyes, the
+thoughtful observer must reckon it, in its ultimate social influence,
+as a symbol of distrust. “A man both night and day must keep his wife
+so much in subjection that she by no means be mistress of her own
+actions; if the wife have her own free-will, notwithstanding she be
+sprung of a superior caste, she will yet behave amiss” runs a later
+Hindu code, coupling this statement with minute regulations as to
+doors and windows. Isolated Indian women, both Hindu, and Moslem are
+prominent in later times, but they by no means represent the common
+life. Their chronicle is written because in some way or other they
+have been exceptional. In the thirteenth century it is said of Razia
+Begum, the only woman ruler in her own right of Moslem India, that the
+severest scrutiny of her actions could reveal no fault save that she
+was a woman.[27]
+
+The Calcutta School Society ascertained in 1818 that no provision
+of any kind existed for the education of women, and an attempted
+estimate of their general literacy places the figure at one in a
+hundred thousand. The old ideal had so utterly vanished, that it
+needed the touch of Western civilization to revive even the conception
+of its former existence. This existence, shadowy and faint though it
+may appear in our eyes, is an enormous asset to the new movement in
+a country where everything Aryan and Vedic counts for much in the
+endeavour to create a national consciousness.
+
+The modern epoch is thus in part a Renaissance, in part the
+introduction once more of the ideal of another faith. It will occupy
+our attention in detail and falls naturally into three periods. The
+first dates from 1819, when the Baptist Mission in Calcutta started its
+first school for girls[28] till 1854, during which time the influence
+was almost entirely that of the women missionaries; the second, from
+the famous Educational Despatch of 1854 till 1884, is characterized by
+the Government policy of “grants-in-aid” to voluntary associations,
+by the first tentative beginnings of direct Government effort, and by
+the expansion of Secondary education under missionary auspices; in the
+modern period dating from the presentation of the report of Sir William
+Hunter’s Commission in 1884, the Government share in girls’ education
+is much more direct, the spontaneous Indian element enters more
+strongly, and for the first time the question of a differentiation in
+the curriculum arises.
+
+The first period is essentially the day of small things. The Danish
+missionaries of the eighteenth century had included girls in their
+schools but there is little record of their doings, and the schools
+organized by Miss Cook in Calcutta (1821) and Mrs Wilson in Bombay
+(1829) were in every sense pioneer work. Elsewhere is to be found
+the full story of opposition, of fluctuating desire, of tactful
+consideration and of careful enlistment of enlightened Hindu men, who
+had been touched by Dr Duff’s educational work, as advocates of the
+cause. The same discrepancy between theory and practice which marks
+the advocacy of some of the Indian social reformers of to-day existed
+then, and the movement was by no means an extensive one. By 1840, Miss
+Cook (now Mrs Wilson) records about 500 girls at school in Bengal of
+whom half were in her own school. Dr Duff in outlining a missionary and
+educational policy for India, points to the need of a great development
+of the education of men before that of women could possibly follow.
+“The education” of the latter “on any great national scale must, from
+the very nature of their position, which those only who have been in
+India can at all adequately comprehend, follow in the wake of the
+enlightened education” of the former.[29] Events have justified this
+prediction and in many senses it is true that the present state of
+women’s education in India corresponds to that of the men in 1854.
+The education given by the women missionaries consisted of such mere
+rudiments as were possible under the conditions and for the short
+period during which their pupils were available. Simple instruction
+in the Scriptures was also given. Madras and other centres followed
+slowly on the same lines. The work was in part linked with the ordinary
+mission work of the Churches and in part carried on through separate
+women’s societies founded for the purpose in Germany and in Scotland.
+At first the Government attitude was distinctly negative, except for
+the cordial personal assistance given by Lady Hastings to Miss Cook,
+and the more nominal support of her successor Lady Amherst. In 1849,
+however, Lord Dalhousie informed the Bengal Council of Education that
+henceforth its functions were to include female education, and the
+Bethune School which had been privately founded by a legal member of
+Council, the Hon. Drinkwater Bethune, was brought under the control of
+the Government. In the Bombay Presidency things developed more rapidly
+and the Parsi influence asserted itself in independent effort. The
+first municipal schools for girls were probably started in 1850 at
+Ahmedabad. In 1852 a second stage of missionary education was reached
+by the establishment in Calcutta of a Normal School for the training
+of Christian female teachers under the auspices of the society known
+later as the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission. The special method
+adapted to Indian conditions was not discovered till 1854, when the
+system of zenana-visiting, combined with educational instruction, was
+inaugurated in Calcutta by the Scottish Mission with the help of a
+clever Eurasian lady, Miss Toogood.
+
+By the great educational charter of 1854, the Government adopted the
+policy of fostering and encouraging private effort by a system of
+grants-in-aid to all institutions which could comply with certain
+stipulations as to buildings, number of teachers, text-books and type
+of instruction given. Religious instruction might be given but did
+not come within the purview of the Government officials. Departments
+of Public Instruction were formed, Inspectors appointed, and the well
+known scheme of examinations inaugurated. It is stated in the Despatch
+that female education shall be given “frank and cordial support.” “The
+importance of female education in India cannot be over-rated, and we
+have observed with pleasure the evidence which is now afforded of an
+increased desire on the part of many of the natives of India to give
+a good education to their daughters. By these means a far greater
+proportional impulse is imparted to the educational and moral tone of
+the people than by the education of men.” In the main the Government
+adhered to this principle, yet considered it prudent to withhold its
+hand from direct interference with so delicate a matter. Whereas,
+in order to improve the school system as a whole, Government erected
+boys’ schools in many places, to serve as models in management and
+efficiency, very few girls’ schools were founded. The Circular order of
+1868, issued under Lord Lawrence, states that “unless female schools
+are really and materially supported by voluntary aid, they had better
+not be established at all.” In pursuance of this policy the Bengal
+Administration Report for 1881 notes only two Government Primary
+schools for girls, 719 aided, and 107 unaided voluntary schools. The
+women’s missionary agencies in Calcutta were drawing a monthly grant
+of two thousand rupees for educational work. An Inspectress[30] was
+at this time in the service of the local education authority for
+the inspection of _parda_ schools. Her note that “every day
+brings signs that the demand for female education in Bengal is slowly
+advancing and extending” marks the rising tide. Two exceptions may be
+noted to this policy; the exceptional activity in the district of the
+North Western Provinces (as they were then called) round Agra, and
+the movement of the Central Government under the influence of Miss
+Carpenter.
+
+The Agra experiment was, however, the response of Government to
+spontaneous Indian effort, and as the work of the Hindu pioneer who
+was its originator is little known, the following account may be
+quoted.[31]
+
+“Even in our Asiatic Provinces, before the breaking out of the
+troubles, a desire had sprung up among the natives to extend the
+blessings of education to women. Gopal Singh, a Hindu gentleman,
+holding under Government the post of district Inspector of native
+schools, had succeeded, through his own exertions, in establishing
+upwards of two hundred seminaries for young ladies in the Province of
+Agra which were attended by 3800 girls of the best families. By many of
+our countrymen in India, this is regarded rather as a social revolution
+than as an educational movement. As a rule, the natives look with
+suspicion on everything which comes from a foreigner, for which reason
+the great efforts made by the English have not produced corresponding
+results. ‘The establishment of a little school,’ observes the Pandit,
+‘which my own daughters and those of my immediate friends and relations
+attended at first like a charm, dispelled in a great measure the
+prejudices of my neighbours, and induced many to send their girls also.
+This example and my constant persuasion and reasoning have at last
+succeeded in inducing many respectable inhabitants of other villages to
+yield.’ And so the movement bids fair to become national. The pupils
+are nearly all Hindus belonging to the more respectable classes. The
+teachers are all men.”
+
+“‘Want of female teachers,’ says Gopal Singh, ‘was one great obstacle
+in the way; but the guardians of the girls composing the respective
+schools pointed out men of an approved character, in whom they have
+full confidence, and I have appointed such persons only as teachers;
+the result is very satisfactory.’”[32] The Government official note
+on the experiment is that the lack of the humanizing influence of
+trained school mistresses, and the impossibility of supervising the
+elderly Pandits were the real causes of the failure of the schools and
+not the Mutiny, which hindered the general development of education
+in the province but little. Accordingly the attempt was renewed in
+1858 by one of the masters of the Agra College, a Jat[33] of good
+family, in co-operation with Government. He succeeded in securing
+“school mistresses of high-caste and relatives of rich and influential
+zemindars,”[34] and by 1863, when he was appointed special Inspector
+of female schools, their number had increased to 144. The curriculum
+seems to have been somewhat different from that of the boys’ schools,
+and the Pandit notes with satisfaction: “Girls are possessed of better
+memories and less selfishness than boys.” The success and extent of
+the movement seems however to have been due to the personal influence
+of this one man, and with the passing of his generation the schools
+degenerated in type. The rapid extension of this work under Government
+into other districts necessitated the employment once more of men
+teachers. Four female Normal schools were established which appear to
+have been such only in name. Two British Inspectresses were appointed
+whose reports indicate the same problems as those of a more modern
+date. “The villagers are not opposed to the schools but they value them
+chiefly as a means of support for Brahmans and relatives.”[35] They
+could not believe that the Government were in earnest on the subject,
+when the girls’ school was accommodated in a place not more attractive
+than a cow-shed and the boys’ in a handsome building. In 1876, a
+drastic reduction of 212 schools took place and the question of female
+education dropped into abeyance for a period. The official comment
+thereon was that the State had incurred much expense in founding and
+maintaining these schools and that the results had been painfully
+disappointing. Historically, the experiment indicates the danger
+of extending girls’ schools beyond the desire of the community and
+beyond the possibility of constant supervision on the part of British
+Inspectresses. The solution of the ever-present problem of a supply
+of teachers was only a temporary one, and the failure of the Normal
+schools was attributed largely to the lack of a British superintendent.
+
+The influence exerted for the education of women in India by Mary
+Carpenter, is a curious episode in a life whose main work in England
+was to lead the way to a national system of moral rescue and preventive
+discipline for juvenile criminals. During the last decade of her
+life (1867-1877), she visited India four times, and by her personal
+influence and enthusiasm she greatly affected the Government attitude
+and turned the rising conviction of the Indian Theistic movements into
+the right channels. Her position at home secured her a direct hearing
+in Government circles and the rapidity with which she adapted her
+pre-conceived notion of taking some Indian girls home for training
+to the wiser one of female Normal schools in India, proved once more
+her extraordinary power of vision in social problems. Herself of an
+intensely religious temperament, the revolt from the crudity of much of
+the orthodox religious teaching of the time led her sympathies largely
+in the direction of Unitarianism, and believing, like Mountstewart
+Elphinstone and many other Christian Indian statesmen of the period,
+that secular education for India was ultimately the more religious
+policy, she threw her whole influence into the establishment of schools
+which would not in any way interfere with the religious beliefs of the
+people. Yet her attitude to the mission schools was warmly sympathetic
+and she notes her indebtedness to the accumulated experience there.[36]
+Some further provision, however, seemed necessary in the case of
+girls, as the boys of the country had larger opportunities and the
+social system was in danger of one-sided development.[37] Her whole
+energy went towards the foundation of female Normal schools and in 1867
+she secured a grant from the Central Government of £1500 per annum
+for five years for the establishment of these schools in Bombay and
+Ahmedabad on condition that an equal amount was provided by the native
+community. This stipulation was in accord with the previous policy that
+Government action should not in so delicate a matter be in advance of
+native opinion. Mr Dadabhai Nauraji, in a letter to the Secretary of
+State for India, following on a memorial from Indians in London, gives
+a general survey of the income derived from the native endowments for
+female education in different parts of India at this time.
+
+ Bombay Rupees 40,000
+ Punjāb ” 4,321
+ Madras ” 234
+ Bengal ” 132
+ North Western Provinces ” ..
+
+It will thus be seen that a certain response existed even if only
+amongst a few advanced sections of the population. Further direct
+contributions were not immediately forthcoming, but after various
+memorials a Government grant of £1200 for five years to each of the
+capitals of the three Presidencies was ultimately given without this
+special stipulation. Miss Carpenter’s scheme for the Normal schools
+laid special emphasis on the need of experienced English supervision
+and instruction as the only means whereby the proper training could
+be secured and the dignity of the teaching profession for women
+raised. The failure of the so-called Normal schools in the North
+Western Provinces and the success of the mission training schools in
+Calcutta proves the wisdom of this policy. The new schools passed
+through various vicissitudes, but ultimately, Miss Carpenter had the
+pleasure of seeing substantial fruit of her labours at Ahmedabad, Poona
+and Madras. Much of the interest she had aroused amongst the Indian
+community was doubtless sporadic, and many of the schools started
+were short-lived, but in the main her influence on the development
+of women’s education in India has counted as a dominant factor in
+the Government policy, in the establishment of the National Indian
+Association and in the permanence of certain institutions.
+
+The activity of Christian missions during this period seems
+extraordinary, when the difficulties which hampered Government
+efforts are considered. Moreover, all their educational work was
+handicapped, so far as numbers were concerned, by the frank and open
+avowal of the desire to win their pupils ultimately for Christianity.
+The missionaries had, however, at their command the one essential
+asset--Western women who were willing to give themselves heart and
+soul to the work. Eight new women’s societies, both British and
+American, entered India between 1860 and 1870, and educational work
+both in zenanas and in schools was their most effective means of
+contact with the people. Their pupils in the Primary stages were
+drawn both from the non-Christian population and from the orphans and
+converts in connection with the missions. As it was possible to retain
+the Christian girls, and even some of the others for longer than the
+usual period, owing to the exclusion of men teachers from the mission
+schools, a Secondary system on identical lines with that for boys began
+to be slowly built up.
+
+The Inspectress in the North Western Provinces notes that almost
+the only really prosperous Middle girls’ schools are those in large
+stations superintended by ladies of the missionary societies.[38]
+Miss Carpenter’s testimony to the schools in Madras and Calcutta is
+in similar terms. Where village schools were attempted they seem to
+have suffered from lack of constant supervision. In 1870, the Isabella
+Thoburn School, Lucknow, was founded, and in 1880, the Sarah Tucker
+School, in Palamcottah. In 1881, the Free Church Mission School in
+Calcutta had the satisfaction of passing a successful candidate for
+the First Arts examination. This girl, and a pupil from the Bethune
+School who passed in the same year, were the first in all India[39] to
+accomplish this feat.
+
+The third period, from 1884 to the present date, is marked by a
+definite change in the attitude of Government. The Educational
+Commission of 1882 under Sir William Hunter revealed many abuses which
+had grown up in connection with the system in vogue for boys, and also
+showed how little had really been done for girls. The recommendation
+is that girls’ schools should now receive “special encouragement and
+liberality.” The further recommendation of the Educational Commission
+of 1900 is that girls’ schools should receive liberal grants and that
+the fees should be less rigidly enforced. The standards of instruction
+in the Primary schools should be different and have special reference
+to the requirements of home life and to the occupations open to women.
+This policy, emphatically reiterated in the Despatch of 1904, has
+worked out differently in the different provinces, as is indicated
+elsewhere. Its main features in the last two decades may be said to be
+the appointment from home of experienced educators as Inspectresses of
+Schools in the Indian Educational Service, the establishment of model
+schools for girls like those formerly created for boys, in districts
+where the aided schools had not reached the required standard or
+did not satisfy the wants of the neighbourhood, and a considerably
+increased financial outlay both in grants and direct educational work.
+In 1907 the total expenditure amounted to over forty-four lakhs.
+There is no desire in any way to supersede the aided schools, on the
+contrary, it is recognized that the more their work is extended, so
+long as it is really efficient, the better for a country which like
+many others groans under its taxation, and where also the limit of
+desire for female education is still easily reached. To efficiency and
+adequate supply, the Government directs its attention. The proportion
+of the schools directly managed by the Public Authority to private or
+aided schools may be seen in the accompanying table, being slightly
+over 20.41 per cent. of the whole.
+
+Of the aided schools there is no separate official classification
+to show what proportion are managed by Indian committees, and what
+by missionary agencies.[40] Where possible this has been indicated
+from local information in the chapters on the separate provinces. The
+Indian spontaneous element has become however much stronger during this
+modern period, not only in Bombay, where it has grown steadily since
+1847, but also in connection with the various Samājes in the Punjāb,
+United Provinces and Bengal. The orthodox Hindu element is seen in the
+system of the Mahakali Pathshalas[41] started in Bengal in 1893, while
+probably the most remarkable feature in the Indian movement is the
+establishment of girls’ schools under committees of Indian gentlemen
+representing different faiths. This indigenous movement is due in part
+to a desire to provide a good education without direct interference
+with the religion of the pupils, and in part to a reaction from the
+extreme secularism and the Westernizing influences of the Government
+schools.
+
+ +MANAGEMENT OF GIRLS’ SCHOOLS+[42]
+
+ +------------+---------------------------+-----------------+------+
+ | |+UNDER PUBLIC MANAGEMENT.+ | +UNDER PRIVATE+ | |
+ | | | +MANAGEMENT.+ | |
+ +------------+-------+----------+--------+--------+--------+Total.|
+ | |Govern-| Municipal| Native | Aided. |Unaided.| |
+ | | ment. | Board. | States.| | | |
+ +------------+-------+----------+--------+--------+--------+------+
+ |Training | | | | | | |
+ | Schools | 12 | 2 | 1 | 44 | 4 | 63|
+ |High | 7 | -- | -- | 98 | 7 | 112|
+ |Middle | | | | | | |
+ | English | 3 | 1 | 2 | 179 | 6 | 191|
+ |Middle | | | | | | |
+ | Vernacular| 56 | 10 | 185 | 11 | -- | 262|
+ |Primaries | 365 | 1,274 | 250 | 7,041 | 1,053 | 9,983|
+ +------------+----- +----------+--------+--------+--------+------+
+ |Total | 443 | 1,287 | 438 | 7,373 | 1,070 |10,611|
+ +------------+-------+----------+--------+--------+--------+------+
+
+ +GIRLS UNDER INSTRUCTION CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO RACE OR CREED+[43]
+
+ +-----------+------+------+-------+------+-----+------+-----+-------+
+ | |Euro- |Native|Hindus.|Moham-|Par- |Buddh-| Oth-| |
+ | |pean. Chris-| |medans. sis.|ists. | ers.|Total. |
+ | | tians.| | | | | | |
+ +-----------+------+------+-------+------+-----+------+-----+-------+
+ |+SECONDARY | | | | | | | | |
+ | SCHOOLS+ | | | | | | | | |
+ | (High and | | | | | | | | |
+ | Middle | | | | | | | | |
+ | English) |11,502|10,725| 4,316| 140|1,402| 757| 552| 29,394|
+ | | | | | | | | | |
+ |+MIDDLE | | | | | | | | |
+ |SCHOOLS+ | | | | | | | | |
+ |(Verna- | | | | | | | | |
+ | cular) | 11| 6,896| 17,561| 1,104| 5| 6,246| 20| 31,843|
+ | | | | | | | | | |
+ |+PRIMARY | | | | | | | | |
+ | SCHOOLS+ | | | | | | | | |
+ |(For Boys | | | | | | | | |
+ |and Girls) | 564|22,776|133,341|27,832| 820|31,379|2,431|219,143|
+ | | | | | | | | | |
+ |(For Girls | | | | | | | | |
+ | only) | 1,547|16,063|214,092|46,876|3,626|10,382|1,519|294,105|
+ | | | | | | | | | |
+ |+TRAINING | | | | | | | | |
+ | SCHOOLS+ | 173| 844| 292| 70| --| 32| 9| 1,420|
+ +-----------+------+------+-------+------+-----+------+-----+-------+
+
+Missionary work in education during the modern period is marked by
+continued expansion. The former success of mission agencies in taking a
+proportion of their pupils beyond the elementary stages is redoubled.
+Of the forty three High Schools for Indian girls, only five in 1907
+were under Government management. “The bulk of female Secondary
+education is provided by missionaries.”[44] A glance at the religious
+classification table will show that out of some 17,000 Indian girls in
+the High and Middle Schools more than 10,000 are Indian Christians,
+while a large proportion of non-Christian pupils are also studying in
+mission schools and colleges. The Christian Primary schools in the
+villages have also greatly improved in type through the introduction in
+some places of modern educational methods under the careful and regular
+supervision of trained English managers.
+
+As we survey the situation as a whole, certain problems stand out as
+common to all India and as indicating how critical is the present
+period in relation to the ultimate development of her women. These
+are the extension of Primary education, the retaining of pupils in
+the higher stages, the nationalizing of the curriculum, the supply of
+teachers, and finally the place of the religious element in education.
+
+In spite of the recent rapid increase and the steady progress of the
+last twenty years, the percentage of girls of school age attending
+school is only 4.6,[45] and though the next Quinquennial Returns will
+probably show a marked increase, the desire for education has still in
+many places to be created. The proportion of girls in the Secondary
+stages is not shown by the number of those studying in High and Middle
+English schools,[46] as many of these are in the Primary classes.
+Only 1208 girls were actually in the High School departments in 1907.
+In that year 178 girls passed the Matriculation examination.[47]
+This small proportion indicates, apart from the social and religious
+customs which cause it, a lack of balance in the whole system. Are the
+circumstances under which higher education is given not such as commend
+themselves to the Indian mind? Or is the course of studies pursued not
+of sufficiently practical and educational value to prove attractive
+to Indian women? Is there any foundation for the popular belief that
+the physique of Indian girls is not strong enough for a prolonged
+school course? These questions underlie much of the discussion in the
+following chapters.
+
+ [Illustration: Government Examination of Girls, Calcutta]
+
+Two causes are apparently at work. In India as a whole 42% of the girl
+pupils are studying in boys’ schools. These naturally never proceed
+beyond the Primary stage, as co-education is not, except in the hill
+districts, in accordance with Indian ideas. There seems therefore a
+great need for increasing the number of Primary schools for girls only,
+whence the transition to the higher stages would be easy. In some
+districts there is practically an unlimited field for expansion in this
+way. Another cause may possibly be the difficulty of access to really
+first-class schools for non-Christian girls. The missionary societies
+which have done so much for the higher education of boys have, with
+certain exceptions, concentrated their attention on the provision of
+excellent boarding-schools for the girls of the Christian community
+rather than aiming at developing a parallel system for girls which
+would attract the non-Christian element, as it has on the men’s side.
+The new Middle and High schools which are springing up under Government
+and Indian auspices are an attempt to meet this need, but there is
+undoubtedly room for further development.
+
+The problem of the curriculum is a very subtle one. In the early days
+of the reform of girls’ education in Great Britain, about 1862,[48]
+the greatest need seemed to be the adoption of an adequate test of
+knowledge, and that test one already recognized, so that there might
+seem to be no lower requirement to suit the supposed lower capacity
+of the feminine mind. The same principle worked in the early days of
+girls’ education in India and preparation for Matriculation[49] seemed
+the only means by which the standard could be raised. Whereas in Great
+Britain the leading girls’ High schools have developed a flexibility
+and variety of curriculum wherein many a “womanly woman” has found
+her training, even if she did not prefer to seek her education in one
+of the numerous excellent private schools, the girls’ curriculum for
+Indian girls has been stereotyped on masculine lines. If we assume
+that education should prepare for future life, it seems clearly wrong
+that the preparation for spheres so totally different as those of
+Indian men and women should be identical. A highly trained missionary
+educator sums up the problem of the Secondary school as follows:--“In
+spite of the fact that less than 1% go on to college, the whole plan
+of school education is made to lead up to Matriculation and instead
+of completing a school course, the aim is to prepare for a college
+course that is never entered upon.” The Inspectress in Bombay writes
+in this connection:--“Such a course is harmful, and girls leave
+these schools with weakened physique and very little in the way of
+real culture to compensate for it.” An Inspectress from Madras also
+writes:--“The examination shadow is to be seen in every room from
+the third form upwards, and it is only with the greatest difficulty
+that sufficient time can be snatched for the teaching of a little
+recitation, drawing and drill, in view of the annual inspection.” In
+the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay a departmental examination is
+offered as alternative to Matriculation for girls, and in this such
+subjects as botany, hygiene, drawing, dress-making, cooking, appear
+as substitutes for algebra and geometry, but the schools prefer to
+send up their girls for Matriculation. The further question arises
+not only of the differentiation of the girls’ curriculum from that of
+the boys’ but also from that of Western girls. How is Indian female
+education to be brought into close touch with Indian environment? The
+spontaneous Indian movement is in part an attempt to meet this problem,
+while on the other hand it inclines to view as a racial affront any
+suggestion to adapt the curriculum to the special needs of girls.
+The Government Inspectresses are closely considering the matter and
+are eager to welcome any constructive policy which will lessen the
+danger of creating the “female Babu.” Several missionaries are working
+hard against the denationalizing tendencies which in many cases were
+introduced before the reformed educational methods prevailed in the
+West. A conference of English educators and Indian missionaries was
+recently held in London to discuss Indian curricula and the relation
+of the educational problems of the East and West. It is true that the
+opinion of Indian missionaries is not yet unanimous on the need of
+any alteration, and as the bulk of Secondary education is in their
+hands their co-operation is essential. There is however good hope of
+a sound constructive theory being ultimately produced if women of
+sufficient courage, originality and ability can be found to plough for
+a while a lonely furrow. The curricula for the Primary schools is a
+different question. Some educators hold it to be the saner policy to
+accept the fact that the majority of the girls will only be at school
+for four years, and to adapt the whole course to this limitation. A
+correspondent of the Education Commission of the World Missionary
+Conference 1910, writes:--“Under such circumstances, therefore, the aim
+should be directed towards a sound elementary education in reading,
+writing and arithmetic, a knowledge of domestic economy and hygiene,
+and the formation of a strong moral character. The aim, that is, must
+be determined by the opportunities offered for education. It is better
+to reach a lower aim than to try for a higher aim and fail altogether.
+I believe the mistake that is made in regard to the education of Hindu
+girls is in attempting to do the impossible. There are many subjects
+which it is extremely desirable to teach, but the limited time during
+which the girls are teachable makes it imperative to concentrate on
+what is attainable. We should aim, therefore, at demonstrating to
+the people that the girls who have been to school become superior
+housewives and mothers; that what they learn is of real value to them
+in the home; and above all, that their moral character is improved and
+strengthened.”[50] The Primary curriculum has already been remodelled
+to a certain extent. In Bengal, Eastern Bengal, and the United
+Provinces separate schemes have been issued. In the two former the
+courses follow the method of the Kindergarten in the lower classes, and
+include much nature study, also hygiene, domestic economy and sewing.
+In the United Provinces and Bombay the reading-books in use for girls
+are different. These reading-books are often the only printed matter
+which a village girl may ever possess, and they are intended to impart
+a large amount of useful information. A reformed curriculum in the
+hands of untrained teachers becomes, however, a dead letter, perhaps
+hardly less injurious than the mere literacy of former days, and thus
+the interdependence of the various educational problems is once again
+illustrated. Is it advisable to increase the number of Primary schools,
+and to adapt their curriculum without an adequate supply of trained
+teachers?
+
+The problem of the teacher can be traced since the first beginnings in
+1820, recurring with the same baffling insistency. The modern situation
+shows little advance, except that the absolute necessity of having
+all teachers to some extent trained is gradually being recognized,
+and grants are influenced by the degree in which this ideal is kept
+in view. The sources of supply for teachers in Indian schools of all
+grades are women from English-speaking countries, Anglo-Indians or
+“country born” English girls from the Hill schools, members of the
+Brāhma and Ārya Samāj, Indian Christians, Parsis, married women of
+some education from the Hindu non-Brahman community and lastly “women
+who have learnt to read and write at home.” This last class is still
+astonishingly prevalent. Teachers from other sources are sometimes
+procured but, except in the case of married women, they are few
+in number. There are also a good many elderly pandits teaching in
+village schools. The trouble is that the demand enormously exceeds the
+supply. Here is a dilemma familiar to missions. A village school has
+no teacher; there is at hand a mission pupil, who has finished her
+Vernacular Middle Examination, but has not been trained; too often it
+ends in the appointment of the girl to the school, as the committee
+knows that the interval before she marries will be only too brief. This
+illustration applies throughout the mission field. The difficulties,
+moreover, attending proper chaperonage of village mistresses are
+enormous. The employment of widows, where such are forthcoming, is
+subject to the same difficulty, but ultimately they may with proper
+training and care become a main source of supply. The hopes which early
+theorists have built upon the widows of India are to a certain extent
+already justified and may still be confidently cherished. As regards
+the opportunities for training, a special circular, issued by the
+Central Government, in 1901, has provided a needed stimulus to both
+official and private effort. It is difficult to distinguish absolutely
+between Secondary and Primary training,[51] as some institutions have
+a few students doing more advanced work than the others. On the whole
+there is a distinct lack of provision for the separate Secondary
+training of women teachers; very few women graduates have taken it and
+the creation of the opportunity might create the demand. The students
+in training are mostly Anglo-Indian. The provision for Primary training
+is more adequate, though there is still in some instances a lack of
+that co-operation between missionary societies which would lead to more
+efficient work. The details of management and religious classification
+of pupils are given on pages 48 and 49. The great difficulty in all
+the Primary training work is the lack of preliminary knowledge; in some
+of the institutes for widows, indeed, this is a long forgotten minimum.
+The influence of the previous curriculum upon those who pass on to the
+proper Vernacular Course after the Middle Examination is also felt. An
+experienced teacher comments:--“The shadow of prescribed examination
+which hangs over the school course before training tends to leave the
+girls quite unacquainted with the newer subjects, and they are not
+able to acquire these during their training course with sufficient
+thoroughness to teach them satisfactorily afterwards.”
+
+The inter-relation of these problems needs to be borne in mind
+throughout. It seems in many ways as if the whole reform in women’s
+education in India must begin from above downwards, namely in the High
+School and College stages combined with Secondary training, till the
+impulse imparted thence is felt throughout every grade. This subject is
+specially treated in the chapter on the University Education of women.
+Reform further can only come through closer co-operation, the need and
+opportunity for this will be apparent in the course of our study of
+conditions in the different provinces.
+
+
+
+
+ III
+
+ BURMA
+
+ “Thou son of _dewas_; to hear and see much in order to acquire
+ knowledge; to study all science that leads not to sin; to make use of
+ proper language; to study the Law in order to acquire a knowledge of
+ propriety of behaviour; these are blessed things, _Dewa_, mark
+ them well.”
+
+ “Thou son of _dewas_; to be patient and endure suffering; to
+ rejoice in edifying discourse; to visit the holy men when occasion
+ serves; to converse on religious subjects; these are blessed things,
+ _Dewa_, mark them well.”
+ The _Mingala-thut_. Buddhist Beatitudes.
+ (Burma--Sir George Scott).
+
+
+In Burma the ancient ideal of Indian womanhood may still be seen in
+a somewhat purified form. The Buddhist faith which gives a touch
+of gentleness to every relation of life, has accentuated its best
+features and swept away many of the laws which hindered its development
+elsewhere. There is thus very little in the position of women in Burma
+at which even the most pronounced feminist could cavil. The woman
+is, if anything, the predominant partner and yet few realize that
+she rules. Gay, blythe and débonnaire, the sunniest spot in a sunny
+scene, her rainbow-tinted tamein relieved by a short white jacket, a
+coloured scarf across her shoulder, and fresh flowers clustering in
+her dark lustrous hair, the Burmese woman is ready any day for any
+problem of life you may choose to propound. She is the bargainer,
+trader and financier of the family, and as such her legal and monetary
+position after marriage is well assured. Marriage is here an affair
+of the heart, and it is entered upon when young life flows strong in
+the later teens. A woman may not marry without her parents’ consent
+before the age of twenty, but then if marriage is her wish, why should
+the parents not consent? Why should anyone object to anything which
+promises to fulfil the heart’s desire of another. So runs a contented
+“laissez faire” policy. And life is not measured in terms of money by
+the Burmese. If education has a chance anywhere of being regarded not
+as a means of livelihood but as a leading forth of the mind to higher
+and nobler thoughts, it is here in Burma, in consequence of the mental
+characteristics of the people. Work beyond what is needed for the bare
+necessaries of life seems unnatural, and there is no perpetually rising
+standard of comfort, nor passion for accumulation to bind the Burmese
+to an unceasing wheel of toil. He pauses to be glad and to rejoice.
+The art of rejoicing is one of the chief arts of Burma, and there is
+perhaps no country in the world where it is carried to such a pitch of
+perfection. No generalization can be made about any people unless long
+years are spent in their midst, but the first impressions made by the
+Burmese on a stranger generally confirm the writers who characterize
+them as modern hedonists. There are books which show another side of
+the picture, and many sad facts (notably the looseness of the marriage
+tie[52]) bear them out, but leaving these aside, and turning to our
+particular problem, we find that the girls’ schools of Burma are glad
+and happy places. There is an atmosphere of buoyancy and quiet zest in
+work which strikes the visitor at once, and this testimony is amply
+borne out by the teachers.
+
+ [Illustration: Girls at St Luke’s Mission, Toungoo, Burma]
+
+It must, however, be remembered that not all girls in school in Burma
+are Burmese. A large proportion of them are drawn from the Karens, who
+occupy the tracts of hill country on the frontier of Lower Burma, in
+Tenasserim, and in the Delta of the Irawadi. The gradual civilization
+and raising of these tribes to the standard of the Burmese in general,
+is on all sides attributed to the excellent work of the missionaries,
+(the American Baptists and the Anglicans). Where Christianity comes its
+special social results follow. There is a Chinese community numbering
+over 40,000 and a strong Mohammedan section, not to speak of Hindu
+immigrants from South India, Tamils and Telugus, while the variety of
+the educational problem may be seen in the official enumeration of
+the other races under instruction: “Karens, Talaings, Chins, Shans,
+Danus and Inthas, Chinese, Indians, Palaungs and Taungthus.”
+
+The interior of Burma is inhabited by about fifty-seven different
+tribes speaking forty different languages. Feminine education however
+is not as yet a matter of importance amongst the hill tribes; apart
+from the Anglo-Indian (Eurasian) schools, which lie beyond the province
+of this book, it affects mainly the Burmese, Karen, Chinese and
+Mohammedan communities.
+
+As regards general literacy, Burma ranks high in the provinces of the
+Empire; the proportion of girls at school to girls of school-going age
+was 9.6% in 1910,[53] as compared with 4% in 1907 in British India as
+a whole. This distinction is however mainly in the Primary stages, for
+the women graduates of Burma can so far be numbered on one’s fingers.
+It is also entirely confined to those areas which have come into touch
+with modern civilization. There are large tracts of hill country where
+the women are totally uneducated, for the Burmese and Karen women alone
+contribute to the high proportion. One would however naturally expect
+to find a well developed system of female education throughout the
+various stages, offering possibly an example to the other provinces,
+and it is surprising to find that this is not the case. On the contrary
+there is considerably less organization and no such definite policy
+in female education as in Eastern Bengal. The real reasons for the
+creditable proportion are the later age of marriage, the bright
+temperament and ability of the Burmese girl, the complete absence of
+_parda_, and the general social atmosphere, which permits girls
+to study unhindered in boys’ schools throughout all the stages. Thus
+there are more girls studying in boys’ schools than in separate ones,
+viz. 73% as compared with 42% over India as a whole. The system seems
+in many ways to work well. Of the three contributing factors, which are
+found in every province, the work of Government, the spontaneous Indian
+movement, and missionary effort, the last overwhelmingly predominates
+in Burma, especially in the higher stages.
+
+The policy of the Government, more especially as regards girls’
+schools, has been to encourage, guide, and, to a certain extent,
+finance private institutions while undertaking little direct work
+of its own. As will be seen from the accompanying table, only four
+institutions are directly under the Central Authority. A certain
+proportion of girls may also be found in the Government and Municipal
+Secondary schools for boys; the Primary schools for boys directly under
+public control only number fifteen and the proportion of girls in
+them is therefore a negligible quantity. No Inspectress or Assistant
+Inspectress has as yet been appointed, partly because funds are lacking
+and also because, apart from purely domestic subjects there does not,
+seem such a crying need for it as in other parts of India.
+
+ +MANAGEMENT OF GIRLS’ SCHOOLS IN BURMA+[54]
+
+ +------------+-------------------+----------------------------------+
+ | | +UNDER | +UNDER |
+ | |PUBLIC MANAGEMENT.+| PRIVATE MANAGEMENT.+ |
+ | +---------+---------+-------+------+---------+---------+
+ | | | Munici- | Aided | |Number of|Number of|
+ | |Govern- | pal | by | Un- |Scholars | Girls in|
+ | | ment. | Boards. |Govern-|aided.| on | Boys’ |
+ | | | | ment | | Roll. | Schools.|
+ +------------+---------+---------+-------+------+---------+---------+
+ |College | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 12 |
+ | | | | | | | |
+ |High | .. | .. | 9 | .. | 1,523 | 502 |
+ | | | | | | | |
+ |Middle-- | | | | | | |
+ | English | .. | .. | 16 | .. | 1,968 | 1,086 |
+ | | | | | | | |
+ | Vernacular| 4 | .. | 48 | .. | 3,312 | 9,456 |
+ | | | | | | | |
+ |Primary | .. | .. | 619 | .. | 20,022 | 40,534 |
+ +------------+---------+---------+-------+------+---------+---------+
+ | | 4 | .. | 692 | .. | 26,825 | 51,590 |
+ +------------+---------+---------+-------+------+---------+---------+
+
+ _Note_.--Deducting the Anglo-Indian figures it leaves only 676 Indian
+ girls taking High School Education.
+
+ There are also 86 Private Institutions of an elementary character with
+ over four thousand pupils.
+
+The spontaneous Indian element may practically be identified with
+the Buddhist educational movement, except for one small Mohammedan
+school in Rangoon where tiny girls learn the Koran. To Buddhism and
+the Buddhist monks may be attributed the high standard of literacy
+in Burma as a whole. Practically every Burmese boy knows how to read
+and write, and he has learnt it at the monastery.[55] In the nature
+of things girls are not admitted to these _Kyaungs_, but there
+are apparently some parallel schools for girls, conducted by nuns.
+“Besides the monastic public schools, there are private schools kept
+by laymen and occasionally also by women, in which girls as well as
+boys are taught.”[56] The private institutions which do not come under
+inspection are mainly of this character. One fruit of the recent
+Buddhist revival is the Empress Victoria Buddhist Girls’ School,
+which owes its existence and tone to the energies of Mrs Hla Oung.
+Her main idea is the combination of modern education with definite
+instruction in Buddhism and in this the school differs from all the
+other indigenous girls’ schools, where little beyond bare literacy
+can be acquired. Excellent education up to “Anglo-Vernacular Standard
+VII” can be obtained here under competent mistresses or masters. An
+Anglo-Vernacular school has also recently been opened through private
+generosity for the girls of the Chinese Colony in Rangoon. There is
+naturally no spontaneous and independent effort for girls’ education
+among the hill tribes, though in many cases they are ready to meet the
+missionary more than half-way.
+
+The missionary influence in the education of girls in Burma is thus a
+most important one, and includes every stage from the Kindergarten to
+Normal training. The chief agencies at work are the American Baptist
+Mission, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and the
+Methodist Episcopal Church of America. The Roman Catholic educational
+schemes exist largely for the Anglo-Indians and the Tamil immigrants
+from South India.
+
+[Illustration: Ghurka Girl Boarder at S.P.G. Girls’ School, Mandalay]
+
+The American Baptist Mission dates from the time of Judson (1810),
+and has now in connection with it over 70,000 native Christians
+speaking eight different languages. The educational scheme for their
+Christian girls is very thorough, and leads up through a system of
+small village schools to their Burmese boarding-school in Kemmandine,
+a suburb of Rangoon, and to an excellent mixed Karen school, also in
+Rangoon. There is a separate Normal school, and one or two especially
+clever girls are to be found in the Matriculation class of the Baptist
+Boys’ High School preparing to go to the Mission College. A large
+proportion of the non-Christian girls are drawn into these schools by
+the efficiency of the education offered. The centre of the S.P.G.
+work is St Mary’s School, Rangoon, which dates back to 1865, and is
+a first-class institution in every way. It is satisfactory to note
+that several of the staff are former pupils who have returned to teach
+here, after training in the S.P.G. Normal School. Some of the staff are
+Anglo-Indian, but a good proportion are Burmese Christians. Two English
+ladies are in charge. There are about one hundred boarders, mostly
+Christian, but including some Buddhists, and nearly an equal number of
+non-Christian day scholars. The school works under the Government Code,
+and earns an excellent grant. There are three other good S.P.G. schools
+for Burmese or Karen girls which lead up to St Mary’s. Those at Toungoo
+and Mandalay have a considerable number of boarders. A few of these
+are drawn from the immigrant population--as Kansi, the little Ghurka
+girl in the accompanying illustration. Her father is a Christian, and
+contributes regularly to her maintenance. The policy of the S.P.G.
+Mission seems, so far, rather to concentrate on a few good schools
+than to develop much village educational work. The Methodist Episcopal
+schools, like those of the S.P.G., are partly for the Anglo-Indian
+community, and partly for the indigenous population. In Rangoon they
+have two good High schools, one of each type, and other schools in the
+country. The educational work done by other societies in Burma is not
+extensive; but, where every unit counts, it has its own contribution
+to make. There are large tracts of hill country round Burma which are
+still waiting for missionary advance, and where the women are totally
+uneducated.
+
+The pioneer work to be done would be of the type usual amongst
+primitive peoples, and might produce the same magnificent results as
+amongst the Karens.
+
+Passing from the organizing agencies to the actual pupils, the
+religious classification as seen in the accompanying table is of
+interest.
+
+The Anglo-Indian pupils pass through the various stages of their
+education in the High School, hence their absence in the statistics
+of the Primary schools. The proportion of Mohammedan girls in the
+High schools is striking, and is possibly due to the fact of mixed
+parentage; Buddhist freedom to a certain extent influences Mohammedan
+customs in Burma. By the new regulations only 15% of the places in
+the “European” schools are available for Burmese or Indian girls, and
+these vacancies are eagerly sought after. The curriculum pursued in the
+various schools is laid down in the Government Code, and there are no
+schools of any importance which stand apart and develop an experimental
+curriculum of their own, as occasionally happens in other provinces.
+Burma has, as yet, no University of her own, and the curriculum of
+the schools with the corresponding departmental examinations is to a
+certain extent determined in relation to the Calcutta Matriculation.
+Schools are classified as “High” in which after a good vernacular
+foundation, the pupils are taken up to Matriculation, English
+being used as a medium of instruction in the higher forms; “Middle
+Anglo-Vernacular,” in which English is taught orally from the Primary
+stages and as a written language from the fourth class, instruction is
+given only up to the test of the seventh standard, and in the latter
+stages English is used as a medium; “Middle Vernacular,” in which
+pupils are taken up to the seventh standard, but no English instruction
+whatever is given; and “Primary,” where vernacular education is only
+carried to the fourth standard.
+
+ +CLASSIFICATION BY RACE OR CREED OF BURMESE SCHOOL GIRLS+[57]
+
+ +------------------+------+-------+-----+-------+------+----+----+
+ | |Euro- |Native |Hin- |Moham- |Buddh-|Par-|Oth-|
+ | |peans |Christ-|dus. |medans.|ists. |sis.|ers.|
+ | | |ians. | | | | | |
+ +------------------+------+-------+-----+-------+------+----+----+
+ |High School |1,349 | 14 | 9 | 23 | 31| 25 | 72 |
+ | | | | | | | | |
+ |Middle | | | | | | | |
+ | Anglo-Vernacular| 470 | 453 | 6 | 28 | 1,001| 2 | 8 |
+ | Vernacular | 4 | 543 | 38 | 114 | 2,938| .. | 1 |
+ | | | | | | | | |
+ |Primary | 128 | 1,121 | 77 | 208 |18,481| .. | 7 |
+ +------------------+------+-------+-----+-------+------+----+----+
+ | |1,951 | 2,131 | 130 | 373 |22,451| 27 | 88 |
+ +------------------+------+-------+-----+-------+------+----+----+
+
+The curriculum is in many respects very similar to that found in
+schools at home, and is open to the usual criticism that its influence
+is denationalizing. A recent order limits the teaching of English in
+the first three classes to simple conversation lessons, in order that
+more stress may be laid on correct vernacular. The advantages of the
+oral method in the hands of a skilled teacher are undoubted, but it
+is a question whether the Department have not been somewhat premature
+in this respect. The Kindergarten classes are excellently conducted
+in some schools, and every effort is made to keep them as Burmese as
+possible in character. In drawing, a complete series of copies based on
+Burmese design and ranging from the most simple to the most elaborate,
+has been prepared and is in extensive use. It is when the stage of
+optional and alternative subjects is reached that the denationalizing
+element enters more strongly. In one High school visited, only about
+25% of the girls were taking Burmese, in some forms only one pupil did
+so, while many of them take Latin, and a preponderating proportion
+choose English history as being an easy examination subject. The number
+of Anglo-Indian girls partly explains this choice. Indian history is
+a compulsory subject throughout, and the Government Code offers ample
+scope for vernacular and classical Oriental study. It is the choice
+of the individual pupil or parents which is at fault. Sewing is not a
+subject which carries a Government grant, and excepting at a few of
+the European schools, it is at a low ebb. The Principal of the S.P.G.
+High school acted as Inspectress for the Department in this subject
+during 1910 in some twenty-six schools, and through her efforts the
+standard has been to some extent raised, but there is a crying need
+for a properly appointed Inspectress, who will develop this subject as
+well as a sound system of instruction in hygiene and domestic economy
+adapted to Burmese conditions. The tendency is for the girls to drop
+off in the higher forms at about sixteen years of age, so that very few
+really go up for the Matriculation examination, and these mainly with
+intent to teach. Others pass after Standard VII. straight to the Normal
+school.
+
+In outer circles a strong destructive criticism is directed against
+the anglicizing tendency of education in Burma, but amongst the
+missionaries actually engaged in it there is not the same realization
+of a possible need for change as is found amongst certain sections of
+missionary educators in other parts of India. The reason for this may
+partly lie in the fact that the Western education of girls--indeed
+education at all beyond the mere rudiments--is of later date in Burma
+than elsewhere, and that consequently its full effect cannot yet be
+traced. Moreover, among the Burmese there is not the same “nationalist”
+spirit as exists in India proper, and this directly influences the
+educational problem. It must be remembered, too, that there is not the
+same gulf between the woman’s life and the man’s as in other parts
+of India, and that the system used for boys may in many respects be
+excellent for girls. But whether we have here in its early stages a
+problem which is destined to become more acute, is a subtle question
+and one worthy of close inquiry. At any rate, no constructive theory
+has as yet been put forward by any mission school. The general public,
+however, criticize, and taking that criticism for what it is worth,
+there is a general indictment on the ground of the education given
+being mere “cram,” and not really a training of mind and character.
+A Burmese Deputy Commissioner writes: “If women have become more
+educated, many have also become more frivolous, spending their time in
+reading songs, _zats_,[58] and useless trash, instead of doing
+more useful work.”[59] A special accusation is also directed against
+the general atmosphere of the school, which is too reminiscent of
+English to be the natural one for a foreign country.
+
+Both these criticisms are apparently concerned more with the problem
+of the teacher than with that of the curriculum. The Government Code
+is elastic, the trouble is the lack of emphasis laid on Oriental
+subjects. A British or American missionary may often enter at once into
+school life in Burma without any opportunity of knowing the people
+or the language, and be thus unable to give the Burmese tone, which
+in theory she may or may not value. I observed the special case of a
+young American at the head of a large Anglo-Vernacular Middle school
+who was obliged to interview her new pupils through an interpreter, and
+had no means of supervising the instruction given in the vernacular
+throughout her school. The educational problem translates itself here
+into the mission problem of under-staffing. It may doubtless be argued
+that the denationalizing influence in the mission schools is that of
+a religion presented in its Western aspects but it is interesting to
+note that the same atmosphere is felt in the Empress Victoria Buddhist
+Girls’ School,[60] which is constantly under the personal influence
+of Mrs Hla Oung, a leading Buddhist. The definite statement, “We wish
+to be English in everything except our religion,” affords a striking
+contrast to the care with which some missionaries seek to preserve all
+that is good and right in national tradition and custom.
+
+Passing from the dominant influence to the staff, through which the
+Head-mistress must transmit her ideals, what opportunities of training
+have these teachers had? As regards the Normal schools the whole work
+is practically in the hands of the missionaries. There are four Normal
+schools for girls all under mission management. These included in
+1910 eighty-eight pupils, of whom sixty-nine were native Christians.
+There are also a few girls in the Government Normal schools for men,
+notably two Mohammedan girls in the Mandalay school. The criticism in
+the Government Report is that the literary work demanded of the female
+students is too severe, especially if they do not aim at teaching
+in any institution higher than a Primary school. Some alteration in
+the curriculum is suggested. Moreover, many teachers cannot afford
+to defer the opportunity of an immediate salary, and do not pass
+through the Normal school. Most of those in charge of the mission
+schools, however, insist upon Normal training for their teachers.
+The type of teacher produced is not, according to general opinion, a
+very high one; she is intellectually weary, and looks upon her career
+mainly from a pecuniary point of view. There are, of course, marked
+exceptions. Teachers’ Associations do not exist, and it is questionable
+whether these would be advisable owing to the heat and strain of
+the necessary hours of teaching. The material, therefore, with which
+the Head-mistress has to shape her school is not of the best quality,
+and it is all the more necessary that she should have leisure from
+routine for personal contact with both pupils and staff. This is just
+what she does not get. A very large proportion of her time is often
+taken up by work on Government schedules, and in personally teaching
+the higher English classes. In mission schools, which frequently have
+non-Christian teachers on their staff, she may also have to teach the
+Scripture lessons throughout. So far, we look in vain for Burmese
+women who have passed up to the University to train as leaders. Of the
+twelve women Arts students in Rangoon, only one is Burmese. She is a
+Christian. Even the Anglo-Indian community, from which many of the
+teachers are drawn, rests content with the qualification of First Arts
+(a two years’ University course), and no graduates have, as yet, to the
+writer’s knowledge, taken Secondary training. The ideal for women’s
+education in Burma is the production of some fully qualified Burmese
+Head-mistresses, who will be able to impress their individuality on
+the whole system, and thus make it contribute to the beauty of their
+national characteristics.
+
+It will thus be seen that the day of foreign and missionary educators
+in Burma has in one sense only begun; they are needed for pioneer work
+amongst the untouched hill districts; for the even more difficult task
+of guiding the course of higher education into the right channels; and
+for the work of training those who will prove in the future its best
+interpreters to their own people.
+
+
+
+
+ IV
+
+ EASTERN BENGAL AND ASSAM
+
+ “A woman’s place in the National life will now best be filled by the
+ realization of herself; she must grow to her full stature, taking
+ as her due her share of God’s light and air, of the gifts of the
+ Earth-Mother.”
+ +C. SORABJI.+
+
+
+To pass from the sunny smiling country of the Burmese to Dacca, the
+capital of Eastern Bengal and Assam,[61] is to enter a scene of strange
+contrast, and one marked by monotone and inertia. The brilliant Eastern
+sun shines down, but its rays are caught by no golden roofs and domes;
+sombre grey stone meets the eye, with here and there traces of the
+carving and colouring left by the alerter men of centuries ago; there
+are no smiling happy groups of women busy with the day’s work, their
+gay garments bright against the background of tropical green, but
+only here and there ghostly figures clad in _burqas_,[62] or
+some scantily draped “sweeper” women, little heeding, and as little
+heeded. A strange town it is, with a strange mixture of civilizations,
+and yet possessing withal a certain charm of latent capability. Relics
+of a Hindu past are there, almost lost beneath the Moslem dominance
+of the thirteenth century, which brought with it some of the glory
+of architecture and the learning of Upper India, but seemed to take
+on the colourlessness of the land to which it came, winning chiefly
+the lower classes; now the new Western influence has come, and has
+given to the Bengali, by means of education, a unity which repudiates
+its source, thus creating a young India awake and alert. The diverse
+characteristics of the capital are in a sense typical of the diversity
+of the whole province and of the problems of its administration and
+development. The new province created by the Partition in 1905 includes
+the territories formerly administered by the Chief Commissioner of
+Assam, to which have been added certain districts lying on the Eastern
+side of the bay of Bengal, the river regions of the Padua and the
+Jumna, and the Chittagong division which borders on the Burmese hill
+district. It thus includes large city populations, such as Dacca with
+over 90,000 inhabitants, and great river districts such as Sylhet, and
+the Padua Meghna Delta, with its intersecting channels, which in the
+rainy season multiply by the hundred till the country is a network of
+waterways, and in which every brown boy is as much at home as he is
+on land--a country of villages and of rich abundant harvests, where
+the monsoon fails not, and famine is unknown. Then there are the hill
+districts--the Khasi and Garo Hills, the native states of Manipur
+and Tippera, and the country bordering on Burma, where a strong and
+vigorous people, marked by a hardy independence, are only gradually
+being touched by modern civilization. While the educational problem is
+mainly a rural one--in 1901 only 2% were enumerated in the sixty one
+towns--the urban minority, with its demand for higher education, cannot
+be ignored.
+
+ [Illustration: A Hill School, Eastern Bengal]
+
+Female education in Eastern Bengal has certain aspects which make
+it differ from that in other provinces, and render it a peculiarly
+interesting study. Whereas elsewhere we shall trace the development
+of the three different influences--the spontaneous Indian movement,
+missionary efforts, and the work of Government, the last, in varying
+degrees, a unifying and co-ordinating agency--here we have one
+well-organized Government Female Education Committee, on which all
+these interests are represented, and by which a unified policy is in
+process of being worked out. This Committee was appointed after the
+Partition in 1907, to work under the Director of Public Instruction,
+and consists of those officials directly concerned, of non-officials of
+various creeds, of representatives of several missionary agencies, and
+of a few Indian and British ladies selected mainly for their interest
+in such matters. It is in no sense a popular body, and it has no
+executive function; but it has done some extremely useful work.
+
+Its policy has been to survey the field, taking into account the
+diverse and complicated nature of the task to be accomplished, to
+utilize so far as possible all existing agencies, and to plan a
+thorough and scientific scheme embracing all classes. The development
+of this scheme must be one of slow and patient labour. No great
+social scheme which is to have permanent results can be enforced in a
+revolutionary or sudden way, and least of all where prejudice has to be
+overcome, where public opinion must be influenced, and where possibly
+the passing of generations and the influence of heredity are needed
+for its fruition. In a sense the very backwardness of the province
+is its opportunity. The possibility before it of laying foundations
+on sound educational principles, of using the experience gained by
+other provinces in the adaptation of certain types of institutions to
+local conditions, of surveying the whole field without haste, and of
+making a systematic effort to raise all classes and all sections of the
+population, augurs well for the future standing of the province, and
+may produce a better type of education than that which has developed
+more quickly and more sporadically elsewhere.
+
+A sketch of the present situation must naturally take as its centre
+the work of this Committee, the result of its survey of the classes
+affected, its utilization of existing agencies, its constructive work,
+and the practicable character of its aims.
+
+What, then, of the actual girls to be educated? The classes affected
+are many and diverse, education and rank often varying in inverse
+proportion; the educational and the social problems are here again
+so closely interwoven that the holding of parda parties has a very
+definite relation to the statistics of school attendance. The Indian
+Christians, of whom there are over 66,000, mostly living in the
+Khasi and Jaintia Hills are naturally keenly eager for education,
+and contribute considerably to the supply of teachers. About the
+non-Christians it is impossible to generalize.[63] From the young
+Begum[64] directly descended from one of the Moslem invaders to the
+child of some peasant woman, who grudges her from the work of the field
+to the seemingly profitless village school, is a far cry, and the gamut
+of possibilities lies between. Here is a high-born Moslem girl, whose
+male relatives hold University degrees and Government appointments,
+and who will allow a certain advance to their women-folk, but no more.
+For instance, an English teacher may be admitted for a few hours a
+day, or if the family be wealthy and of sufficient rank, an English
+governess may be secured to devote her whole time to the pupils. Here
+is another still so tied by conservatism that she may not see English
+ladies or learn of modern thought. Her male relatives may give her
+the smattering of Koranic lore which is necessary for religion. The
+Mohammedan women of the upper class can nearly all read Urdu, and are
+clever with their needles. Here is a girl of the Brāhma-Samāj, supposed
+to be free, and yet one might almost say shy of her freedom, with every
+opportunity to take the higher education which would fit her for social
+influence, she yet ceases her studies when only some three standards
+beyond her Hindu sister. Another girl with the same up-bringing has
+sufficient strength and determination to persevere through the whole
+course and finish with Normal training or University honours. There
+is a strong demand for education up to a certain stage also among the
+Brahmans, Kayasths,[65] and Baidyas,[66] a demand which is, however,
+limited to the few years before the _parda_ is strictly drawn, an
+event which happens between the ages of eight and eleven. Then there
+are the lower class Mohammedans, who are anxious only for Koranic
+education, the Namasudras,[67] whose intellect is at so low a level
+that a whole term may be spent in acquiring a single letter of the
+alphabet, and the bill tribes where _parda_ is non-existent, and
+where in certain cases the women are more literate than the men. The
+whole enumeration shows how very diverse and complex are the classes
+for whom education must be planned.
+
+Passing to the agencies at work, there have been in the more advanced
+portions of the province, apart from Government and the municipalities,
+spontaneous efforts to educate girls. Some of the present village
+schools are of this indigenous type, and are kept possibly by an
+elderly Hindu pandit and his wife, where little girls are collected
+for a few hours daily--not stated hours--and drone over Bengali books
+of an archaic type, in an ill-ventilated room. The result of this
+education may be the ability to recite certain shlokas[68] and to check
+a marketing account, or merely the prestige in the marriage market of
+having been to school. Where it is possible to improve schools of this
+type or standard, they fall into the general scheme, but as a rule
+they are “passed by on the other side.” The Mahakali Patshala,[69]
+started in 1907 at Mymensingh, represents again spontaneous effort
+of a more advanced type, and is an attempt to give a modern and
+strictly religious education on Hindu lines. This institution is much
+more advanced than the parent Patshala, described on page 113. The
+Mohammedan community have been more backward in organizing schools; a
+circular sent out by a Sub-Committee on behalf of the Government to
+various Mohammedan associations produced very few replies, including
+the following: “But it is not proper time for starting Mohammedan
+female education, as the people are not willing to have their girls
+educated.” There is, however, a certain number of Muktabs or Koranic
+schools, where girls are taught what is necessary for religion, and in
+some cases a little secular knowledge.
+
+The most important missionary agencies in the province are the Baptists
+from Australia, New Zealand, America, and England, and the Welsh
+Presbyterians, all of whom are carrying on good educational work.
+The Sisters of the Oxford Mission have also entered the field more
+recently. Taken as a whole the missionary contribution is, however,
+much smaller than in other provinces. The best vernacular school for
+girls in Dacca is that which has a hostel attached of the English
+Baptist Mission, and the training of teachers at Nowgong in the hill
+districts is proving specially useful to Government. This can be
+better considered later in relation to the hill districts as a whole.
+The mission schools are a welcome addition to the educational scheme,
+and it is satisfactory to note the cordial relations and co-operation
+between their organizers and the Government officials. As regards their
+extension, if new schools were contemplated in a town or district where
+a good accessible school already existed, grants would probably not
+be given, but as the field is practically unlimited, the question is
+merely academic.
+
+Thus the constructive policy of the Government Committee[70] embraces
+these existing agencies and all schools entirely under public control,
+whether municipal or directly under Government. The Committee aims
+at the ideal of a Primary school in every village, in more populous
+centres the raising of a certain number of these to schools of a
+rather better type, the establishment of a Government school (Middle
+or Anglo-Vernacular) in the headquarters of every division, the warm
+encouragement of all private Middle schools, and the development of
+some definite system of _parda_ instruction which could reach the
+higher and stricter classes. The system is completed by three existent
+High schools. Taking these different stages in order we must first
+consider the Primary schools.
+
+There were in 1909, 4501 Primary schools in the whole Province, an
+increase of about 800 on the preceding year. Assam and the Surma
+Valley are scantily provided. The establishment of a sound system of
+Primary schools is naturally the chief aim, but its attainment depends
+on the development of a thoroughly efficient staff of teachers. The
+word “primary” covers a multitude of sins, and is very varied in its
+application. Here, for instance, is a school of the aided type in a
+village of over 6000 inhabitants. The little girls are crushed together
+on ill-constructed benches in an ill-ventilated room, agonizing in
+different degrees of shyness under the thrilling ordeal of a visitor.
+All of them are Hindus, for the Mohammedans do not go to school in this
+village. Apparently there is scarcely any system of classification
+except for the broad distinction of “little” and “less.” All are under
+eleven years of age and, according to the village custom, have walked
+to school in charge of the school servant. The school is supposed to
+teach up to Standard III, but every girl who leaves able to read and
+write, and not much injured in health from sitting daily for five hours
+in a cramped position, may consider herself lucky. The attempts of
+itinerant Sub-Inspectors at teaching the venerable pandit how to teach,
+have fallen on unscathed shoulders, yet there is a certain pathos in
+the owl-like glance with which he fixes the two Sub-Inspectors, who
+answer all the visitor’s questions without the least reference to him.
+For the pandit knows that his day is done--a new school is in process
+of erection, and an energetic Sub-Divisional Officer is on the outlook
+for a trained schoolmistress. With the passing of the pandit will go
+much of the quaintness of the Indian school, which sentimentally may
+be regretted, but which must yield place to the modern demand for
+efficiency. It is refreshing to turn to a school of the new order, an
+urban one. The day is wet, so only twenty-five out of forty pupils
+are present, Hindus chiefly, of the Kayasth caste. The three lowest
+classes are happily seated on matting with a tiny desk in front; the
+older ones are still swinging their feet on too high a bench--but what
+good is there in having Inspectresses if there is nothing to improve?
+A tidy time-table on the wall shows the rotation of lessons. There are
+shells for arithmetic, maps and object-lesson sheets, there is space
+for drill or breathing exercises at the end of every hour, there are
+neat specimens of sewing (not perennial ones which have survived many
+an inspection) and above all, there is a happy smiling mistress, whose
+personality inspires new ideals and new thoughts. A bright little
+maiden of eleven in a blue and gold sari, who gaily translates an Urdu
+conversation into Bengali, has designs on a scholarship for the Eden
+High School, and perhaps some day she, too, may be an “Ustani”[71]
+as wondrous wise as her mistress. This is the bright side of things,
+but it shows the possibilities which lie under dry statistics. The
+recent report of 1910 on Primary schools in the town of Dacca shows
+an increase of about 200 girls in one year. Of the sixteen schools,
+twelve are now provided with mistresses and the general progress is
+satisfactory, although there are still many difficulties to overcome,
+especially if the proportional increase in the number of pupils
+exceeds, as is probable, that of the trained teachers available, and
+proper space is lacking. The problem in Dacca is typical of the urban
+problem throughout. Primary education in the hill districts is of a
+different type.
+
+The Middle Schools, partly English and partly only vernacular, are some
+twenty in number, varying in type from a long established school such
+as the Alexandra Girls’ School at Mymensingh, with ten teachers, and a
+Head-mistress from the Isabella Thoburn College,[72] to one which has
+only six scholars beyond the Primary stage and one mistress, but which
+must be raised in standard and type for the sake of the district. The
+generosity of the native landowners is to be noted in connection with
+these schools; in two cases a whole new building and site have been
+acquired in this way.
+
+ [Illustration: A High School Class, Eastern Bengal]
+
+All roads lead to Mecca, and all pursuit of higher education in Eastern
+Bengal tends to the Eden Girls’ High School, Dacca, where, under the
+supervision of Miss Lena Sorabji, the portals of Calcutta University
+are successfully reached. This school is the Model High School for the
+province, the two others at Chittagong and Mymensingh are not as yet
+so efficiently staffed or equipped, though that at Chittagong holds
+its own at the Matriculation examination. There are some two hundred
+girls in the Eden High School, mostly Hindu, with a fair proportion of
+Brāhma-Samāj and Mohammedan girls, including also a few Christians. The
+curriculum is that of a first-class English High school in its relation
+to the Matriculation subjects. In the lower classes the scientific
+principles of education are in full vogue, story and group method,
+with an excellent Kindergarten apparatus. The teachers are mostly
+Indian with three Anglo-Indians, and there is also a very efficient
+music mistress. Moral instruction is given, and there is throughout an
+excellent tone. It is possible to attend the school and keep strict
+_parda_, a young Begum has recently been assigned to it by the
+Court of Wards in order to complete her education. A very important
+feature of the school is the Training department, in which teachers
+are trained for the Bengali-speaking parts of the province. (Assamese
+teachers are trained at Nowgong and the Hill Districts in Shillong.)
+Training is given free on condition of teaching in a Government school
+for two years thereafter. There is both an English and a Vernacular
+course, and the effect of the latter can be seen in such schools
+as the Primary school sketched above. There are three students at
+present in the English department, and twenty-two in the Vernacular.
+Any girls passing the Matriculation examination from here are certain
+of Government scholarships, or “stipends” as they are called, to the
+University of Calcutta. The only drawback at present is the lack of
+space, but plans are already definitely formed, and a site secured for
+new buildings, which will ultimately include a College department.
+
+But when all is said, it is only an infinitesimal fraction of the
+female community which is touched by the Middle and High schools.
+The fourth sphere of the Committee’s work, the organizing of a
+definite system of _parda_ instruction, is therefore in some ways
+the most important. Many important and far-reaching influences are
+at work behind the veil, and it is here, too, that the influence of
+the Education Committee must be felt. A comparison of the numbers
+attending Primary schools (84,798) with those attending High and
+Middle schools (1846), shows how limited is the school period for the
+average girl. The _parda_ instruction to a certain extent supplements
+the education of those children who are withdrawn for marriage at
+about ten years of age. On the other hand, as the number of girls of
+school age at school is only 3%, a certain amount of this work is
+amongst the absolutely illiterate older women, though the minimum
+age of ten prevents overlapping with the Primary schools. A further
+aim is to create a more friendly atmosphere in the zenanas towards
+the whole question of education. In some cases it is an immediately
+fruitful work, in others a sowing of seed for the future. There are
+now some 600 girls and women under instruction of this type in seven
+different towns, the classes in Dacca being most fully developed. Here
+there are four governesses at work, each with six centres to teach.
+Two of them are Mohammedans, one Brāhma-Samāj, and one Christian, the
+last under missionary superintendence. The education given is of the
+simplest type, including, however, in some cases drawing, painting,
+history, and geography. Indeed when the circumstances are taken into
+consideration it could hardly be otherwise; the classes are held in the
+houses of progressive men, rich or poor, and consist as a rule solely
+of the women of the household and their immediate neighbours, the
+numbers varying from six to about twenty. The ages of the pupils vary
+from eight to fifty, all are at different stages, all are irregular in
+attendance, many are accompanied by babies, and the class generally
+ends in individual instruction. Yet progress is being made, and it is
+good to see the group of daintily dressed women awaiting the arrival
+of the teacher who forms their link with the outer world. A very great
+deal depends on her personality and skill in overcoming prejudice. One
+of the teachers is a Mohammedan lady of good position, the wife of a
+pleader; she drives in strict _parda_ to and from her work, and has
+naturally inspired other strict Mohammedans with confidence in the
+scheme. Recently an English governess has begun work in Dacca under the
+Committee, but in her case there is a binding fee of five rupees for
+every family who employs her. The system is one which is peculiarly
+adapted to Eastern Bengal with its strict _parda_ customs, and though
+expensive to Government,[73] is in the meantime more than worth while
+in its indirect influence in breaking down prejudice and supplementing
+the whole system of instruction.
+
+Education in the Hill Districts reveals a somewhat different problem.
+There is no _parda_, co-education is frequent, and suits the
+customs of the people. A Lushai writer dealing with this says: “The
+men and women are all on the same footing, except in some cases,
+where the women are master.” In the hill tracts of Assam, some 2551
+girls are studying in boys’ schools and 701 in separate girls’
+schools, practically all of the latter and a large proportion of the
+former are worked by the missions, which are doing excellent service
+to education. The schools are much appreciated, and the Government
+grant of 4022 rupees to the mission schools is almost equalled by the
+contributions of the people themselves. Special arrangements are being
+made by Government with the American Baptist Mission at Nowgong for
+the training of Government teachers in the Mission Training School.
+In some parts education is absolutely at a standstill; for example,
+in the Mikir hills, “female education is supposed to have perished
+fifteen years ago with the death of its only representative, a young
+girl of Nowgong!” In Chittagong Hill District the opposition is that of
+a wild uncivilized people. A boarding-school is the only possibility,
+but that seems too terrible! The parents are half-civilized, and will
+send a child for one month and withdraw her the next; the children,
+moreover, have their own way. “If the parents say their girl shall go
+to school, and she says ‘I will not,’ she does not go.” There are at
+present seven precious pupils in the Mission Girls’ school at Chandra
+Ghona. In Tippera there is much opposition. Twenty-five girls are,
+however, reported in three mission schools in the latter district. An
+interesting account of indigenous schools comes from a lady missionary
+working in one of the hill districts: “There are some small Primary
+independent village schools taught by Hindu men or women voluntarily.
+Some of these receive Government aid, and some do not. The parents of
+the scholars contribute a little towards the teacher’s support, and
+supply the school-house. It is generally believed that the visits of
+a missionary to such schools lend prestige to them, and the children
+are encouraged to attend by the small rewards given by the missionary
+for attendance and Scripture knowledge. Hence such scholars invariably
+welcome regular visits.” The main problems are those of co-education,
+the training of teachers, and the multiplicity of dialects. Steps are
+also being taken to develop weaving and local industries in many parts
+for the less advanced tribes.
+
+Such in brief outline is the Government policy for female education.
+How far is it a living reality? “The moment imagination has gone out of
+your Asiatic policy, your Empire will divide and decay.”[74] How far is
+there imagination in the educational policy? How far is it magnetic,
+flexible, and inspiring? A policy, of necessity, is reflected by the
+persons who administer it, the inspectorate and teaching staffs, the
+organizing Committee, and the general social attitude of the community.
+The task of the Inspectorate is no easy one, and the word calls up
+visions of many successive nights spent in bullock carts, in trains,
+and on horseback to reach the inaccessible parts of an inaccessible
+province, a multitude of detail, and little time to relate it
+consciously to the underlying principles. To the casual onlooker taking
+into account the general social conditions of Indian life, it hardly
+seems work which a woman should do, and yet it is work which must be
+done by women. Indian girls can only be well taught by women, and this
+necessitates a female Inspectorate at least for the upper grades.
+From 1908 to 1911 there was only one Inspectress in the province, and
+in 1909 two assistant Inspectresses were appointed; an additional
+appointment has, however, recently been made for the Chittagong and
+Surma Valley Districts. A further increase would greatly facilitate
+the development of the work, and would probably repay in efficiency
+the extra expense. There is a great deal written and said about the
+denationalizing influence of education, and the need for bringing our
+system into touch with Indian thought and Indian life. More especially
+in the present case, when a new policy is being shaped, there is need
+for flexibility in the system and an Inspectorate closely in touch with
+the inner side of Indian home life. What should an Indian girl know?
+What will fit her best to hold aright her true place; what will render
+her happier and more intelligent, retaining her Sita-like devotion and
+her gentle bearing? The planning of a curriculum and teacher’s manual
+in relation to this aim is no easy task, and it remains to be seen
+whether the new manuals, the work of the first Inspectress, will have
+fulfilled these demands. Some women are born teachers, and some have
+teaching thrust upon them. In India the old ideal of teaching is that
+of a vocation; the bread of life is given freely by those who have to
+those who have not. Modern conditions have of necessity modified this
+ideal to a certain extent, but its spirit is still needed. The great
+scarcity of women teachers, and consequent certainty of employment,
+tends to lower the standard of character and efficiency. The teacher
+who will only do her own “kām,”[75] and not lend a helping hand to
+others, who is ever listening for the stroke of the clock, who is quick
+to take offence and ill to conciliate, is known in this province as
+elsewhere. The lack of a common religious basis as a ground of appeal
+is undoubtedly felt; the establishment of Teacher’s Associations in
+the urban centres, and, where possible, of the Young Women’s Christian
+Association Teachers Union, might be useful. It is to be regretted
+that very few of the teachers are not drawn from the families of upper
+class; the work done by one of the Mohammedan governesses in Dacca
+is an evidence of what can be accomplished in this way even without
+scientific training. There are, however, some splendid Indian women
+teachers, contact with whom is an inspiration, and it is to be hoped
+that the influence of the training classes in the Eden High School at
+Nowgong and at Shillong may gradually raise the general tone. Here, as
+in Burma, is the great means of counteracting anglicizing influences;
+education is the communication of personality, and the ideal Indian
+school of the future must have Indian teachers. The instilling of
+the principles of educational science and of true culture in Indian
+teachers, until these are no longer slavishly reproduced but lived
+and worked out in relation to Indian environment, is the task of the
+Western educator.
+
+The success of any policy depends upon how closely it is in touch with
+the spirit of the community, and the wisdom of connecting a local
+committee with the management of every Middle and High school is
+unquestioned; these Committees are supposed to consist of equal numbers
+of men and women, and indeed the Government grant is often given only
+on condition of there being an efficient working Committee. There are
+also ladies’ committees in connection with the zenana classes in the
+urban centres. It has, however, been exceedingly difficult to secure
+the necessary ladies for this work, for the supply of educated Indian
+ladies is very limited, and English women, because of the shortness of
+their stay in any one district, are unwilling to undertake it. Some of
+the officials’ wives have, however, given splendid service in this
+way, and even if it is only a passing service it is more than worth
+while. The work of these committees in the breaking down of social
+prejudice and ensuring the confidence of the community is untold.
+There is, as has been already said, a definite connection between
+_parda_ parties and school attendance. The _parda_ party as a
+social institution in other provinces has come to stay. It is perhaps a
+pity that here it has had a certain shadow cast upon it of officialdom
+and organization. The spontaneous and individual effort is quickly felt
+and appreciated by Indian ladies. It must come also from a genuine and
+mutual desire for intercourse and not from any _sous-entendu_
+motive of pity or “bridge the gulf” idea. Indian ladies have their
+own contribution to make to the unifying of ideals not only between
+Indian and English, but between Indian and Indian. “The less said about
+_parda_ parties and the more held,” is probably a wise dictum. The
+work on some of the educational sub-committees will, however, often
+give an English lady the direct contact with Indian life which is so
+much needed.
+
+The outlook for women’s education throughout the province is in many
+respects a hopeful one; enthusiasts are working at it, there is a
+steadily increasing flow of girls coming to the schools; a teaching
+staff is gradually being built up, suitable text-books and manuals are
+being produced. The generosity of a Government, hampered by finance
+in every way, to this scheme, is a stamp of warm approval. No great
+social undertaking, however, is fulfilled in haste, and least of all
+where sympathy and the silent influence of individual friendship are
+needed to pave the way for it.
+
+
+
+
+ V
+
+ BENGAL
+
+ “My Motherland, I sing
+ Her splendid streams, her glorious trees,
+ The zephyr from the far-off Vindyan heights,
+ Her fields of waving corn,
+ The rapturous radiance of her moonlit nights,
+ The trees in flower that flame afar,
+ The smiling days that sweetly vocal are,
+ The happy, blessed Motherland.”
+ Translation by W. H. Lee, I.C.S.
+
+
+One of the subtlest problems of sociology is to trace the relation
+of cause and effect in new conditions of life affecting a community.
+Here in Bengal is a certain group of people calling themselves “a new
+nation”; here is a new thought-centre by turns indefinite, immature,
+bombastic, tentative, yet possessing a certain unity and aspiring after
+certain definite ideals, and together with it, in part as cause, in
+part as effect, is the steady educational advance of certain sections
+of the community. There is little geographical unity, for the term
+“Bengal” has been of varying content, comprising in the early days all
+the East India Company’s possessions in Northern India; after 1836
+a more definite and limited area, and finally[76] in 1905 reduced,
+broadly speaking, to Bihar, Chota Nagpore, Orissa and the section
+of Bengal proper which lies west of the Ganges and the Hooghly.
+Ethnically, a mixture of Dravidian, Mongolian and Aryan elements, even
+linguistic unity, is lacking, Bengali, Hindi, Bihari and Oriya, with
+their corresponding dialects being the languages mainly in use. Yet, in
+spite of all, the Bengali claim of unity is there in virtue of their
+education, and in virtue of the “high proportion of literacy that
+exists in Bengal compared with most parts of India.” Linguistically
+again, Bengali, though only the native tongue of some 52%[77] of the
+population, has become a modern literary language, and as such is a
+strong factor for unity and progress. It is true that those conscious
+of this unity who express themselves variously in congresses, in
+journalism, in sedition, or in loyal Government service are doubtless
+a minority, but they are an increasing element, and one which may
+assert itself more in the future. The political side of this movement
+is beyond the scope of this book, its existence cannot, however, be
+ignored as it is one of the causes of the tide which is slowly setting
+in favour of the education of women.
+
+All the same obstacles and difficulties which we have studied in
+Eastern Bengal, and some even more hard to surmount, are to be found
+here. Seventy-eight per cent. of the population are Hindus and the
+consequent custom of marriage below the age of ten years cuts short
+the possible period of school attendance for girls. One woman in every
+five is a widow, and yet custom and prejudice prevent this numerous
+class from entering the teaching profession, as is the case with many
+spinsters at home. Ninety-four per cent. of the population live in
+scattered villages, and this increases the financial difficulty of
+providing sufficient accessible schools for girls whose parents are
+unwilling and often unable to pay anything. A strong prejudice against
+the whole idea of the education of girls still exists, and though
+systematic efforts are made to overcome this, they often lead to no
+result, as is testified in the report of a Mohammedan gentleman of
+good position engaged by Government to popularize education among his
+co-religionists in Bihar. It often seems as if all effort to overcome
+this prejudice were unavailing. Yet in the face of all this there is
+a strong body of Indian opinion which emphasizes in speech and in the
+press the need and advisability of female education. The Brāhma-Samāj,
+one of the reform Indian sects much tinged by Christian thought, gives
+every opportunity of education to its women, and has thus an influence
+out of all proportion to its numbers[78] in the province. By the
+extremely orthodox Hindu it is looked upon with the same suspicion
+as Christianity, and yet its tenets of liberty and equality for
+womanhood have a direct bearing on the general _parda_ conditions,
+especially in the cities, so that, while the overwhelming proportion of
+girls over twelve years of age in school is Christian or Brāhma-Samāj,
+the influence of a new movement is beginning to make itself felt. An
+occasional Moslem girl, to whom a Government “stipend” has been awarded
+for her encouragement, is to be seen in the higher classes, or a young
+Hindu widow, who has been allowed to return to school to fit herself
+for a useful life.
+
+Historically this movement in the Indian community is the result of the
+work of Christian missions, which have been consistently the leaders
+both in producing a high educational standard amongst the Christian
+women and in affording facilities to any others who would come to their
+schools. The Maharani of Baroda gives a fitting tribute in her recent
+book[79] to Miss Cook and Lady Amherst as the two pioneers of women’s
+education in all India. Some share of this should also be given to Mrs
+Marshman, under whose instigation a society for the Education of Native
+Females was founded in Calcutta in 1819. In the same year the first
+modern girls’ school in all India was opened under its auspices. By
+1821 thirty-two pupils were in attendance. Though the Baptists were the
+first to actually start instruction, a parallel movement had been made
+by a united committee of British and Hindu men. This Calcutta School
+Society was founded in 1818 to advance the education of both boys and
+girls, and on its invitation Miss Cook left England to open a school
+for Hindu girls in Calcutta. The courage of the Hindu members of the
+committee, however, failed them when it came to the actual starting of
+the school. “Although they had spoken well while yet the matter was at
+a distance and in the region of theory, they recoiled from the obloquy
+of so rude an assault on time-honoured custom. The Babus had been
+brought up to the talking-point, but not to the acting-point.”[80]
+India thus lost the honour of a direct share in the first Western
+education of her women. Miss Cook was fortunately able to transfer
+her services to the Church Missionary Society, and opened her first
+school in 1822. The dramatic circumstances of this are worth quoting in
+full:[80]--
+
+“Whilst engaged in studying the Bengali language, and scarcely daring
+to hope that an immediate opening for entering upon the work, to
+which she had devoted herself, would be found, Miss Cook paid a visit
+to one of the native schools for boys, in order to observe their
+pronunciation; and this circumstance, trifling as it may appear, led to
+the opening of her first school in Thunthuniya. Unaccustomed to see a
+European lady in that part of the native town, a crowd collected round
+the door of the school. Amongst them was an interesting looking girl,
+whom the school pandit drove away. Miss Cook desired the child to be
+called, and by an interpreter asked her if she wished to learn to read.
+She was told in reply that this child had for three months past been
+daily begging to learn to read with the boys, and that if Miss Cook
+(who had made known her purpose of devoting herself to the instruction
+of native girls) would attend next day, twenty girls should be
+collected. Accompanied by a female friend conversant with the language,
+she repeated her visit on the morrow and found fifteen girls, several
+of whom had their mothers with them. Their natural inquisitiveness
+prompted them to inquire what could be Miss Cook’s motive for coming
+amongst them. They were told that she had heard in England that the
+women of their country were kept in total ignorance, that they were
+not taught to read or write, that the men only were allowed to attain
+any degree of knowledge, and it was also generally understood that the
+chief obstacle to their improvement was that no females would undertake
+to teach them; she had therefore felt compassion for them, and had
+left her country, her parents, and friends to help them. The mothers
+with one voice cried out, smiting themselves with their right hands,
+‘Oh what a pearl of a woman is this!’ It was added, ‘she has given
+up every earthly expectation, to come here, and seeks not the riches
+of the world, but desires only to promote our best interests.’ ‘Our
+children are yours, we give them to you.’ ‘What will be the use of
+learning to our girls, and what good will it do to them?’ They were
+told:--‘It will make them more useful in their families, and increase
+their knowledge, and it was hoped that it would also tend to give them
+respect and produce harmony in their families.’--‘True,’ said one of
+them, ‘our husbands now look upon us as little better than brutes.’
+Another asked, ‘What benefit will you derive from this work?’ She was
+told that the only return wished for was to promote their best interest
+and happiness. Then said the woman, ‘I suppose this is a holy work, and
+well pleasing to God.’ As they were not able to understand much, it was
+only said in return that God was always well pleased that His servants
+should do good to their fellow creatures. The women then spoke to each
+other in terms of the highest approbation of what had passed.”
+
+In the course of 1822 eight schools were established, attended more or
+less regularly by 214 girls. The Marchioness of Hastings also created a
+deep impression by personally visiting many of the back alleys of the
+city, and during the last two years of her stay in India her enthusiasm
+did much to allay prejudice. In 1824 the Ladies’ Society for Female
+Native Education was formed through the efforts of Miss Cook (now Mrs
+Wilson), and a handsome central school was erected, to which Indian
+gentlemen, notably Raja Buddinath Roy, contributed largely. Lady
+Amherst was the first President of the new society. Dr Duff, commenting
+on the situation some twenty years later, marks the wisdom of the
+middle course between the “impossible” and the “all things possible”
+party, the courage of those who were willing to begin with “here and
+there a few.” While he held that the education of the men of India
+must precede the education of the women, on any great scale, he looked
+forward to the time when “there would be a wide and spontaneous demand
+for female education by thousands and ten thousands. Then indeed would
+dawn upon India the golden age of education.”[81]
+
+It is a far cry from those days to the Calcutta of to-day with its
+seven High schools, five of which have college departments, its
+Training College, its Female Inspectorate, and a Government eager to
+do anything to promote what it regards as a main social factor in the
+development of the country. The “rising tide” may be best studied in
+comparative percentages.[82] As in Eastern Bengal, three forces are
+working here for the education of women, the Government, spontaneous
+Indian effort, and the missionary societies, and a brief analysis of
+these with their varying types and functions may serve to throw light
+on the general situation with its problems and possibilities.
+
+ +MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOLS FOR INDIAN GIRLS IN BENGAL, 1909-1910+
+
+ +------------+-------------------------------+-------------------+
+ | | +UNDER | +UNDER |
+ | | PUBLIC | PRIVATE |
+ | | MANAGEMENT.+ | MANAGEMENT.+ |
+ | +-----------+-----------+-------+---------+---------+
+ | | |District or|Native | | |
+ | |Government.| Municipal |States.| Aided. | Unaided.|
+ | | | Board. | | | |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-------+---------+---------+
+ |High Schools| 1 | .. | .. | 7 | 3 |
+ | | | | | | |
+ |Middle-- | | | | | |
+ | English | .. | .. | .. | 12 | 1 |
+ | Vernacular| .. | .. | .. | 17 | 2 |
+ | | | | | | |
+ |Primary | 86 | 1 | 25 | 2,508 | 429 |
+ | | | | | | |
+ |Training | 1 | .. | .. | 14 | .. |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-------+---------+---------+
+ |Total | 88 | 1 | 25 | 2,558 | 435 |
+ +------------+-----------+-----------+-------+---------+---------+
+
+_Bengal Public Instruction Report_--Statistics pages 4 and 32.
+
+The Government system is a somewhat different one from that employed
+in the newer province of Eastern Bengal and Assam, and may be taken as
+the normal one in the various provinces of India. The work is directly
+under the Director of Public Instruction, and forms a separate section
+of the ordinary Educational Department. There are two Inspectresses,
+who are members of the Indian Educational Service, but a large
+proportion of the inspection in the country districts is of necessity
+done by the ordinary Inspectors. Eastern Bengal has here the advantage
+of newer and more plastic organization. The Government policy is rather
+to aid voluntary schools than to launch out on schemes of its own;
+its influence is mostly felt as a unifying agency by means of Code,
+standard of examination and inspection, and as presenting occasionally
+model types to which the voluntary schools may or may not think it
+wise to conform. Thus less than one in twenty-eight of all girls’
+institutions are entirely under public management, as may be seen in
+the accompanying table. A slight divergence from this policy may,
+however, be noted in the increase of Primary schools directly under
+Government control from one in 1907 to eighty-six in 1910.[83]
+
+The Bethune Girls’ College and High School, Calcutta, founded in
+1849, may be taken as a type of a model Government institution.[84]
+Situated near Hadua Talau in the heart of the native city, like all
+city schools it suffers from lack of space. There is a fine pillared
+verandah through which one enters into an open court. Into this court
+open all the class-rooms. A characteristic feature is a very fine and
+spacious library well-stocked with the classics of East and West.
+At the time of my visit several girls were sitting at work in it. A
+marked difference between Indian girls’ High schools and those at
+home is that many of the former in the _parda_ districts aim at
+having a College Department, which is affiliated to the University
+and in which girls are prepared up to the B.A. stage. The merits of
+this system will be discussed elsewhere.[85] In the Bethune College
+Department there are about thirty-five students, and in the school
+proper some one hundred and fifty, ranging in age from tiny girls
+of five or six to the Matriculation candidates of sixteen years and
+upwards. The lower classes are extremely crowded, and there is the
+falling off in the upper school which is so characteristic of India.
+This presents one of the most difficult problems in the education of
+Indian women. The aim being to fit the pupils for life, and to train
+them to think, how can it possibly be accomplished in the three short
+years which in the majority of cases is all the time available? In
+the High school proper the assumption is that the girls will stay on,
+and the Bethune curriculum is shaped accordingly. There is a good
+Kindergarten, and all the modern plant to make an efficient school;
+the great drawback, as usual, is the lack of trained teachers, only
+one of the whole staff having full qualifications. Indian music is
+well taught as an extra subject, and it was a pretty sight to see some
+half-dozen girls accompanying the harmonium with violin, _escar_,
+and _zitta_. The school owes its success to two factors, first the
+personality of its former Head-mistress, Miss Bose, the first woman
+graduate of the University of Calcutta, and secondly to the eagerness
+with which the Brāhma-Samāj welcomed this move on the part of the
+Government. The girls in the higher classes are practically all from
+the Brāhma-Samāj, so much so that perhaps this influence is almost too
+predominant. A little Moslem girl who had received a special Government
+“stipend” on account of her religion, had recently turned Brāhmo,
+but the Head-mistress assured us that the change was due entirely to
+home influences. There is a good hostel in the school compound, for
+which there are always more applications than available vacancies, and
+arrangements are being made for the more complete separation of the
+school from the College department.
+
+The function of the Inspectress is important, and it is to be
+regretted that the word has come to suggest destructive rather than
+constructive criticism. “Training” is a more accurate description of
+the work, and in a country where a large proportion of the teachers
+are untrained, it well repays the money spent thereon. A visit often
+means three days spent in a village helping the teacher to a more
+scientific system. Suggestions as to improvements in the Code ought
+to come from the Inspectress, and she has every opportunity for
+studying the conditions of the people and the suitability of the type
+of education offered. To consider the relative value of European and
+Indian Inspectresses is at the present moment of purely theoretical
+interest. However great the advantage of the Indian in intimate
+knowledge of the environment and of the mental characteristics of
+the people, it is difficult as yet to procure any with the necessary
+scientific qualifications and gift of organization. The difficulties of
+travel are also accentuated for the Indian woman. The contribution of
+Indian thought should be in the meantime rather in the building up of
+individual schools, with ultimate constructive influence on the system
+as a whole.
+
+The indigenous and spontaneous effort of the Indian community towards
+the education of their women is of two types, that of the Brāhma-Samāj
+and reform societies, and that of the orthodox sections. The former
+is very much in line with the general system: the Code is used, and
+where alternative subjects are possible there is more emphasis laid on
+Sanskrit than in mission schools, but as a whole it is not strikingly
+“National.” The Brāhma Girls’ High School in Calcutta receives a
+monthly grant of five hundred Rupees and is a first-class institution.
+Their Middle schools are mostly English in contrast to the vernacular
+mission schools. There are also a few Hindu Primary schools, which
+follow the Government Code. It is to the orthodox communities that we
+must turn to find the distinctively Indian note, the retention of which
+in any really educative scheme presents so baffling a problem. Here in
+the “Mahakali Pathshala” is a genuine Indian attempt at self-expression
+in educational ideals. This school was founded in 1893, in Calcutta,
+by “Her Holiness Mataji Maharani Tapaswini,” one of those strange
+women saints who flit across the pages of Indian history, freed by
+their mystical insight and rare wisdom from the shackles of ordinary
+Indian womanhood. Hither the dainty little Hindu maiden of the upper
+castes is brought in a closed gari with her hands full of marigolds
+and other blossoms, to learn that school is but a larger home where
+the mysteries and ritual of worship will become clear to her, where
+she too will lisp the monotonous chant to the glory of the gods, and
+sink her baby soul in meditation. True, there is a printed curriculum
+on the wall, which says that Sanskrit, Bengali, Moral Text-Books and
+Arithmetic are to be studied in six classes, but what matter! The
+effort which these subjects entail is ever and anon relieved by
+worship, and by the cooking which is part of worship. Then there is the
+picture of Saraswati Devi,[86] on whom “as the Wonder of all Wisdom
+one meditateth in the third watch of the night,” and three hundred
+babies ranging from three to eight years of age will daily sway their
+little bodies before her in the morning _puja_.[87] What musical
+drill is in the Kindergarten so is _puja_ to the Patshala pupils.
+There is a special prize for the best performer of _puja_--a
+sari and a silver pin for every little _Kumari_[88] who has
+honoured the school with her presence. The teachers are mostly elderly
+pandits, to whom the visit of the Inspectress indicates the desire
+of Government not to improve them, but to copy their most excellent
+methods in the Government schools! Regarded from a Western point of
+view the education is nil; the children can hardly read and write
+their own language, geography and arithmetic are practically absent,
+and there is no attempt to develop the mental faculties; from the
+point of view of the orthodox Hindu, however, it is probably ideal;
+the girls have “the ancient and sacred lore of their country infused
+into them and their lives are modelled after the ideal Hindu female
+characters of old.” Herein lies the real value to the student of
+education: there is no gulf between school and home, and the child’s
+own environment and its hereditary instincts are utilized as a basis,
+but the trouble is that no superstructure is built thereon. Elsewhere
+we have superstructure but no basis. The school has no grant, no fees
+are paid, and the support is entirely obtained from subscriptions from
+the Hindu community. Extensively the influence of these schools is not
+great. There are nominally twenty-three branch schools in Bengal and
+Eastern Bengal, but a branch notified in the report is not always found
+to be in existence. That there is life in the movement is seen by the
+fact that the present Head, the Srimati Mataji, undertook a tour in the
+Mofussil and districts to organize branches. “She was everywhere well
+received, and there was evident sense of relief and sympathy of the
+public in the cause of female education under the Mahakali system.”[89]
+To behold orthodox Hinduism sending a woman on tour in the interests
+of education is indeed to realise the Renaissance of the East! But
+“relief” from what? Is it from the non-religious character of the
+Government system?
+
+The third and most potent factor in the educational situation is the
+missionary one. As this was the first in the field one would expect
+their work to be more highly developed, and it must also be remembered
+that the Brāhma-Samāj is an indirect fruit of the leavening of
+Christian education. The doctrine of equal opportunity for man and
+woman is seen at work in the comparative religious statistics of girls
+at school.
+
+ Primary 5,360 Indian Christians to 126,897 Non-Christians.
+
+ Middle 1,382 Indian Christians to 1,430 Non-Christians.
+
+ High 448 Indian Christians to 667 Non-Christians.
+
+As the returns of the Bengal census[90] show only 319,384 Christians
+in a total population of 52,668,269, these figures referring to their
+daughters’ education are striking. The aim of Christian education is
+twofold, the building up of the Christian community so that ultimately
+the Indian Church may be a strong social factor, and the education
+of non-Christians with a view to influencing them either directly or
+indirectly in favour of Christianity. These two aims are combined in
+most mission-work except in the case of most of the girls’ Boarding
+schools where a non-Christian girl is naturally the exception. Of the
+eleven High schools for Indian girls in the Province, six are under
+mission management and two varying types may be noticed.
+
+The Diocesan High school--a Government-aided institution for girls
+under the management of the Clewer Sisters, has the reputation of being
+the best girls’ school in Calcutta. The reason for this is easy to
+discover in the personality of its Principal, Sister Mary Victoria,
+whose aristocratic idealism (if the words may be combined) determines
+the tone of the whole school. In India the personal element counts for
+everything, and without it, the best of institutions and Government
+plans are unavailing. Sister Mary Victoria and her English staff are
+constantly with the girls and when the school was first started they
+took their meals with the boarders until a tradition of manners was
+established. The school is well staffed with trained teachers both
+English and Indian, the former predominating. An English lady also
+who is interested in the school comes regularly to teach brushwork.
+There is an excellent College Department. The Government curriculum is
+followed, and in addition systematic religious instruction is given
+to all pupils. The ideal of this school is not, however, success in
+examinations only and their shadow does not lie heavily. As a small
+pupil remarked to the writer: “There are lots of girls in our school
+who don’t love examinations, but who do love school.” The pupils are
+drawn from various ranks and creeds; the boarders are mostly Christian,
+and the majority of the day scholars Hindu and Brāhma. The leading
+Indian families in Calcutta send their girls here, and to the Loretto
+Convent,[91] rather than to the Bethune School because of the personal
+contact with English ladies. The daily religious lesson is not felt
+as a deterrent in any way. It is curious to watch these girls drive
+up to the school in handsome carriages and to realize that they are
+only paying two shillings and eight pence a month for a really first
+class education. Many of the richer parents give donations as well,
+but the fee is kept low for the sake of the poorer. These fees and the
+Government grant practically cover the working expenses of the school
+apart from the support of the English staff. There are no separate
+schools for the wealthier classes worked on a system of full payment,
+partly because poverty is not so much a cause of separation in India as
+in Britain and partly because there is not a sufficient number of girls
+ready for higher education who could and would pay fees that would
+cover expenses. Taken as a whole the fees in mission schools are higher
+than in Government institutions.
+
+Of a somewhat different and more usual type is the United Free Church
+High school, it exists almost entirely for the girls of this and other
+missions who enter it as boarders from the country; the school is thus
+predominantly Christian and has little contact with Indian life. Of 122
+scholars about 90 are boarders, and accommodation is being built for
+more. The day scholars are mostly in the lower classes. The education
+given is exceedingly thorough, and if the whole curriculum ending with
+a teachers’ diploma is taken it ensures a girl a good post either
+in Government or mission service. There is no College Department,
+but a special feature since 1889 is the excellent Normal course from
+which most satisfactory results have been obtained. Miss Whyte may be
+rightly considered the pioneer of efficient training for teachers in
+Bengal. The Government curriculum is followed, and in addition the
+customary Biblical instruction is given. The school suffers from two
+drawbacks customary to all of its type, the lack of space and the
+“Westernization” of the pupils. Situated in one of the most crowded
+parts of the city, the buildings resemble a huge bee-hive packed with
+class rooms and dormitories and redeemed only by the glorious flat roof
+so characteristic of life in Calcutta. Below is a pathetically small
+playground where the boarders walk or read or play, in so far as the
+latter is natural to Indian girls. A splendid effort has been made by
+the staff to bring the girls into contact with nature and the historic
+monuments of India in order to counteract the cramping influence of the
+surroundings. One year a large party of teachers and former and present
+pupils visited Agra and Delhi, the wonder and glory of which opened
+a new field of thought and imagination to the Bengali girls. Another
+year the whole school was transferred for a short time to Deoghur. The
+material obtained on these expeditions served as a basis for nature
+study throughout the term. The students and elder girls are also
+taken once a year for a short mission tour, which serves not only to
+enlarge their horizon, but also emphasizes the primary purpose of the
+school. In spite, however, of the energy and originality of the staff
+in organizing these expeditions, the atmosphere of the school remains
+very much that of an ordinary secondary school in Scotland and has no
+distinctively Indian note. “Atmosphere” and curriculum are mutually
+dependent and their relationship is a problem that does not affect
+mission schools only. As a whole the mission High schools are doing a
+splendid work and their growing influence in the community is to be
+noted in the fact that occasionally Brāhma-Samāj and even Hindu girls
+are found amongst their boarders.
+
+ [Illustration: Four Scholarship Girls. United Free Church Mission
+ School for Hindus, Calcutta]
+
+The Middle schools, teaching up to Standard V., have adopted the
+sound policy of excluding English, the object being to give a sound
+vernacular training to such children as will never have the chance of
+getting High school education. “It is these schools which supply the
+bulk of pupils to our training schools for mistresses, and as such
+their importance in our system of female education in this country
+is very great.”[92] The strong point of the mission schools, both
+Middle and Primary, is that they are under the direct and constant
+supervision of European workers. In one mission visited, all the Indian
+teachers were Christians and had had Normal training, and the schools
+were constantly visited by a lady holding the highest educational
+certificates. This is not the case everywhere, but it is the ideal
+aimed at. A mission Primary school is a pleasant place full of promise
+and of future possibilities. Shadow and sunshine are mingled, but
+on the whole the sunshine predominates.
+
+Take for example one in the vicinity of Calcutta--an old one-storied
+dwelling-house off a village lane, which skill has converted into a
+passable four-roomed school, with a sandy patch of ground used for
+drill and occasional geography lessons. There are about 120 children
+from five to eight years of age, the infant department is evidently
+looked upon as a sort of crêche by the village, for there are eighty
+babies sitting in solemn rows on the matting, but as soon as a girl
+becomes useful or marriageable she is withdrawn. Presiding over this
+happy family are three white-saried Christian girls, only one of
+whom has been trained as a teacher. The girl with the eighty pupils
+has only been as far as Standard III. herself; she is however making
+a loyal effort; the babies pass their wooden boards with very tidy
+hieroglyphics for inspection, but the impossibility of it all makes one
+wonder if a Government grant is wisely given. The Head-mistress lends
+a kindly eye, but her attention is centred on Standard III. with its
+five select girls; this is the last year of Christian influences and
+these girls are being taught something not in the Government Code. They
+are bright and intelligent and the short Scripture lesson is enlivened
+by plenty of question and answer. Once a fortnight or once a week the
+school will be visited by an English lady, who will plan, supervise
+and if needful, give a model lesson. She has eight schools of this
+type under her personal superintendence, and her visits are the pivot
+on which they turn. A good Government grant is given; the Code for
+vernacular Primary schools is followed, and as there is no competition
+the work is warmly welcomed by the Hindu community. The mission Primary
+schools hold their own in the educational system; of thirty-eight money
+prizes given by Government to Calcutta girls’ Primary schools, all but
+three were won by mission pupils. The special characteristics of the
+missionary contribution to the educational problem, as a whole, are the
+presence of fully qualified European workers, who enter the educational
+sphere at salaries which no Government servant would accept, and the
+development of Normal work on scientific principles.
+
+This review of the three agencies at work leads to the general
+consideration of some of the main problems which underlie the types
+and organization described, and which affect the educational outlook;
+the supply of teachers, the character of Secondary education, the
+development of Primary education and the co-ordination of the whole.
+The most crucial is undoubtedly that concerning the teacher.
+
+The school career of the Bengali girl is limited at present in the
+large majority of cases to only four or five years, and there is thus
+no time for the teacher to waste. If education is to commend itself
+at all to the real India (as distinct from “Babudom”) it must be of
+the very best type. The Government realize this and are putting forth
+every effort to procure trained teachers, but whence are the students
+to be obtained, and who is to train them? The unquestioned future for
+every Hindu and Moslem girl is matrimony and it is therefore only from
+amongst those who have been widowed in childhood that teachers can
+be drawn. But in spite of all that has been written and said on this
+subject the necessary education is still denied to them, by religion,
+custom, and prejudice. In the Hindu Female Training School in Calcutta,
+started by Government to surmount some of the initial prejudice in
+regard to the training of “_parda-nashin_” women, there are only
+seven pupils. They are all widows of above sixteen years and though
+they are not admitted unless, when children, they have been through
+the fourth standard, their brains have remained fallow for six years
+and the problem of their training is a difficult one. In the only
+other Government institution for non-Christians there are at present
+thirteen Moslems and nine Hindus, and many of them have to be taught
+reading and writing as well as the art of teaching. It will thus be
+seen that though the ultimate solution of the dearth of teachers may
+be found in the utilization of the young widows, public opinion will
+have to undergo a considerable change before it is possible.[93]
+From the Brāhma-Samāj community more is to be expected, and though
+the Brāhma-Samāj Training Class in Calcutta is not at present in a
+flourishing condition, they certainly contribute a fair proportion
+of teachers. It is, however, from the Christian community that the
+teachers are chiefly drawn, and efforts are being made to secure their
+efficient training. Of the sixteen Training Institutions in Bengal
+thirteen are under mission management, and of 192 Indian pupils, 175
+are Christian. A wholesome sign of the growing spirit of unity is the
+amalgamation of the training classes of four missions in Calcutta into
+one Christian Normal Training College with an excellent staff and a
+good modern equipment. So far it is only for mistresses who are to
+teach in the vernacular. Even with the large contribution of Christian
+teachers, the demand immensely exceeds the supply. Even before her
+examination there is hardly one of the candidates who has not secured
+a good post. They are in demand in the first instance for mission
+schools, in Brāhma-Samāj and non-sectarian institutions, and in Hindu
+and Model Primary schools. “The fact that they are Christians in a
+large number of cases is not considered a bar to their employment.”[94]
+The inference for missionary societies is obvious--that to supply
+all the girls’ schools of Bengal with teachers of strong Christian
+character would contribute much to the coming of the Kingdom of God.
+As regards the type of training given, the drawback is the fact that,
+like the Code, it is too Western. A solution may probably be found if
+the British educators are allowed to supplement their home-training by
+further studies on the spot, before undertaking work--a slower process
+but a surer one. Secondary training is yet to be developed both by
+missions and by Government. One Indian teacher has taken her degree of
+Bachelor of Teaching from a Mission school, but this is an isolated
+instance.
+
+The relation of the statistics of Higher education to Primary is
+striking; only 11% of the girls at school are beyond the stage of
+just being able to read and write, while only 319 girls in the whole
+province are beyond the Middle stage. An immediate question is, How
+to retain the girls in the higher classes. Social and religious
+considerations weigh heavily here, as in the problem of the supply
+of teachers, but another influence may be, as elsewhere, the nature
+of the curriculum. This question has underlain much of the previous
+discussion, and is wide and far-reaching in its scope. Indian education
+must have its own “Paradise”; the acme of Western civilization ought
+not to be reproduced in India, if diversity and not uniformity is
+the higher law. There is something lacking if the Mahakali committee
+speak of a “feeling of relief” in an escape from Government education,
+and some compromise is surely possible between their system and that
+of the Anglicized Boarding School. Destructive criticism is easy and
+there is plenty of it in Indian educational circles. On the one hand,
+the mission authorities say that they are bound by the hard and fast
+rules of the Code which conditions their grant, on the other, there is
+a great deal more liberality and elasticity in the Government policy
+than is commonly imagined, and a really well thought-out curriculum on
+new lines would probably not mean the forfeiture of a grant. It is true
+that schools which vary from the type recognized at home are not aided
+by Government, but the Indian situation is different and it is probably
+for the good of the whole system that they should be under Government
+supervision and receive the impetus which comes from sharing in the
+educational scheme. Here is the opportunity for private enterprise and
+initiative; with co-operation on the part of the missionary societies
+in Calcutta it would surely be possible to remove one of their girls’
+High schools to the country and to give a practical demonstration of
+what modern education on Indian lines might mean. This would be no
+easy task and could only be accomplished by a staff who had intimately
+studied the conditions of Indian life and thought. This would be the
+most effectual “constructive criticism.”
+
+ [Illustration: Standards I. to IV. United Free Church Mission School
+ for Hindus, Calcutta]
+
+The extension of Primary education is a crucial problem throughout
+India; here in Bengal 95% of girls of school age are absolutely outside
+the educational pale. The wonder is, considering the inveterate
+indifference of the majority of parents and guardians to female
+education, even when it is freely given, that any progress is made at
+all. On the one hand there is the question whether it is advisable to
+encourage it too warmly, when the available supply of trained teachers
+is so disproportioned to the need; on the other, the multiplication of
+schools and the acceptance of female education by public opinion would
+create a condition more favourable to the ready supply of teachers.
+The new Code for Primary schools introduced in 1910, which is in accord
+with modern educational principles, may prove more attractive than the
+former. Finance is an important matter. Many villages are too poor
+to maintain separate _pathshalas_ for their daughters; there are at
+present 69,000 girls in boys’ Primary schools as against 75,000 in
+Primary schools for girls only. The result is that in these villages
+the stricter castes do not send their girls to school and even the
+others are withdrawn after the infant stage. In the Secondary schools
+in the cities many girls who can well afford to pay are enjoying a
+first-class education for two shillings and eightpence a month at
+the expense of Government and missionary societies. This looks as
+if a re-adjustment of funds might increase the Primary statistics.
+Here again is an unlimited sphere for private enterprise; the mission
+school for girls only, staffed by Indian women teachers under European
+supervision is welcome and sure of success. The system of Zenana
+teaching both by missionaries and Government teachers is, as in Eastern
+Bengal, of great use in breaking down prejudice, and though apparently
+slow and costly work, it is invaluable.
+
+It might possibly prove to be for the good of the whole system if some
+small central Board or consultative committee were formed to promote
+co-operation in the development of future plans between the Government
+and the various private enterprises.
+
+The future of female education in Bengal is partly a question of
+administration, partly that of a greater number of European educators
+in sympathy with the genius of the country, partly that of a reformed
+curriculum, but more fundamentally it is a question of religious
+evolution.
+
+
+
+
+ VI
+
+ INTERESTING INSTITUTIONS IN THE UNITED PROVINCES AND PANJĀB
+
+ “The world exists in order to grow souls under the eyes of a patient,
+ tireless, yearning Teacher.”
+ From _Hindustan Review_.
+
+
+It is not proposed to give in this chapter a detailed account of
+general organization and of the forces at work. There is a definite
+similarity in the system of administration throughout all India,
+though it varies in its adaptation to indigenous institutions: one
+policy underlies missionary efforts, though they differ remarkably in
+the personal factor; the new Indian spirit is everywhere more or less
+articulate. But it is worth while to lay emphasis on certain phases of
+the problem of female education in the United Provinces, and on certain
+institutions in the Panjāb which are typical of the complexity of the
+situation, or present unique characteristics.
+
+In the Quinquennial Survey the United Provinces occupy an
+unsatisfactory position at the bottom of the list of comparative
+percentages, showing only 1.2 per cent. of girls of school-going age
+at school. This percentage has, however, risen in 1910 to 1.33, and
+the total number of institutions has increased from 1,067 to 1,266--a
+creditable advance in the face of the difficulties to be encountered.
+The “impatient idealist” must beware, however, of extravagant hopes
+of transformation in a country where progress must of necessity be
+slow and of an evolutionary nature. Under more stringent inspection
+and regulation, the rapid advance in the early part of the decade
+has proved to a certain extent fictitious, and due to an over-hasty
+desire on the part of the educational authorities to move with the
+times. Local committees had apparently started schools for which there
+was no demand and for which they were unable to procure teachers.
+One Inspectress reports that in some cases, on a surprise visit, no
+teacher was found at all; in others, though the teachers were present,
+no work was being done.[95] Artificial efforts to hasten the pace were
+attended only by a spurious success; for example, a capitation grant
+of four annas a month was given in 1906 for every girl attending a
+boys’ school, with a resulting increase of 4000 in the statistics of
+attendance; but a careful inspection and subsequent removal of the
+grant proved that the girls had simply been procured to sit in the
+schoolroom without receiving any attention, and that they left in a
+year or two as ignorant as when they entered it. Quite possibly some
+of the annas had found their way into the pockets of the parents who
+had been so obliging as to lend their girls. The latest statistics
+show a drop of 3000 in the total number of female scholars, but this
+is entirely among the girls attending boys’ schools, and is due to the
+more efficient administration. The slight increase in the Secondary
+schools and in the girls’ Primary schools is a sign of genuine
+progress and may be welcomed as such. The policy of the Government
+is one of slow advance after careful investigation and enlistment of
+local co-operation. About the year 1907, every District Officer was
+instructed to form a special committee to watch over the interests of
+girls’ education in his district, and some of these committees have
+done excellent work, while others have been baffled by the difficulties
+to be faced and by lack of funds. Others, again, as indicated
+above, have tended to make haste too quickly. The fact that Indian
+non-Christian men of good social position have been found willing to
+serve on these committees is an indication of general advance and of
+growing sympathy with every effort for enlightenment and reform.[96]
+
+As regards Inspectresses, the United Provinces are better staffed at
+present than any other province excepting possibly Madras, and yet
+the overwork is no less, for the districts are very large, and in
+many cases the schools are quite inaccessible to the woman traveller.
+But in a country where _parda_ is strict, and where registers
+may only represent fictitious girls, and where moreover the work of
+the Inspectress is much needed for the stimulus and sympathy she can
+give, the system well repays the necessary expense, and will probably
+admit of yet further expansion. An effort is also being made to
+secure voluntary co-operation on the part of both English and Indian
+ladies who are willing and able to help. One Indian lady has given a
+great deal of her time to the inspection of the Government Primary
+schools in her district; another lady, a missionary with exceptional
+qualifications, is secretary of a local educational committee.
+
+ +TABLE OF SCHOOLS FOR INDIAN GIRLS IN THE UNITED PROVINCES.+[97]
+
+ +-----------------------------------------+--------------------+
+ | +UNDER | +UNDER |
+ | PUBLIC MANAGEMENT. |PRIVATE MANAGEMENT.+|
+ +-----------------------+----------+------+---------+----------+
+ | | Local or|Native | | |
+ | Government. |Municipal|States.| Aided. | Unaided. |
+ | | Branch. | | | |
+ +----------------+------+---------+-------+---------+----------+
+ |High Schools | .. | .. | .. | 6 | .. |
+ | | | | | | |
+ |Middle-- | | | | | |
+ | English | .. | 1 | .. | 18 | 4 |
+ | Vernacular | .. | .. | .. | 7 | .. |
+ | | | | | | |
+ |Primary | 5 | 355 | .. | 499 | 17 |
+ | | | | | | |
+ |Training Schools| 1 | .. | .. | 7 | 3 |
+ +----------------+------+---------+-------+---------+----------+
+ | | 58 | 356 | .. | 537 | 24 |
+ +----------------+------+---------+-------+---------+----------+
+
+The problem of finding teachers is even more acute here than elsewhere.
+It seems hardly credible that a teacher could be found in regular
+employment who was unable to write words of three letters to dictation,
+yet such is a recorded fact. Her ignorance had been concealed by
+a memorized knowledge of the Koran. Of sixty-two Primary schools
+sanctioned by Government in 1909 it has only been possible to open
+twenty-one because of the entire lack of teachers with even the minimum
+of qualification.
+
+There are two lines of spontaneous Indian effort: the Ārya Samāj,
+whose schools conform to the Government Code and regulations, and
+neo-Hinduism,[98] which has produced Mrs Besant’s school for Indian
+girls at Benares. The Ārya Samāj have a good training school for
+teachers at Dehra Dun, students from which may be found teaching in
+their schools in other parts of India. A High school department has
+recently been added to it, and every effort is being put forth to make
+it a strong educational centre. The school at Benares is in connexion
+with the Hindu Central College, and poses as a definite revolt from
+the anglicizing tendency of Government and mission schools. It
+receives no grant, and as yet has not even applied for inspection. The
+Government is considered to “favour Christian and mission schools,” and
+therefore, though there is the same lack of funds here as elsewhere,
+the promoters will have none of it or its money! Freedom to shape
+their own curriculum is also a dominant motive. To enter the school
+and see over a hundred beautifully dressed Indian girls, almost all
+of the Brahman caste, sitting in groups of six or seven, on bright
+carpets, the class-rooms well separated in the spacious airy building,
+was certainly to feel that here one might find a solution of the
+curriculum problem and a constructive theory of Indian education. “A
+training in conduct and religion is what Indians, as a rule, value
+most for their women--the work for those going beyond the rudiments is
+too bookish in character.”[99] Here the teachers are free to saturate
+the instruction throughout with the ethical elements of a religion
+acceptable to the parents, to edit their own text-books, to emphasize
+the study of the vernaculars and Indian classics without the strain
+of examinations. The pupils stay longer than in other schools: many
+“married” girls of fifteen and sixteen years are in the upper forms.
+One particularly bright child of fourteen told us she was to be there
+for four years while her husband studied in England. Thus there is
+time really to influence the character and mind of the girls. Yet, on
+analysis, from the purely educational point of view the school was
+distinctly disappointing. As regards the staff, the Head-mistress, an
+English lady, claimed no knowledge of the vernacular, and though her
+intercourse with the girls seemed most cordial and sympathetic, it
+was necessarily limited, and still more limited was her knowledge of
+their studies. An American with the degree of B.Sc., a Brahman, wife
+of one of the College professors, who had been educated in a convent,
+three mission-taught girls, and sundry other teachers of a nondescript
+character, completed the number. English was taught throughout, from
+class III. upwards, and used as a medium of instruction in classes VI.
+and VII., but the degree of fluency of the girls therein seemed hardly
+to justify this method. Many of the ordinary text-books were in use,
+and except for the moral catechisms and some stress laid on Indian art
+and Hinduism in the drawing lessons, the difference of the curriculum
+seemed more theoretical than actual. The theories are, however,
+suggestive, and when traced to the basal thought that education must
+be founded on the hereditary instinct and natural environment of the
+child they are not in reality revolutionary but compatible with the
+constructive system and ideals of the Christian religion.
+
+ [Illustration: The Isabella Thoburn College, Lucknow]
+
+The Crosthwaite High School at Allahabad shows possibilities of a
+different nature. It was started privately in Lucknow city some
+eighteen years ago by a committee of Indian gentlemen and Government
+officials, and was afterwards removed for the sake of a larger site
+and fresher air. A long, low, roomy building, with deep verandahs,
+forms the central school, with two hostels attached to it, in one of
+which twenty Moslem girls were residing, in the other six Hindus. A
+considerable number of day pupils, without restriction as to creed,
+are drawn from Allahabad. Tuition and conveyance for day pupils are
+given free, but the charge for boarders meets the cost. The Government
+Code is followed throughout, and the knowledge of English, tested by
+recitation and questioning on subject-matter, seemed of a thorough
+quality. The school illustrated in miniature most of the usual
+problems. It was marvellous that Moslem girls of really good family
+should have been allowed to come to a boarding-school, some from far
+distant States, and there was a certain pathos in the sight of them
+being taught by any kind of woman who had “learnt to read and write
+at home,” and who in some cases might almost have been their ayah.
+This description applies only to the lower forms, but in these classes
+girls are at the most formative age, and many would not stay for the
+whole course. One teacher of this type was actually engaged in nursing
+her baby while giving an arithmetic lesson, and one wondered which of
+the two suffered more--the lesson or the baby! The Head-mistress was
+a young Indian Christian graduate from the Isabella Thoburn College,
+full of energy and enthusiasm for what seemed so difficult a task. She
+herself had to take three lessons a day, which left little leisure for
+the superintendence of the lower school with its double vernacular
+(Hindi and Urdu) standards throughout. A similar position in a school
+at home would have been occupied by a much older woman with many years’
+experience of life. A question as to the religious teaching given
+elicited the following reply: “The Mohammedan teacher has her own
+girls; I teach the few Christians, and the Hindus look after their own
+bathings!” There is no question here of Indianizing the curriculum.
+
+In turning to the specifically Christian institutions, it has again to
+be noted that the missionaries have been the pioneers of education,
+that an overwhelming proportion of the aided schools are under their
+management, and that a creditable proportion of Christian girls in the
+High stages (552 out of 759 Indian girls) is maintained. No account of
+women’s education in India would be complete without a full description
+of the Isabella Thoburn College, or, as it is called throughout the
+Northern provinces, the “Lal Bagh” (Rose Garden). From a tiny beginning
+in 1870 as a bazaar school in Lucknow, with half a dozen Christian
+girls, it has grown by successive stages to a splendidly equipped
+collegiate institution, the portals of which may be entered by a
+child as a tiny “rosebud” for the Kindergarten, and from whence the
+full-blown B.A. may emerge some sixteen years later. The College and
+its latest additions stand as a memorial to two strong personalities,
+Isabella Thoburn, the founder, and Lilavati Singh, whose early death
+in 1909, when Vice-Principal of the College, removed one of the Indian
+leaders of women’s education. The ideals after which they strove and
+the spirit of passionate sacrifice for others which dominated their
+lives form a strong tradition in the school. The American sense of
+community life which enters so markedly into their schools and colleges
+has been transferred with wise adaptation to the Indian environment;
+and the former pupils of the “Lal Bagh,” scattered throughout India,
+are still under the glamour of their school days and are working
+out its inspiration. Self-government in all that regards the common
+interest is the rule of the College and Normal departments, and the
+same principle is being slowly established in the High school in the
+hope of developing the sense of responsibility so greatly needed in
+the Indian character. The girls are practically all Christian, but
+occasionally a non-Christian girl is found taking advantage of the
+splendid education which she could obtain nowhere else. The Zenana
+school, opened in 1909, is attended by some Hindu and Mohammedan girls
+desirous of a simple course with domestic science, and it is expected
+that this department will gradually increase. There is also a special
+hostel for Hindu or Mohammedan girls which has not yet been much
+utilized. The staff consists of seven or eight American graduates and
+about fifteen Indian teachers, some of whom are graduates also. There
+are no untrained teachers. This proportion in a school of some 200
+pupils, and a College and Normal department of about 40, is refreshing
+after other institutions, but it in no way satisfies the standard of
+efficiency aimed at by the directors. The Normal department is of
+special importance, as teachers are supplied from it to all parts of
+Northern India. No student is admitted to the senior course who has not
+passed the Matriculation or equivalent examination, and the Government
+Report testifies to the thoroughness of the training given. A lower
+qualification is accepted for the Kindergarten course. The Government
+Code is followed throughout, and there is thus no question of an
+experimental curriculum on Indian lines. The College is under a Board
+of Directors which includes two prominent Indian gentlemen, and is in
+connexion with the American Methodist Mission.
+
+The Church Missionary Society has an excellent boarding-school for
+Christian girls at Benares with about 100 pupils. The central schools
+for the Christian community form a very important part of the work
+of any mission, and it is entirely due to them that the creditable
+percentage of Christian girls in the Secondary stages is maintained.
+Where a Normal department can be added, their influence on the
+non-Christian community and on the general educational situation
+is very marked. Unfortunately some mission committees have still a
+tendency to appoint a pupil to a post too soon, and the numbers are
+not as large as they might be. The Benares class has at present nine
+students who entered it with Middle Anglo-Vernacular qualifications;
+its special feature, in addition to the ordinary subjects, is an
+experimental attempt to give some conception of the Hindu environment
+of religious thought to the students. The Indian Christian of the
+second or third generation tends to be totally isolated in idea and
+thought from other Indians, and this tendency is often accentuated
+in mission schools. It is therefore exceedingly important that those
+who are to influence Hindu life as teachers in mission or Government
+schools should, in the course of their training, form some clear and
+correct conception of the religious environment of their future pupils.
+Experimental work of this type should prove most useful in any future
+developments of Normal training which missionary societies may be
+contemplating.
+
+There is throughout a pleasant spirit of co-operation between the
+various educational missionaries, and between them and the Government
+authorities. There is a Missionary Educational Union for the Province
+which the Inspectresses attend officially. An annual Teachers’
+Conference is held in February, and it is probable that in the future
+co-operation may pass from theory to actual fact in the development of
+further work. A striking lack in the missionary contribution is the
+absence of any school of really first-class character for non-Christian
+girls, such as exist in Bombay and Calcutta. The educational work
+for boys has been fully developed, but the parallel opportunity for
+girls which the changing times have created has yet to be seized. It
+may be argued that the Isabella Thoburn school has arrangements for
+non-Christian girls, but even in these changing times there are few
+non-Christians who would be willing to risk their daughters in a
+boarding-school among such an overwhelming number of Christian girls,
+whereas first-class schools starting fresh with no tradition would be
+sufficiently in touch with the new movement to attract pupils by their
+sheer efficiency. In this direction and in the training of teachers the
+standard must be set by the missionary authorities if their reputation
+as pioneers is to be maintained.
+
+The situation in the Panjāb differs again only in degree. While there
+has been no ebb in the increasing tide of pupils--an increase of 1328
+in 1909, and of 3732 in 1910, making a present total of over 42,000
+girls under instruction--the problem of administration and inspection
+in a strictly _parda_ country is as difficult as elsewhere, and there
+are stories of the inefficiency of the teachers which surpass even
+those told of other provinces. The municipalities vary greatly in
+their enthusiasm for the education of girls--Amritsar, for instance,
+being well supplied with thirty-five girls’ schools, whereas Lahore
+has only one of this type. The missions have as elsewhere the system
+of boarding-schools for Christian girls, and carry on extensive work,
+chiefly of a Primary nature, among non-Christians of all races and
+creeds. Occasionally a non-Christian girl is found in a Christian
+boarding-school. Some of these schools are specially commended by the
+Inspectress for their teaching in domestic economy and sewing. “The
+Sialkot boarding-school divides the children into families of twelve
+girls who each do their own cooking, washing, and housework, even the
+little ones helping.”[100] St. Stephen’s Girls’ School (S. P. G.) has
+a special lace department where any girl who wishes to learn English
+may earn the money to pay the requisite fee. The lace produced is of
+a marketable quality, and not of the type which passes from bazaar
+to bazaar in Great Britain. The work of the Kinnaird Girls’ High
+School, Lahore, is similar to that of the Bombay school[101] under the
+auspices of the same society (Z. B. M. M.). It is intended mainly for
+Indian Christian girls, but contains a certain proportion of others.
+The average age of leaving is about sixteen. Its training class is of
+special interest. Women students in the Panjāb are allowed to take the
+Junior Anglo-Vernacular training after matriculation, though, in the
+case of men the same examination is open only to graduates. In spite of
+this the girls generally stand fairly high in the lists, one of them
+recently taking the second place. The class, however, averages only
+some five students, though the school has over 160 girls. There is
+another excellent High school for Indian non-Christian girls in Lahore
+under the superintendence of an Indian Christian lady.
+
+ [Illustration: Church Missionary Society, Middle School,
+ Amritsar.--Hoop Drill]
+
+Here, too, slowly but surely, the voice of Young India is making itself
+heard in a new desire and a new effort. Lawyers, doctors, Government
+servants, are seeking for their wives and daughters an education
+which, if not equal to their own, will a least be a sufficient
+compromise between the old status and the new ideas to which they give
+utterance from public platforms and in the press. The reform sects,
+notably the Ārya Samāj, are ready with a definite educational policy
+of their own. They have a special orphanage at Ferozepore, and a
+considerable number of schools; the Dev Samāj, a new rallying-point,
+has two or more schools; there is a Sikh boarding-school near Amritsar;
+and, “in opposition to these reforming Hindu societies, at least one
+orthodox Hindu girls’ school has been opened lately. Whether the
+activity of the reformers will force the orthodox Hindus to take
+an interest in girls’ education and to start a network of schools
+in opposition remains to be seen.”[102] The Maharani of Burdwar is
+noted for her efforts in this direction, and her schools, the Vedic
+Putri Pathshala and the Khatri Girls’ School at Lahore, both aim at
+having High departments. Absolutely unique in its aim, management,
+and curriculum is the Victoria May Girls’ High School, Lahore, now
+known as Queen Mary College. The idea of establishing a High school
+for Indian girls of good family was put forward by certain Indian
+ladies at the _parda_ party held in honour of the visit of the then
+Princess of Wales in November 1905, and the possibility of putting
+this proposal into effect was attained by the munificence of certain
+leading Native States in the Panjāb. The school is under the management
+of five leading Indian gentlemen representing different creeds, and
+of two of the highest officials in the Province. Its curriculum is,
+so far as the writer’s experience extends, the only one in which a
+definite constructive theory has been put forth for the education of
+Indian girls on such lines as combine excellent modern education with
+training suitable to their future environment.[103] Its ideals are
+defined in the following extract from the prospectus. “The proposed
+education is to be first and foremost womanly, therefore pupils will
+not be prepared for Matriculation until alternative courses of study
+suitable for girls be framed by the Education Department. The Indian
+ideals of self-sacrificing motherhood and simplicity of life will be
+held sacred, and the education given, while conducted on the best
+modern methods, seeks in every way to guard the ideal of the Indian
+wife in her home. For this reason the curriculum includes lessons on
+the care of children’s health, simple remedies for ordinary illnesses,
+‘first aid,’ invalid cookery, and science as applied to the home, in
+the shape of the elementary laws of sanitation, ventilation, etc.”
+Great attention is paid to the vernaculars and to the beautiful
+Oriental scripts. Advanced pupils may study Persian or Sanskrit. A
+speciality is made of colloquial English, but there is no study of it
+as advanced literature. Moral instruction is given from the beautiful
+stories and poems of all religions, no sacred book being excluded, and
+is as effective as can be in an institution necessarily limited in
+its religious life and instruction. A great effort is being made to
+attract pupils from the families whose sons attend the Chiefs’ College
+in Lahore; six or eight special suites of rooms are being reserved for
+rajahs’ daughters and their necessary attendants, in new buildings
+attached to the Principal’s house, and such facilities may do much to
+break down the barrier which has hitherto separated these classes from
+modern education. This school may serve not only as an inspiration
+to its actual pupils, but may have a reflex influence on the whole
+scheme of education. For instance, a course of lectures has recently
+been started in connection with it to demonstrate to Indian ladies the
+real needs of local girls’ schools, and to induce them to act where
+possible as helpers and advisers. To turn what has hitherto proved an
+obstructive force into a definitely constructive one would surely be an
+excellent policy.
+
+The Land of the Five Rivers has ever been a land of romance and of
+stirring life, and the modern movement for the enlightenment of its
+woman-kind has still the same elements, and is full of the promise of
+the future.
+
+
+
+
+ VII
+
+ SIDELIGHTS ON SOME NATIVE STATES
+
+ “Vulgarity is unknown in India. This alone is education and of the
+ highest order. Reading and writing are minor to it.”
+ From the _Indian Ladies’ Magazine_.
+
+
+To the student of Indian problems the Native States present in many
+cases a survival of former conditions which elsewhere have been swept
+away under the more direct influence of British rule; in others freedom
+from the criticism to which an alien rule is liable has allowed
+advanced rulers to experiment on the most modern lines. The term
+“Native State” is itself capable of very diverse interpretation.[104]
+There are in all about seven hundred districts so-called, with a total
+population of over 62 million, and varying in size from the great
+southern State of Hyderabad, with an area of over 82,000 square miles,
+to parcels of land about the size of an average country estate in
+England. The British Government takes direct cognizance of some hundred
+of these in varying degrees of relationship. Some States are entirely
+responsible for their own internal government with a British Resident
+tactfully fulfilling his difficult office; in others the control
+is more direct, under an officer appointed as administrator by the
+Government till such time as the State finances or internal order may
+justify once more the revival of relative independence under an heir
+of the dynastic family. There is thus every variety of ruler, from the
+rajah who holds the time-honoured doctrine of “L’état c’est moi,” and
+whose State recalls the prejudices, barbarities, and general practices
+of the Europe of the Middle Ages, to the virtuous chiefs who strive
+to rule on modern principles of order and justice for the welfare of
+their people. There are rajahs whose women-folk are the strictest of
+_parda-nashin_ and others whose daughters may disport themselves
+in English society at home to their hearts’ content, a curious
+bye-product being the rani who is _parda-nashin_ in her own State
+but not when she comes out into the world abroad.
+
+It is natural that only amongst the more progressive States is any
+opportunity found of studying the question of female education; in
+others even the first beginnings are totally absent. The present
+chapter is in no sense a complete survey, and only offers a few notes
+which may indicate the general trend. It is difficult in many cases to
+obtain exact information, as the British Government are wisely chary
+of giving too much. The official reports, as M. Chailley puts it, wrap
+up blame in velvet and distribute praise with a liberal hand, and a
+letter to a native diwan[105] will not always procure an educational
+report with the same promptitude as it would in British territory.
+There is also the never-to-be-forgotten fact that “All the world’s
+a stage,” and at times the temptation to play a part, to produce a
+semblance of things which speak of progress and yet lack reality, is
+too strong for the Oriental mind. Thus a school housed in a magnificent
+building with four hundred girls on its roll may prove to have less
+than two hundred in daily attendance, though each child is in receipt
+of a monthly “stipend” from the State for the honour of her attendance;
+and “God save the Queen” may be cheerily sung in honour of the beloved
+Empress of whose death all India has not yet heard!
+
+Some of the smaller Native States are closely linked educationally with
+the adjacent British province; the Inspectors visit them, and their
+statistics are included in the Provincial Report. Thus the Quinquennial
+Survey includes over 150,000 square miles of Native State territory,
+chiefly in the Bombay Presidency. In others, with which the Government
+of India maintains direct political relations, the educational policy
+depends entirely on the native ruler, and reflects his personality
+and enthusiasm. A very striking instance of this is Baroda, a small
+state with a population of about two million. A policy of stringent
+reform was inaugurated there about 1875, during the minority of the
+present Gaekwar, and has had its effect on the position of women. Two
+acts, legalizing the re-marriage of widows and raising the marriage
+age to twelve, have marked the tide of progress during the last
+decade. The educational movement dates from 1871, and there is now a
+complete system for boys from free Primary education to scholarships
+in Japanese Universities. The scheme for girls is less ambitious, but
+there are Primary schools in every village, teaching the ordinary
+curriculum up to Standard IV., a fair proportion of Secondary schools
+in which cooking is also taught by the teacher or by a Brahman cook,
+and a central High school in the capital with a Training college
+attached. Any girl of promise can secure a scholarship to it after the
+fourth or fifth Standard, and after a five years’ course is certain
+of employment. The curriculum is very thorough, including astronomy,
+botany, mathematics, and the ordinary Normal course. There are at
+present about fifty students in the college, and a steadily increasing
+stream of applicants. My informant stated that there was no prejudice
+here against widows as teachers, and that even Brahman widows who were
+poorly off had entered the profession. The statistics are of special
+interest as showing the effect of compulsory education within a limited
+area. This experiment was introduced, for the first time in Indian
+history, in one district of Baroda in 1893, and was extended to the
+whole province in 1904. The age for girls is seven to ten, for boys
+from seven to twelve. The numbers in the girls’ case rose from 9% of
+school age at school in 1905 to 47% in 1910--an almost incredible rise
+in comparison with the slow movement in other parts of India. There is
+naturally a good deal to be said as to the wisdom of a policy which
+is so far in advance of the desire of the people. Some are said to be
+flying from Baroda into the adjacent British territory to escape what
+appears to them a meaningless tyranny.[106] The people are very poor
+and heavily taxed; they want the children to work, or to take charge
+of the other children while the women work in the fields. The richer
+parents, again, object to the girls leaving the house, as _parda_
+is fairly strict. There are pathetic tales of school mistresses who,
+in addition to their scholastic duties, must start an hour and a half
+before the appointed time to compel unwilling feet into the path of
+knowledge, and stories of children who manage to arrive half an hour
+before the closing time in order to kindly swell the statistics of
+attendance. Then there is the usual prejudice against the unpractical
+nature of the curriculum, and its slavish similarity to the boys’
+course. But after all discounting of statistics and allowance for
+the undercurrent of revolt, there is evidently a good deal of honest
+educational work being done in Baroda, with some measure of success.
+There is even some talk of creating a Central Women’s Department, where
+special needs might receive full consideration. One Inspectress, a
+Parsi lady, is at present working there, and assistants are shortly to
+be appointed.
+
+In the great Mohammedan State of Hyderabad progress is naturally
+slower. Though the greater proportion of the inhabitants are Hindus,
+the Moslem influence, proceeding from the Nizam’s Court, is the
+predominating one. The Wesleyan and American Baptist missions began
+pioneer work in the Primary education of girls about 1880, and have
+steadily developed it by tactful measures to higher stages. Effort on
+the part of the Government has been made only in recent years, and is
+not yet a very important factor, though the Nizam’s _parda_ school
+at the capital is the beginning of better things. In 1905 there were
+only 4467 girls under instruction out of a population of over eleven
+million![107]
+
+Mysore also owes its first movement towards female education to
+missionary influence. In 1840 the first mission school for girls was
+opened in Bangalore, and in 1868 the first Government school. As
+in other parts of India, girls are to be found in the _hobli_
+or local boys’ school, but the usual difficulties prevent this
+method from being really effective. A great impulse was given to the
+whole enterprise not only in Mysore but in all southern India by
+the establishment, in 1881, of the Maharani’s Girls’ School in the
+capital. The Maharani has also taken a close personal interest in its
+progress. This school, raised to the dignity of a college, ranks
+as a first-class institution; its Head is a student from Newnham
+College, and the rest of the staff has proportional qualifications.
+The education is entirely free, but entrance at first was limited
+only to high-caste families, and its extension now to Christians and
+respectable girls of low caste is under various restrictions. As a
+result the college has done much to break the barrier which exists
+between high-caste women and education. The curriculum includes the
+Kindergarten stage and a department of domestic science. There are
+at present some 400 pupils, including many Brahman widows, who are
+being trained as teachers, and also some former pupils who return to
+complete their course, bringing their children with them. Besides
+this splendid effort in the capital, the Government has encouraged
+the formation of local committees for the development of education in
+the different districts. By 1904 there were 243 girls’ schools and
+colleges, with a creditable percentage of four girls in the hundred at
+school. The London Missionary Society and others have extensive work
+here, and contribute considerably towards these statistics. Probably
+the most striking feature in the educational situation in Mysore is the
+introduction, in 1908, of definite religious teaching in the Government
+schools. This subject is more fully treated in a subsequent chapter.
+
+Next to Baroda, the southern State of Travancore has the highest
+percentage of girls at school, namely, 23.3%. This is largely due to
+the fact that 31% of the population are Christians, and to the thorough
+work of the London Missionary Society; but the present Maharaj stands
+for educational reform, and an official effort is also made for the
+advancement of women. A somewhat similar impetus to that lent by the
+Maharani’s College was given to the education of girls in Travancore
+by the establishment there of the Maharajah’s College for girls under
+a fully qualified English Head-mistress, who has since been succeeded
+by an Indian lady. These two Indian institutions stand out beyond all
+others as examples of progressive native policy on wise lines.
+
+The great group of Rajput States in the heart of which the British
+Government holds under its direct control the key lands of
+Ajmer-Merwara, have a history of romance and chivalry which might
+well have augured a leading place for their women in the modern
+movement, and yet it is just this very chivalry which shields them
+from its touch. The Rajput princesses of the ancient days were no
+pale, languishing maidens. They sallied forth armed and on horseback
+to lead a forlorn hope, or closed the gates of the castle against
+a lord who returned without the spoil of victory from the field.
+When the doom of their tribe was at hand and the Moslem hosts surged
+round the sacred city of Chitore, they passed in solemn procession
+to one common nuptial fire, while their lords perished in the wild
+holocaust of _johār_.[108] What wonder that, where the women
+were of this temper, their husbands and sons were able to defy all
+odds![109] Children of the sun and of the moon with all the glory
+of a mythic ancestry, the Rajputs have held apart from the seeming
+decadence of literary culture. True, there is the story of Jey Singh
+of the one hundred and nine virtues, whose mathematical calculations
+in the seventeenth century rank with those of European scholars, but
+he stands alone and reveals by contrast the prevalent conditions. The
+character of the rulers has thus in modern times influenced educational
+progress amongst their people, though only a very small percentage
+of these are actually of Rajput descent. Alwar was the first State
+to move in 1842, and three years later Jaipur. It was not till some
+twenty years after that any official movement was made on behalf of
+women. The first girls’ school was opened at Bharatpur in 1866,[110]
+but the progress has been very slow with little headway. In 1901 only
+two women out of every thousand could read. In 1905 there were, over
+the whole group of States, only fifty-three girls’ schools, including
+the mission schools, and some of these were in a very poor state of
+efficiency. In Jaipur, which may be taken as the most advanced State
+educationally, the Government supports some eleven schools for girls.
+The principal one of these in the capital is supplied with splendid
+quarters. What money can do apart from personality has been done. The
+school, however, suffers most acutely from the prevailing difficulty
+of an inefficient staff. Some of the assistant teachers themselves are
+barely beyond the stage of being able to read and write, and thus the
+school as a whole lacks the attraction which is necessary to popularize
+education in a community where the hereditary tendency is against it.
+The marvel, however, is not that the school is not thoroughly modern,
+but that it is there at all; and if we remember the rapid strides which
+have been made in other parts of India from even smaller beginnings,
+it augurs well for the future of Jaipur. Mission-work in Native States
+depends greatly on the personal relations which the pioneers succeed
+in establishing with their rulers, and the United Free Church Mission
+has, since its first entrance in 1866 to the Native State of Rajputana,
+been exceedingly tactful in this matter. Its educational work for boys
+has been well developed and has helped very considerably in the general
+advance; on the women’s side a great deal of careful pioneer work has
+been done by means of small schools and zenana-visiting. There are at
+present sixteen of such schools with a total register of four hundred
+in six different States, also in Jaipur and elsewhere there is a
+considerable number of women under regular instruction in the zenanas.
+The efficiency of the schools varies according as they are more or less
+accessible to the regular visitation of an English lady worker. The
+work is entirely Primary as the _parda_ custom is strict, and the
+children are withdrawn at about eight years of age.
+
+ [Illustration: The Alphabet Class, Nasirabad]
+
+The British District of Ajmer-Merwara does not, strictly speaking, fall
+within the purview of this chapter, but as it is essentially the key to
+all Rajasthan, its conditions have a reflex influence on the States,
+and the relation of the educational problems is a very vital one.
+The Government, while upholding the necessity of women’s education,
+is greatly hampered in its efforts by financial considerations. The
+office of Inspectress, held since 1871 by a European lady educated in
+India, lapsed in 1892, and since then there has been no systematic
+effort to train teachers or effectually to supervise and co-ordinate
+the Government and independent schools. There are in all seven
+schools directly maintained by the Government, all of primitive type,
+quartered in rooms and courtyards rented in the bazaar, and of the
+140 pupils only twelve are in the second Standard. The Government
+Report frankly acknowledges the inefficiency of these schools and
+urges the re-appointment of an Inspectress. The energies of the United
+Free Church Mission have been largely devoted in the past decade to
+the education of their famine orphans and the girls of the Christian
+community. Their Girls’ Boarding-School in Nasirabad is a well-equipped
+institution, and Normal work is under consideration.
+
+The tradition of Primary schools for non-Christians, since the first
+was founded in 1862, and of systematic zenana teaching, has been well
+maintained, and there are now about thirteen such with over four
+hundred pupils. There is, however, no really first-class education
+provided for the women of the non-Christian community, nor any attempt
+to meet the educational need of the changed times. The new spontaneous
+element is to be seen in the educational scheme of the Ārya Samāj,
+which has apparently a more religious aspect here than in other
+provinces. They have two schools for girls in Ajmer: one an orphanage
+with twenty-eight pupils under an honorary mistress; another, the Ārya
+Putri Pathshala, is an excellent vernacular Primary school with some
+provision for further instruction. The Head-mistress is a fully trained
+teacher brought from another province, and the school throughout
+showed evidence of order and system. There are over sixty girls on the
+roll, and it seemed in every way the most efficient institution for
+non-Christians in the district. The most striking testimony to the new
+spirit and the new desire for progress was found in a private school
+conducted in her own house by the widow of a former leader of the
+Ārya community. It is true that in Ajmer the saying is still current
+that there cannot be two pens in one house, meaning thereby that to
+educate a girl is either to compass her own death or that of her future
+husband; but here some thirty-five girls, drawn not entirely from the
+Ārya Samāj but also from the leading orthodox castes, came daily at
+their own expense to get such learning as might help to fit them for
+life in its newer aspects. The Head-mistress, who had studied with her
+former husband, was a highly cultured Indian lady with a beautiful and
+attractive grace of manner, full of enthusiasm for her work, but almost
+pathetically conscious of the failure of her school to attain the
+ideals she had set before her. “I know geography ought to be taught but
+I cannot procure a teacher.” “I have never even had an opportunity of
+learning English.” “All my teachers teach for nothing; it is voluntary
+work, and education should not be otherwise.” The school to a large
+extent reflected the personality of the Head. The attendance nearly
+equalled the number on the roll; far from reward being given, any
+children who did not come were fined for absence; several older girls
+were there, including some who were married, and whose husbands were
+away from home also studying. The school is strictly _parda_, for the
+Ārya community itself is only gradually advancing to freedom in this
+respect, and in any case the older pupils from the orthodox families
+would necessitate it. The education given is a thorough grounding in
+the Hindi and Urdu vernacular, with a limited amount of Sanskrit and
+careful instruction in needlework.
+
+The whole situation in Ajmer, taken as an index to the future
+development of the States of Rajasthan, points to the need for the
+establishment there of a first-class girls’ school with an English
+Head-mistress to set the standard for the whole district, and this is
+strongly advocated in the Government Report, without, however, any
+prospect of immediate action. The class from which its pupils would
+be drawn would be at first a limited one, but its presence would to a
+certain extent increase the demand which is slowly but surely coming
+from men who realize the new need, and who know an efficient school
+when they see it.
+
+This very inadequate survey of the conditions in some of the leading
+Native States will have served its purpose if the reader has gathered
+from it that the modern movement for the education of women is felt
+throughout the whole of our vast Indian Empire, varying in degree, but
+commending itself to the best Indian thought of every phase. It is not
+now a question of sporadic missionary effort or of a policy enforced by
+Government, but of a stream which is influencing the life of the people
+with an ever increasing momentum.
+
+
+
+
+ VIII
+
+ BOMBAY
+
+ “The true reformer has not to write on a clean slate. His work is more
+ often to complete the half-written sentence.”
+ --+RANADE.+
+
+
+The problem of women’s education in the Bombay Presidency is to a
+certain extent that of the whole of India in miniature. Nothing is
+better calculated to impress the mind with the variety of races and
+social conditions, the conflicting ideals and different stages of
+progress throughout the whole Indian Empire, than a study of these in
+a smaller area at close quarters. Under the rule of the Governor are
+some 20,000,000 souls,[111] 75% Hindus, 20% Moslem, 1% Jains, rather
+over 1% Christians, and some 81,000 Parsis, whose social influence is
+out of all proportion to their numerical importance; a territory of
+123,000 square miles, embracing the sun-beaten deserts of Sind, the
+fertile plains of Gujerat, the Deccan districts ever subject to the
+spectre of famine, the Carnatic regions with their glorious forests,
+and the low-lying tract below the Ghāts with its well-watered, broad
+reaches of alluvial soil--climates offering almost every variety of
+Indian possibilities except perhaps that of extreme cold. About a third
+of this territory belongs to Native States with a varying relation to
+the Presidency Government, and politically linked, though not strictly
+speaking attached, is the important State of Baroda with its 2,000,000
+inhabitants. Linguistically considered, the province has four main
+languages, Marathi, Gujerati, Kanarese, and Hindi, with numerous linked
+dialects, and English will by no means take you everywhere, as some
+Anglophiles fondly imagine. Like all the rest of India it is a land
+of villages, only 19% of the people living in towns of more than 5000
+inhabitants; a land of child-marriage, only 50% of the girl children
+under ten being unmarried, and a land therefore of young widows. These
+three facts involve a great difficulty in the distribution of schools,
+a brief curriculum, and a dearth of teachers. From a historical point
+of view the province presents stratum upon stratum; early records point
+to an Aryan settlement on the Indus amongst a people of Dravidian
+stock; Persian, Bactrian, and White Hun invasions have left their
+mark, but always the prevailing element is the Hindu--absorbing and
+Hinduizing the successive streams. The peaceful dominance of Asoka[112]
+is felt, and the Buddhist establishments whose records are left in the
+rock caves and temples must have been numerous and far-reaching. There
+are tales of chiefs who honoured alike Siva, Buddha, and Jaina. In the
+seventh century +A.D.+ trade brought the Parsis, a people of a
+book and a faith which still preserves them as a unity. In the eighth
+century came the first wave of the Moslem tide which was destined
+in later centuries to overrun the Deccan. In the fifteenth century
+came the Portuguese in search of “spices and Christians”; there are
+caves to-day where the ruins of Catholic altars lie side by side with
+Buddhist semi-reliefs, mingled with the ever-present Hindu forms and
+figures. The romance of the province, however, lies in the history
+of the Mahrattas, whose forts dominate the frowning eminences of the
+Ghāts, memorials of the gradual consolidation of the scattered Hindu
+chieftains, of prolonged struggle with Delhi, of internal strife, of
+defeat, of victory, until finally a new power from the West came to
+impose the dominance of the Pax Britannica upon the conflicting forces.
+The Presidency assumed something like its present form between 1803 and
+1827, and the history of Western education may be said to begin with
+Mountstuart Elphinstone (1819-1827), in whose Governorship the first
+schools were opened.
+
+The same factors which we found to be present elsewhere, working in
+favour of female education or against it, are felt in the Bombay
+Presidency. In some places, especially in the country districts, there
+is strong opposition to the establishment of any kind of schools at
+all, and most of all to girls’ schools. To the zemindar or villager the
+establishment of a school merely means that educational and revenue
+officers will come round worrying him to support it. The children are
+wanted for work in the fields, and where the margin of subsistence is
+so small it is no wonder that every mite of labour is needed. In sixty
+villages out of every hundred there is no school at all. The women are
+conservative; they have not been educated themselves: why should their
+daughters be educated? Above all it is not _dustūr_ (custom),
+and with that the would-be recruiting agency strikes against a solid
+argument which it will take decades to remove. But to set against this,
+there is the fact that, speaking broadly, it is not a _parda_
+country. Except for the Moslems, who are in considerable minority, and
+a small proportion of the Hindus influenced by tradition and contact
+with Mohammedanism, especially in the district of Sind, the women of
+both high and low caste have a certain degree of freedom, and their
+general position is greatly influenced by the presence of the Parsi
+ladies, who mingle in society very much as do their sisters of the
+West. To see an Indian lady walking on the streets of Bombay is no
+strange sight, as it still is in Calcutta, in spite of the half-shy
+efforts of Christian and Brāhma-Samāj women. The indigenous Indian
+feeling in favour of education is stronger than in the district round
+Calcutta, and there is more of the orthodox element in it. Poona, the
+centre of the Deccan Brahmans and of cultured Hinduism, stands for a
+certain well-defined attitude towards education in which women share.
+The Prabhu Brahmans especially are noted for the many cultured women in
+their ranks; they do not marry young, and as a rule afford almost equal
+opportunity to boys and girls. The Prārthanā Samāj,[113] an unorthodox
+meeting-ground for the “multitudes in the valley of decision,” throws
+its emphasis on women’s education, and the general impression given is
+that, while all educated India has talked about this crucial problem,
+here much honest effort has been made to solve it. It is a very pure
+form of patriotism which leads a Hindu student to give up two hours
+daily of his college time to voluntary teaching in a girls’ High
+school, yet this is by no means rare in Bombay. The Parsi element and
+influence has also been a very potent one. The leading Parsi men in the
+early days spared neither money nor personal trouble, with the result
+that to-day out of 1465 girls receiving higher education, 1054 are
+drawn from the Parsi community, and their contribution to the supply of
+teachers is a very important one.
+
+But this leads us to a detailed study of the early history of the
+movement, and its present conditions in relation to the different
+communities. Owing to the influences described, it is not surprising
+that, at the last Quinquennial Survey, Bombay stood second only to
+Burma in its percentage of girls at school, and a glance at the
+gradually increasing number shows the steady upward progress.
+
+ 1881--1.2 per cent. of girls of school age at school.
+ 1896--3.75 ” ” ” ”
+ 1901--4.74 ” ” ” ”
+ 1907--5.9 ” ” ” ”
+ 1910--7.2 ” ” ” ”
+
+In earlier days it is impossible to get separate figures. Where girls
+shared in education it was incidentally in the boys’ schools, or
+separately in mission schools, and they owed nothing to any special
+effort on their behalf; even to-day 21% of the girls at school are
+studying in boys’ schools. The initial impulse came from Mrs Margaret
+Wilson and other workers of the Scottish Mission, who from 1824
+onwards gradually gathered together a few girls for instruction. The
+first step taken by Indians was due to the Students’ Literary and
+Scientific Society connected with the Elphinstone College in Bombay,
+when five leading Indian members volunteered in 1849 to open schools
+for girls in their own houses. One of these was Mr Dadabhai Nauraji,
+India’s “Grand Old Man,” who may be regarded as the pioneer of women’s
+education in the Presidency, if not in all India, and who still, in his
+eighty-sixth year, advocates their cause by his pen. A description of
+the celebrations in honour of his birthday organized recently by the
+“Gujerati Stri Mandal,” a women’s society founded in 1909 to further
+the educational and social progress of women, may give some idea of
+the distance which has been traversed since these early days. Some
+thousand women in their graceful Indian dresses, diaphanous draperies
+and brilliant jewels, gathered together in a hall which they themselves
+had garlanded and cross-garlanded with sweet-scented wreaths in his
+honour, while on the platform the Rani of Gondal presided, surrounded
+by all the leading Indian women in Bombay who were interested, either
+as organizers or teachers, in women’s education. A short, terse
+speech was made by Miss Cursetji, whose main interest and energy for
+the last twenty-five years have been devoted to the Alexandra Girls’
+High School, founded by her father in 1863; another by the Hindu
+Head-mistress of the High School under the auspices of the Scientific
+and Literary Society; another by a young Parsi B.A., Head-mistress of
+the first Hindu Girls’ High School; another, in the general interests
+of education, by a Saraswat Brahman lady, whose husband is Prime
+Minister in an adjacent Native State--and the one European member of
+the audience realized that India has initiative and purpose of her own,
+and women of whom she may well be proud. The progress in the different
+communities and the share which is borne by the Government and private
+efforts respectively can best be seen by the accompanying tables.
+Private effort divides itself naturally, as elsewhere, into the work
+of Christian missions and of the Indian community, but a further
+sub-division is necessary in the latter in consequence of the special
+position of the Parsis.
+
+ 1909-1910
+ +TABLE OF SCHOOLS FOR INDIAN GIRLS IN BOMBAY PRESIDENCY+
+
+ +----------------+------------------------------+-------------------+
+ | | +UNDER | +UNDER |
+ | | PUBLIC | PRIVATE |
+ | | MANAGEMENT.+ | MANAGEMENT.+ |
+ +----------------+-----------+-----------+------+---------+---------+
+ | Type of | |District or|Native| | |
+ | School |Government.| Municipal |State.| Aided. | Unaided.|
+ | | | Board. | | | |
+ +----------------+-----------+-----------+------+---------+---------+
+ |High Schools | 2 | .. | .. | 9 | 2 |
+ | | | | | | |
+ |Middle[114]-- | | | | | |
+ | English | .. | 1 | 2 | 30 | 4 |
+ | Vernacular | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |
+ | | | | | | |
+ |Primary[115] | 6 | 573 | 249 | 257 | 19 |
+ | | | | | | |
+ |Training Schools| 4 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
+ +----------------+-----------+-----------+------+---------+---------+
+ | | 12 | 575 | 252 | 301 | 27 |
+ +----------------+-----------+-----------+------+---------+---------+
+
+This Table has been formed by the subtraction of the Anglo-Indian
+schools from Statistical Table III., _Public Instruction Report,
+Bombay Presidency_, 1910.
+
+ +TABLE SHOWING RACE OR CREED+[116]
+
+ +---------+-------+--------+------+--------+--------+-------+-------+
+ | Type |Eura- |Native |Brah- |Non- |Moslems.|Parsis.|Others.|
+ | of |sians. |Christ- |mans. |Brahmin | | | |
+ |School | |ians. | |Hindus. | | | |
+ +------- +-------+--------+------+--------+--------+-------+-------+
+ |Primary | 4 | 2,905 |15,329| 42,185 | 10,077 | 3,934 | 492 |
+ | | | | | | | | |
+ |Middle | 636 | 1,656 | 74| 447 | 15 | 252 | 31 |
+ | | | | | | | | |
+ |High | 1,492 | 151 | 107| 77 | 42 | 1,095 | 86 |
+ | | | | | | | | |
+ |Training | | | | | | | |
+ | Colleges| 16 | 83 | 97| 115 | 21 | 2 | 11 |
+ +---------+-------+--------+------+--------+--------+-------+-------+
+ | | 2,148 | 4,795 |15,607| 42,824 | 10,155 | 5,283 | 620 |
+ +---------+-------+--------+------+--------+--------+-------+-------+
+
+Of the Hindu effort first:--the Scientific and Literary Society, after
+its initial private efforts, proceeded with a definite educational
+policy in the founding of schools, and, though at present only one
+school in Bombay is directly under its auspices, its influence in
+combating prejudice is considerable. This school is exceedingly
+popular, as the girls are passed quickly into the higher stages, thus
+earning a certain matrimonial prestige, though it is unfortunately true
+that a girl from the Matriculation class on transference to a mission
+school had to be placed three classes lower to find her proper level.
+In consequence of the amateur staff of voluntary teachers who supply
+the upper forms, this school does not rank as one of the eleven High
+schools. This feature is interesting, as it shows the earnestness of
+purpose in the members of the Society, but from an educational point
+of view the system does not seem very effective. As a whole the school
+presents no specially Indian features, except that French is excluded
+and Sanskrit is compulsory as a Matriculation subject. Religion is
+taught by a special teacher, and there are daily prayers. One Hindu
+school in Poona ranks as a genuine High school, and one other in Bombay
+hopes shortly to be classed as such. This Chanda Ramji School owes its
+foundation to a legacy left for the building of a huge gilded idol.
+The idol was indeed built, but the times have advanced, and only
+some 10% of the funds were thus utilized. The school is excellently
+staffed with fourteen mistresses, four of whom are graduates, and with
+additional pandits for Sanskrit and mathematics for some two hundred
+girls; there is a splendid hall for drill and games, a well-stocked
+science museum, and practically every modern apparatus. Religion
+is taught from a book of Hindu Moral Maxims by a special teacher.
+The Gujerati Stri Mandal, mentioned above, has its own functions in
+endeavouring to secure the attendance at its afternoon classes of
+young married girls and others from the _parda_-keeping sections.
+Educationally, their influence is probably important rather in the
+direction of making the next generation accessible to proper education
+than in much actual attainment on the part of the present pupils.
+They also organize regular lectures on such subjects as “The Aim of
+Life,” “The Advantages of a Spiritual Temperament,” and “The Duties of
+Motherhood,” from which may be seen the close connexion in the mind
+of the Indian woman between religion and education. The Prārthanā
+Samāj, though they have a weekly women’s meeting for the discussion of
+ethical subjects, and a “Sunday School,” do not organize any separate
+secular education, and their girls are to be found wherever the best
+education seems obtainable. In Hyderabad there are five large girls’
+Primary schools, managed by the Hindu Reform Association, which the
+Government Report notes as doing useful work. It will thus be seen
+that the actual Hindu contribution to organized education is not an
+extensive one, nor has it, as in Bengal, any special characteristic;
+but it should be borne in mind that the Hindus take good advantage of
+the mission and Government schools, and are even found in some of the
+Parsi High schools. Though their percentage of girls in the High school
+stage is small in comparison with their overwhelming majority in the
+community, it is probably true that every orthodox girl venturing to
+continue her school career beyond the Primary classes, does so in spite
+of the opposition, if not of her own immediate family, at least of her
+grandmother and cousins.
+
+The Mohammedan factor is numerically a small one; the girls belonging
+to families of the better class are educated at home or in one of the
+mission “English-teaching”[117] schools, and it is interesting to note
+one Mohammedan lady of good social position guiding a school for poor
+Moslem girls in her own house. Two Mohammedan schools are also on the
+Government list of Primary schools, but the pupils are mostly in the
+lower Primary stage.
+
+The Parsi contribution is, as has already been indicated, a very
+considerable one, and in its extent, thoroughness, and modern
+character, it is quite what one might have expected of the “French
+of the East.” A few notes on their general position are needed to
+show their attitude towards education. The Parsis are one of the most
+adaptable races of the world, and in Bombay, where 46,000 of them
+reside, they have been the leaders in women’s education. Lady Frere
+speaks of a time in her remembrance when not a single Parsi lady
+could speak English, whereas to-day it is almost as much a common
+tongue among the wealthy families as Gujerati, which they adopted
+on their original immigration to India. In 1842 Lady Arthur opened
+Government House for the first time to Indian ladies, and the Parsis
+were naturally the first to respond. To-day all the larger social
+functions in Bombay are attended by Indian ladies, the large majority
+of whom are Parsi.[118] They are to be seen daily at the Princess Mary
+Gymkhana, a ladies’ club, playing Badminton and croquet, and discussing
+matters of interest with their friends, some wearing the orthodox
+_sari_ and sacred shirt symbolic of their ancient faith, others
+in modern European dress. Socially they have been much affected by
+the hedonism of the West. Religiously their evolution has been rather
+negative than positive. Zoroastrianism as a cult had survived only in
+curious forms and ceremonies, and the sacred language of its books was
+unknown even to the priests; the educated Parsi inclined to agnosticism
+or theosophy while retaining his ceremonial adherence to a religion
+which was the binding tie of his community. Under the influence of the
+modern Renaissance and general revival of the ethnic faiths, the sacred
+books have been translated; brief extracts published in dainty vellum
+volumes, together with the Lord’s Prayer and Christian hymns (with
+significant omissions), are used as manuals of devotion. When the Parsi
+girls’ schools were first started no religious instruction was given,
+but now a special Zoroastrian committee exists for preparing literature
+and sending an instructor to each. Quick to perceive the general
+bearing of British rule and modern education on their position as a
+wealthy minority in an alien land, the Parsi leaders adopted, in 1857,
+a definite educational policy for their women. They separated from the
+Scientific and Literary Society and formed one of their own, the Parsi
+School Association, to which they gave most liberally both in money and
+personal service. Other leading Parsis founded special schools, and
+it is difficult when looking down the Government list to know which
+to select for description. Two perhaps may be taken as typical, one
+of the three Association schools and the Alexandra Native Girls’ High
+School. The former owes its special characteristics to the Honorary
+Secretary of the Association, Khan Bahadur Chichgar, who visited the
+best schools in Europe in order to study the Herbartian principles
+of education in actual practice. He was the first to introduce this
+method in the Bombay Presidency, and has done so without imitation
+of detail, and with the most wonderful adaptation to the environment
+of Parsi children. The school is kept continually supplied with the
+latest appliances and the newest books, and Mr Chichgar has for many
+years visited the school on Saturday afternoons to train the teachers
+in the use of them. The result is that, though the teachers may hold no
+Normal certificates, the school is alert and keen, from the youngest
+baby rejoicing in plaiting its neighbour’s hair, to the girls of the
+fifth form, whose curriculum is varied by ambulance work, cooking, and
+dress-cutting. On the occasion of the writer’s visit every child had
+some practical handwork of its own to exhibit; the action songs were
+definitely related to the subsequent lesson on weights and measures,
+while the mud modelling of the Bombay water-system done by one of
+the higher forms showed a thorough sense of neatness and proportion,
+with an intelligent knowledge of the principle involved. The shadow
+of an examination never falls upon this school; it aims at providing
+a thorough training for life for middle-class Parsi girls, and its
+success in doing so in entirely due to the unsparing devotion and
+labour given to it by its founder--a man engaged in ordinary business.
+
+The Alexandra Native Girls’ High School dates from the early days
+of pioneer work and of unsympathetic criticism. Some 20 pupils were
+registered for its first opening in 1863, and to-day there are about
+120, practically as many as the staff of the institution is meant to
+deal with. Its aim is to give Parsi girls of respectable families the
+“blessings of an English education upon sound moral principles,” and
+though the blessing may be a doubtful one, the school is certainly
+thoroughly English in every way. Since 1890, Matriculation candidates
+have been sent up with a good record of success. There is no higher
+teaching of the vernaculars, and French is taken as the alternative
+Matriculation subject. The Head-mistress is from England and is fully
+qualified, but the rest of the staff are Parsis, only one of whom had
+Normal qualifications. The school is managed by a committee of leading
+Parsis, and though it is under Government inspection it receives no
+grant, as the income from fees and the endowment is sufficient. This
+school may be taken as fairly typical of a first-class Parsi High
+school. Moreover, education has advanced so far in the community that
+private enterprise is no longer an impossibility, and can even as in
+the case of the Girton High school, be made financially successful
+without the Government grant. The dividing line between business
+and philanthropy may at times be difficult to draw, but the spirit
+is much to be commended which keeps a school of this type alive and
+efficient, when in some cases the net profit to the proprietress is
+barely a living wage. Taken as a whole, the Parsis have provided most
+thoroughly for the education of their girls, both rich and poor. Of the
+eleven High schools under private management in the Presidency, seven
+are Parsi; of the Middle schools four, and of the Primary schools,
+whether separate or forming departments of the High schools, fifteen.
+Of this provision ample advantage is taken, and the proportion of daily
+attendance to the numbers on the roll is amazing in comparison with
+Upper India.
+
+Wherein, then, does the system fail, or is it perfect? Criticism seems
+ungracious where so much energy and thought have been expended, but
+in the main there are two things which strike a visitor--the lack in
+the teachers of a sense of the dignity and responsibility of their
+profession, with the consequent effect of such a lack on the outlook
+of their pupils, and the deorientalizing curriculum. These problems
+are, however, common to the whole educational situation, and one could
+hardly expect even the Parsi community to be quite immune.
+
+It is difficult to turn from the indigenous Indian element, which
+has naturally something in it very spectacular and attractive to
+the Western visitor, to the quiet record of the immense and steady
+contribution of Christian missions to education in the Bombay
+Presidency, and to realize that the main inspiration of the former
+came from the gradual and unconscious infiltration of the Christian
+ideal of womanhood. For more than twenty years the missionaries were
+the sole pioneers in the face of much opposition. The pupils were
+gained at first through the influence of Hindu and Parsi gentlemen
+interested in the Scottish mission. Progress was naturally slow, there
+was a lack of continuity in the British workers, and continuity is
+essential in a country where personality counts for so much; but by
+1827 three hundred girls, some of good caste, were attending school in
+the Konkan district, where the Scottish pioneers first started. After
+the transference of the mission Mrs Wilson had managed, by 1830, to
+organize six little schools in Bombay with 120 pupils, the story of
+the winning of each individual girl being almost a romance in itself.
+For some time the children were given weekly _paisa_[119] as a
+reward, and would demand their wage like weary labourers, a practice
+still extant in some of the Native States, and a great contrast to
+the sum of 407 rupees now received as fees in one of the mission
+institutions which traces its origin to these very schools. The Parsis
+in one street asked the mission to instruct all the children therein,
+including sixteen girls. The Beni Israel also proved an accessible
+community, and thus gradually the number of girls increased. The
+second stage of missionary education was reached when boarding-schools
+were created for Indian Christian girls who could be retained for a
+reasonable time, and some of whom could be utilized as teachers. About
+1885 the first systematic attempt at Normal training is noticed, a
+line of work which is perhaps at present the most important missionary
+contribution to the whole scheme, and capable of further development.
+Mission schools, as might be expected, form an overwhelming majority
+in the list of aided schools. Of the 11 High schools they have 2, of
+the 34 Middle schools 14, and of the 276 Primary schools, practically
+all except those indicated above and a few others. Certain societies
+educate, as yet, mainly the children of their own communities;
+others, such as the American Board for Foreign Missions, the United
+Free Church of Scotland, and the Irish Presbyterian Mission, have a
+considerable number of schools, both in the cities and in the villages,
+for non-Christian children. The Zenana Bible and Medical Mission makes
+work of this kind a special feature.[120] The small proportion of High
+schools is partly accounted for by the fact that the Victoria High
+School at Poona, founded by Mrs Sorabji, and still carried on most
+effectively by her daughter as a Christian school, is classed as a
+boys’ school. It is attended by the children of many of the leading
+Parsi families, and is a curious example of successful co-education
+up to an advanced stage. Also both in Bombay and Poona there is a
+considerable number of good European schools in connection with Roman
+Catholic and Episcopal sister-hoods, to which 15% of Indian girls may
+be admitted on payment of double fees. These places are always eagerly
+sought. The Girgaum High School, under the auspices of the Z.B.M.M.,
+may be taken as typical of a first-class “English-teaching” mission
+High school. About 150 girls can be seen gathered together at morning
+prayer, two-thirds of whom are non-Christian (Parsis, Moslems, Beni
+Israel, and a few Hindus); some have come in their motor-cars, others
+from quite poor homes. The curriculum extends from three Kindergarten
+classes to the seventh English standard, in which the girls go up for
+Matriculation. English is used as a medium throughout, which makes the
+school popular with Indians who desire purely English education, but
+it is naturally very difficult for the pupils in the early stages, in
+spite of the Government regulation that the teacher must be able to
+translate into Marathi. There are four English mistresses and several
+well-qualified Anglo-Indians. A new department has recently been added
+for the training of English Kindergarten students for the Froebel
+examination, but this is not yet sufficiently staffed to ensure good
+success. Two-thirds of the income are derived from fees and one-third
+from the Government grant.
+
+The Ambroli School of the United Free Church Mission is Hindu
+throughout, and at present takes its pupils only as far as the fifth
+Anglo-Vernacular standard. All the instruction in the lower forms is
+in Marathi, and it is a stiff battle that Marathi babies have to fight
+with their letters. There are three scripts to learn--one printed,
+one cursive, and one abbreviated--and it is no wonder that, with this
+task to master, Indian parents tend to look on Kindergarten expedients
+for “time wasting” as a diversion from the royal road to knowledge.
+The teachers here, with the exception of one Anglo-Indian for English
+in the upper forms, are all Indian, and some are non-Christians, but
+the school is continually visited by a fully trained Scottish lady,
+who divides her time between this and another school. Fees are paid
+regularly, and there is a good municipal grant. An interesting feature
+of the American Mission is the stress laid at their orphanage and
+boarding-school upon independence in character. Each pupil must do two
+hours’ industrial work, and may in addition work longer for payment,
+which is credited to her account for payment of fees. Thus some of
+the pupils in the Matriculation class were beyond the usual age, but
+had contributed considerably to their own maintenance. The industrial
+training of this mission is very highly developed, both in Bombay and
+at Ahmednagar. The Primary schools in the villages have the usual
+characteristics which we have studied elsewhere, and it has only to be
+noted that this work is capable of practically unlimited extension.
+
+No account of women’s education in the Presidency would be complete
+without reference to the work of Pandita Ramabai,[121] which stands
+outside all mission control, and is the unique contribution of an
+Indian woman to the future victory of the Christian ideal among her
+own people. Since the _Sharada Sadan_ (the abode of wisdom) near
+Poona was started in 1892, thousands of Indian widows have been given
+the opportunity of a self-supporting, self-respecting life, and a
+vision of what self-sacrifice may mean. The education given on strictly
+intellectual lines is naturally not carried to a High stage, but is
+thorough in type. The Pandita dreads the Westernization of her girls,
+and stands for all that is good in simple Indian life.
+
+Though mission education bulks so largely in the statistics of
+voluntary schools, and has been the pioneer, it must be realized
+that it does _not_ hold the same position in this as in other
+provinces, nor influence the districts as a whole. A brief glance at
+the figures of Primary schools (Table, page 168) supported by other
+public bodies, both in British territory and in the Native States, will
+prove the contrary to those who imagine the mission factor still to be
+the dominant one.
+
+The Government function is here, as in the other provinces, largely
+a co-ordinating and directing one as regards the girls’ schools. The
+six important Government institutions--two High schools with Primary
+schools attached, at Poona and at Ahmedabad, and four Training
+schools--are a direct outcome of the effort to standardize and raise
+the general tone of education in the Presidency. They are linked by
+the system of “stipends” to all the Primary schools. The institution
+at Poona under an Indian lady, Miss Bhore, is excellently housed,
+and had at the time of my visit 200 girls in the High school, 200 in
+the vernacular practising school, and about 88 Normal students. The
+Inspectress regrets that there is not a Government High school in
+Bombay to raise the general standard. Apart from these institutions
+directly under the Central authority, a great deal has been done
+with public funds under the Municipalities and Local Boards. It has
+been impossible to ascertain exactly when these schools under public
+authority were first started, but the system must have grown up
+somewhere in the “eighties.” At first the girls of the lower castes
+went, as they still go in many villages, to the boys’ schools; in
+other places separate schools gradually sprang up wherever there
+were enlightened Indian members of the Municipalities to welcome the
+official suggestion. In 1901, the number of girls’ Primary schools in
+Bombay necessitated the appointment of an Indian Inspectress to work
+under the Municipality, and shortly afterwards an English Inspectress
+was appointed from home to the Indian Educational Service, in order
+to develop women’s education in certain portions of the Presidency.
+Her time was largely occupied in the inspection and examination of
+Training colleges and High schools (European and Anglo-Vernacular) and
+in dealing with questions of general educational policy as “expert
+adviser” to the Department. Since Miss Ashworth’s retirement, no
+English Inspectress has been appointed in the Indian Educational
+Service to this Presidency. The value of the municipal and local
+board schools, if viewed from the numerical standpoint of increasing
+the women literates in the district, is unquestioned, but when all
+allowance has been made for exceptions, the real gain to the community
+when the schools are not well staffed and lack constant supervision is
+very questionable. Miss Corkery, the present Inspectress, emphasizes
+the need for constant inspection. “I believe that if the Municipalities
+employed a trained supervisor to visit each school daily the work would
+be carried on more methodically. From my twenty-five years’ experience
+of the Hindu female teacher I have come to the conclusion that she
+has no power of initiative and no administrative capacity. She will
+work hard and faithfully under supervision, but as soon as that is
+withdrawn her natural apathy asserts itself.”[122] When in addition
+to her own “natural apathy” the teacher has possibly had no Normal
+training herself, and suffers from untrained assistants, the spirit of
+the school is apt to flag. Adequate inspection of these schools would
+undoubtedly necessitate the appointment of women Deputy-Inspectors.
+The question of premises is also a very vital one. The Indian child is
+accustomed to be one of a crowd, to eat and sleep, to live and die as
+one of a crowd; but, in school, if it is to attain to individuality, it
+must learn the value of space. Yet in one of the best Bombay municipal
+schools which takes its brighter pupils up to the Anglo-Vernacular
+sixth Standard, I found some 300 girls crowded into the space really
+needed for about half that number. Several crowded pens were to be
+seen round a bit of flat roof, too wet in the rains and too sunny at
+other times for drill, one of the pens so crammed with infants that it
+was almost impossible to step from one division to another, infants in
+different classes within touch of one another, and the whole pervaded
+with a pungent odour from the fruit market below--surely this is not
+for the good of the city or of the children. “In Ahmedabad the girls
+are compelled to sit amid insanitary and evil-smelling surroundings,
+to study the advantages of pure air.”[123] It would not be difficult
+to multiply instances. On the other hand some municipal schools are
+well housed and staffed, and the system must not be condemned when
+it is capable of improvement. The problem is partly a financial one,
+and partly once more the question of the supply of teachers and of
+the future Inspectresses. These children pay a few _paisa_, in
+fair proportion to the income of their parents, whereas in many High
+schools receiving a Government grant the fees might with advantage be
+raised.[124]
+
+When the situation in the Presidency is viewed as a whole the present
+need is seen to be not so much to secure more girls by artificial means
+or to induce more to stay to the higher stage, for there is a steady
+current in favour of education which is slowly acquiring momentum, but
+rather to raise the standard of teaching as a whole and so to adapt
+the curriculum that those children who do pass through the schools
+will, in intellectual attainment and character, commend the system and
+prove a force attractive to others.
+
+The problem of the teacher is one that is apparent throughout, alike
+in Indian, mission, and public authority schools. Taking the Primary
+teacher first, from what ranks is she usually drawn, and what are
+the attractions to the profession? In consequence of the shortness
+of supply the schoolmistress is very often found to be, in fact, an
+elderly man. This, however, is becoming less frequent. A glance at the
+table on page 168 shows that the majority of students in training are
+lower-caste Hindus, and that native Christians form about a fourth
+of the whole. Of the 1200 women actually engaged now in the teaching
+profession, I have been unable to obtain a religious classification,
+but presumably the proportion holds good. In the Ahmedabad Training
+College 15 of the students are wives or daughters of masters, 19 are
+wives of students, 15 are wives of other men, 42 are unmarried, and 36
+are widows. Taking this college as typical, and assuming the certainty
+of marriage on the part of the spinsters, it means that in many cases
+teachers will be available in couples for the village schools. Those
+whose husbands are not teachers are often difficult to locate, and in
+many cases may drop out of the work. It is questionable whether the
+employment of married women in the schools is advisable: on the one
+hand, it seems at present the only method to secure the necessary
+female teachers; on the other hand, the British Government is facing
+even at home the complications which the element of married women’s
+work introduces into the labour market. True, Indian life is different,
+for the babies come with their mothers to school, and a kind Government
+supplies the necessary cradles and ayah, but there are undoubted
+hardships. “The life of the village schoolmistress has not many
+compensations; in addition to the long hours at school she has arduous
+home duties to perform. In many cases she is the sole breadwinner for
+five or six, none of whom consider it incumbent on them to help her
+with the household work. Rising at five in the morning or earlier,
+she has to begin her daily time-table, which extends over seventeen
+hours. It is marvellous that she is able to work as cheerfully as she
+does.”[125] The permanent hope is in the widow, and it is encouraging
+to see a better proportion of them here. The spinster is at best
+available in mission schools for a short period till her marriage. Many
+trained Christian girls teach for several years, often living under the
+superintendence of the missionary, and make most efficient teachers.
+The supply of such, however, is in no way equal to the demand. It is
+difficult for one not fully acquainted with the Indian standard of life
+to judge of the financial aspect, but the impression gathered from the
+Government Reports is that increased salaries might attract a better
+class. There is a proverb that when begging fails it is well to learn
+to be a teacher. The salaries paid by mission agencies are, as a rule,
+slightly less than those paid by municipal authorities, just as the
+salaries of educational missionaries are less than the corresponding
+salaries at home. As regards training, a great effort is being made on
+all sides to secure that all the teachers either take a preliminary
+course or go up for the qualifying examination: at present the
+proportion is 44%. Any girl in a municipal school who shows any ability
+or desire can pass free of charge as a “stipendiary” to the Government
+Training Colleges with the stipulation that she shall teach thereafter
+with a salary for at least two years. Five mission schools have Normal
+divisions attached in which much the same conditions prevail. The city
+of Bombay has, however, no proper provision of opportunity. None of
+the Government Training Colleges are situated there, and, apart from
+Mr Chichgar’s work, which is limited to the Parsi School Association,
+there is only a Saturday morning training class under the auspices of
+a United Missionary Committee, which is not largely attended. Poona,
+on the other hand, has two if not three Training institutions, and
+the circumstances seem to point towards redistribution. A Hindu girl
+is much more likely to continue her education if it does not entail
+leaving her relatives. Miss Wilson, Head-mistress of the Girgaum High
+School, in a paper recently read at the Bombay Missionary Conference,
+emphasized the need of more funds to aid existing institutions, and
+of fixing a definite rate of salaries and a date after which none but
+trained teachers would be allowed in any school receiving a Government
+grant. The latter suggestion is possibly somewhat premature, as it
+might mean the closing of many schools or letting them lapse into
+the worse state of “unrecognized” institutions. The training of the
+Secondary teacher is a different problem. The impression current in
+Great Britain a decade ago that only people who knew nothing, or who
+could not teach, went to training colleges, seems still to prevail;
+moreover, there is no college where women teachers can receive a
+thorough Secondary training. The Inspectress’ reply to an official
+inquiry as to the possibility of raising the general standard indicates
+the need of a central Government Training College with a graded system
+in the aided schools, and special salary grants to all Secondary
+schools staffed by trained teachers.[126] There does not, however, seem
+any prospect of direct action, either on the part of Government or of
+missionary societies. There are few vacancies in the Government Normal
+College, and though one woman, a Goanese student, has recently been
+studying there, the course is not adapted to women students. A few of
+the teachers go up for the Secondary Examination without a qualifying
+course or after attendance at a series of lectures given at the convent
+in Bombay. There is also a great lack of enthusiasm for the profession
+as such; teaching is felt to be more or less a trade finishing at
+certain definite hours and limited in its influence to these. A most
+attractive set of lectures on various educational problems arranged
+by the Principal of the Government Normal College, had an average
+attendance of some seven out of possible hundreds. In the case of the
+women this is perhaps largely due to the enervating influence of the
+climate and the consequent lassitude after a long day’s work, but there
+is undoubtedly a lack of some unifying and inspiring influence which
+would have a strong reflex effect on the tone of the schools.
+
+The variation of the curriculum has to a certain extent been solved
+in this Presidency as regards the Primary stage. Bombay was the first
+province to issue a different set of readers for girls, and those
+now in use, comprising the study of heroes and heroines from a moral
+point of view, simple natural phenomena, domestic economy, etc., seem
+admirably adapted to them. The Code prescribes the usual elements with
+a study of forms, colours, familiar objects, drill, games, native
+accounts, and geography beginning in the third form, and Indian history
+in the fourth. The difficulty begins after the fourth Vernacular stage,
+corresponding to the first Anglo-Vernacular. After that stage the
+shadow of the Matriculation begins to fall, and so heavily that in the
+departmental schedule of studies, the highest Standard (VII. A.-V.) is
+left blank. Formerly this august portal could be passed very quickly by
+a well-crammed child. I met one Parsi girl who entered the University
+at the age of thirteen. The age was raised by the Universities
+Commission to sixteen. A great controversy has recently raged round the
+place of the vernaculars in the University, and the question of the
+use of English as a medium of instruction in the school. In regard to
+the latter, the real educators argued the impossibility of the proper
+comprehension of a difficult subject through a foreign medium, and
+the tendency to parrot-like repetition of formula or fact, while the
+actively “Indian” party, failing to see the real point at issue, held
+that any other method would weaken the standard of English and handicap
+the Indian in public service. The Department have sanctioned the use
+of the vernacular till a later stage, but though some teachers spoke
+warmly in favour of this method, it has not yet gone beyond experiment.
+Certainly the teaching of history throughout the Matriculation forms
+seems exceedingly weak. The Code for the Anglo-Vernacular Standards in
+relation to the Matriculation, and the possible substitution for it
+of the School Final Examination, a more practical test, is, however,
+under Government consideration and the defects of the present Code need
+not be enlarged upon. The variation of the Code for girls is a further
+question, and the planning of a suitable curriculum is a matter which
+eminently lends itself to private enterprise. The deorientalizing
+influence with Parsi girls is not so dangerous as with other Indian
+girls, but there is surely something wrong when “once a certificate,
+no more books” is a not infrequent cry. Some schools already vary their
+curriculum for girls: one mission report speaks of an alternative
+course better calculated to fit the girls for home life, leaving
+advanced mathematics, etc., to such only as have the necessary mental
+ability and physical strength. This effort has met with the approval of
+the Inspectress and of the more thoughtful parents. Matriculation has,
+however, in certain circles a distinct matrimonial value, and it is
+pathetic to see older girls, struggling at a distance of two forms from
+the desired goal, who would bitterly resent a change to a curriculum
+more suited to their diverse but not inferior powers.
+
+It is here that the opportunity lies for English educators who can
+help Indian women through an exceedingly difficult transitional period
+to realize the meaning of modern culture, which, while possessing
+universal elements, must be evolved by every nation on the lines of
+its own genius and characteristics. In Bombay and in Poona there are
+Indian women who think deeply on these things, and who await as yet
+some constructive policy in the success of which, though the energy
+and initiative must be of the West, their share would not be lacking.
+If this constructive policy is to start from the Christian standpoint,
+if the Spirit of Christ is to dominate the new culture, the women of
+Anglo-Saxon countries must let their religion dominate them as never
+before, and win them out to the larger service.
+
+
+
+
+ IX
+
+ UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
+
+ “Travellers all in the land of the living,
+ In quest of the self it is best to be;
+ Comrades all in the getting and giving,
+ Prythee, tell us, what else are we?
+
+ Girls who go hopefully forth to the morrow,
+ In quest of the Women they wish to be,
+ Friends who look down on the fair, flying present,
+ Wistfully, lovingly--this are we.”
+ From the _“Lal Bagh” Chronicle_.
+
+
+A firm and steady step on the lower rungs of the ladder is a fair
+promise of the ultimate ascent, and after a time incredibly short since
+the first beginnings of Western education for women in India, the girl
+graduate is found issuing from the portals of the University.
+
+Pioneer in many senses, with a world of idealistic possibilities
+surrounding her career, the Indian woman has proved the quality of
+her mental capacity; she has successfully stood the most strenuous of
+tests, and is prepared to take her part as a leader of her sex and as
+a contributor to the Feminist Movement. The member of Congress sees in
+her a political factor; the papers which advocate social reform hail
+her as a new force which will influence circles far beyond the reach
+of their propaganda; the educator trusts that here at last is someone
+with the brain power and insight to indicate the true lines for the
+education of Indian women; the missionary ponders on her possibilities
+for the Indian Church and the Indian home--while India, the real
+India, the silent multitude of India’s women, knows little and cares
+less. This strange phenomenon seems no longer of their number; she has
+stepped away with her new and dazzling robes from the old tradition,
+from the memories of the twilight and its tales to a new and untried
+world. And yet in a true sense she is still one with them, one with
+them in instinct, in thought, in hereditary traits, and fitted, as no
+Western could ever be, to act as the mediator betwixt the old and the
+new. The possibilities of the Indian woman graduate have to a certain
+extent been proved in subsequent careers; on the other hand, the
+results of the whole system, as regards the average student, have not
+entirely justified the hopes built upon it. A brief examination of the
+actual facts and conditions will prove the best introduction to the
+problems which underlie them.
+
+The five Universities of India--Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Allahabad,
+and Lahore--the constitutions of which resemble that of the University
+of London, are open to any woman who can pass the qualifying entrance
+examination. Their subsequent studies must be conducted in a college
+duly recognized by Government and in affiliation with a University.
+These colleges vary as first and second grade according to the stage,
+Intermediate or Final B.A., to which they are able to take their
+students. Of the 175 colleges scattered over India 10 are specially
+women’s colleges, but women are also found studying in mixed colleges
+under mission boards or Government. Of Government institutions it may
+practically be said that no sex barrier exists, except where a separate
+provision is made, as in the case of the Bethune College, Calcutta,
+and the same is true to a less extent of the mission institutions.
+Thus women students are found in the Elphinstone College, Bombay,
+in the Presidency College, Madras, and in the Government College,
+Rangoon, studying side by side with men under the same conditions. The
+Wilson College, Bombay, is an important example of the mixed mission
+college. The ten women’s colleges in affiliation with one or other
+University[127] are as follows:--
+
+ Number
+ of
+ Students.[128]
+
+ The Bethune College, Calcutta (first grade) 40
+ The Diocesan College, Calcutta (first grade) 32
+ The Isabella Thoburn College, Lucknow
+ (first grade) (A.M.M.) 20
+ The Sarah Tucker College, Palamcottah
+ (second grade) (C.M.S.) 6
+ The Maharani’s College, Mysore
+ The Maharajah’s College, Trevandrum
+ St Bede’s Convent College, Simla (first grade)
+ Auckland House School, Simla (second grade)
+ European Girls’ High School, Allahabad
+ (second grade)
+ Woodstock Girls’ School, Landour (second
+ grade)
+
+Of these, the last four are mainly for Eurasian girls, and fall outside
+the scope of our inquiry. With the exception of the Bethune and the two
+institutions in Native States, they are all under Christian management.
+The word “college” is highly misleading. The English reader pictures
+an institution parallel to Girton or Somerville, with a full staff
+of women tutors, supplemented by University lectures, whereas these
+colleges consist in most cases of small groups of girls, sometimes
+only one or two, who remain after Matriculation in their old school,
+studying for the most part under the same mistresses, and with little
+or no sense of any transition in their career. If no girls are fitted
+to proceed to the higher stages, the college as such may lapse for the
+time being; thus only students in training as teachers are returned in
+the Panjāb report for 1910, in spite of the two “colleges at Simla,”
+whereas the Diocesan School appears officially for the first time
+in the Bengal report as a college with a most creditable number of
+students and an efficient staff. The one outstanding exception is the
+Isabella Thoburn College, where the college department is rigidly
+separated from the school, and where the collegiate atmosphere and
+sense of corporate life are dominant. A similar arrangement is being
+made in the new buildings of the Bethune College. Even in these two
+cases there is the linked High School under the same Principal, sharing
+in the interest of the staff. A women’s college in the English sense of
+the word does not exist.
+
+Passing to the students, the differences of creed, as indicated in the
+Quinquennial Returns of 1907, are seen in the annexed table. (See page
+197.)
+
+This proportion is on the whole maintained to-day, with the addition of
+a few Buddhist girls studying in Rangoon, and an increased proportion
+of Parsis in Bombay. The actual numbers show a remarkably small
+fluctuation within the last decade, and have not justified the hopes
+of those who expected a continuation of the fourfold increase of the
+preceding decade. In 1891 there were 45, in 1901, 177 Arts students.
+Taking some figures from local returns, we find the following:--[129]
+
+ ------------------+-------+-------+------
+ Arts Students. | 1901. | 1906. | 1910.
+ ------------------+-------+-------+------
+ Bengal | 55 | 24 | 47
+ United Provinces | 49 | 38 | 45
+ Burma | 8 | 2 | 12
+ Bombay | 30 | 57 | 76
+ Madras | ? | ? | 37
+ ------------------+-------+-------+------
+
+ +CLASSIFICATION OF COLLEGE STUDENTS BY RACE OR CREED+
+
+ +----------+-------+--------+------+------+-------+-------+------+
+ | |Eura- |Native |Hindu.|Moham-|Parsis.|Others.|Total.|
+ | |sian. |Chris- | |medan.| | | |
+ | | |tians. | | | | | |
+ +----------+-------+--------+------+------+-------+-------+------+
+ |Arts | | | | | | | |
+ | Colleges | 48 | 43 | 31 | 1 | 33 | 4 | 160 |
+ |Medicine | 40 | 19 | 4 | ... | 11 | 2 | 76 |
+ |Teaching | 34 | 2 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 36 |
+ |Law | ... | ... | ... | ... | 1 | ... | 1 |
+ |Medical- | | | | | | | |
+ | School | 30 | 110 | 15 | 12 | 1 | ... | 168 |
+ +----------+-------+--------+------+------+-------+-------+------+
+ | | 152 | 174 | 50 | 13 | 46 | 6 | 441 |
+ +----------+-------+--------+------+------+-------+-------+------+
+
+A marked increase is shown only in the Bombay Presidency due to the
+influence of the Parsis. The students are drawn from varying ranks of
+society. Of the Hindu students about a quarter are Brahmans. Some are
+drawn from the new professional classes, who highly value education
+for their women, and can afford to pay for it; others from the poorer
+members of the Brāhma-Samāj, who see in college education a prospect of
+a career for their daughters more in accordance with their enlightened
+ideas. Of the system of stipends it is difficult to form a judgment.
+Whereas in Britain a scholarship indicates special ability tested
+by competition, in India a Government or private stipend is in most
+cases available, at any rate in Bengal, for any girl who can pass the
+required average test. With luck she may possibly also secure another
+stipend to cover her board. The “average” girl is therefore apt to
+predominate far more largely than in the early stages of college
+education in Britain or America. There is also a lack of the element
+of hereditary culture, which has a very definite contribution to make
+in Indian life, and which may be the inheritance of the daughter as
+well as of the son. But where it is impossible to secure a genuinely
+competitive system and the only alternative is the closing of the
+college career to the really brilliant girl of the poorer classes,
+the question is a difficult one. In Calcutta, practically all the
+Bethune students belong to the Brāhma-Samāj; in Bombay, where the
+line of separation between the Prārthanā Samāj and orthodoxy is very
+indefinite, and _parda_ almost non-existent, orthodox Hindu
+students are to be found. It must be remembered, however, that these
+are essentially pioneers, and that the custom of early marriage or
+secluded widowhood still practically prevents any marked Hindu element
+amongst women students. In 1903 two Brahman ladies passed the Madras
+B.A. from the Maharani’s College, Mysore, being the first of their
+caste there to do this.
+
+The Parsi woman student needs no comment. Independent, bright, and
+alert, she holds her own in the mixed colleges of Bombay with the
+utmost equanimity, and has an unparalleled zest for examinations.
+In 1886, the first women students entered Wilson College, Ratanbai
+Ardeshir Vakil and her sister Meherbai, daughters of a leading Parsi
+solicitor. Several years before, the University had given women the
+right to go up for examination, but only one had made use of the
+permission. Ratanbai specialized in French, and was elected a Fellow in
+1890. From then, till her early death in 1895, she taught French in the
+college, and warm testimony to her influence in the college and at home
+is borne by the Principal. “One could see how the education and culture
+of women, instead of creating a cleft in the life of the family, as is
+so often erroneously imagined by those who oppose the cause of female
+education in India, proves a means of strengthening its unity and
+elevating its whole character.”[130] Her sister, Meherbai Vakil, is
+a much-respected medical woman in Bombay, and is typical of a growing
+number of Parsi students who have entered professional life with great
+credit. The brilliant career of Miss Cornelia Sorabji, a Christian
+Parsi, who holds the post of Legal Adviser to the Bengal Government for
+women in _parda_, is too well known to need emphasis. Two of her
+sisters are Head-mistresses of important Indian schools.
+
+The Indian Christian woman student figures largely in the returns,
+and the pioneers of the movement were drawn from their ranks. This
+is the natural result of the educational policy pursued by the
+various missionary societies, and of the later age of marriage among
+Christians. Some of them are mentally very well fitted for their
+studies; there are others again who are largely subsidized by public
+or private funds, and possess ability to pass the average standard,
+but not sufficient mental power to gain full benefit from their
+training. Here, for instance, are two girls, daughters of an Indian
+clergyman, both passing well, and taking employment, one as a Mistress
+in a Government school, the other as an Inspectress in the Provincial
+Service; contrast with them a trembling, shrinking girl from a Native
+State who has received a scholarship from her State because she has
+matriculated and because she is one of an impoverished family of
+twelve, a particularly urgent case! Throughout her career the fear
+of failure and poverty intensifies the strain already possibly too
+great for a delicate constitution, and a girl who might have made an
+excellent Primary teacher is sacrificed on the altar of so-called
+higher education. And yet, as has already been indicated, the system
+affords the needed opportunity for the clever girl, and possesses this
+justification. The Christian students are mostly to be found in the
+Isabella Thoburn College, in Madras, and a few in Calcutta, chiefly at
+the Diocesan School and College. Since the latter was founded, about
+fifteen years ago, five B.A.’s have passed out and several F.A.’s.[131]
+New college buildings have recently been added with boarding
+accommodation for forty-five resident students. It is managed by the
+Community of St John Baptist, known generally as the Clewer Sisterhood.
+Miss Chunder Mukki Bose, M.A.,[132] to whose guidance the Bethune
+College has owed much of its prestige, and the late Lilavati Singh,
+M.A., Vice-Principal of the Isabella Thoburn College, stand out as the
+most prominent Indian Christian graduates, while the dramatic episode
+of Mrs Nvimabala Shome’s graduation as B.A. at the same time as her
+husband in Calcutta, gave an object-lesson in matrimonial equality.
+She subsequently took her M.A. in England, and devoted much of her life
+to the organization of one of the mission High schools in Calcutta.
+Indian Christian graduates are to be found all over India undertaking
+responsible work with great credit.
+
+The Mohammedan girl graduates cannot be discussed as a class, for even
+if we go back to the “glory of women,” the Sheikha Shuhda of the Middle
+Ages, who lectured at Bagdad on literature and rhetoric, they are
+only found here and there as isolated figures. One Mohammedan girl of
+a well known Bombay family passed first among girl candidates in the
+Bombay Presidency in 1910, and is now studying at Wilson College.
+
+It will thus be seen that the women students of India are a very
+heterogeneous body, representing almost every shade of religious
+opinion, and varying possibly in their mental capacity to a greater
+extent than the women of other lands.
+
+ +UNIVERSITY OF BOMBAY+
+
+ -----+-------+---------+--+---------+---+---------------------------+
+ Engi-|Agri- | | | | L | |
+ neer-|cul- | | | | a | |
+ ing. |ture. |Science. | | Arts. | w.| Medicine. |
+ -----+-------+---------+--+---------+---+---------------------------+
+ M.D. M.S. M.D. M.S.
+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+
+ | | | | | | | |
+ | | | | | | | |
+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+
+ ^ ^ ^
+ | | |
+ | | |
+ M.B. B.S. |
+ +----------+ |
+ | | |
+ | | |
+ M.A. | | L.M.S.
+ +---------+ +----------+ +----------+
+ | | | | | |
+ | | | | | |
+ B.Sc. | B.A. | | 2nd Exam.| | |
+ +--------+ +---------+ +----------+ +----------+
+ | | | | | | | |
+ |Inter- | | | | | | |
+ |mediate.| | | | | |2nd L.M.S.|
+ +--------+ +---------+ +----------+ +----------+
+ | | | | | | | |
+ | | | Inter- | | Preli- | | |
+ | | | mediate.| | minary. | |1st L.M.S.|
+ +--------+ +---------+ +----------+ +----------+
+ | | | | | | | |
+ | | | | | | | |
+ | | |Previous.| | | | |
+ +--------+<--+---------+ +----------+ +----------+
+ | | | |
+ | | | |
+ | |------------------>| |
+ +---------+ +----------+
+ Matriculation (age 16).
+ -----+-------+---------+--+---------+---+--------------------------+
+
+ +NOTES.+--The course in the other universities is somewhat
+ similar.
+
+ Calcutta offers a degree as Bachelor of Teaching.
+
+ The degree of L.M. and S. is abolished in Calcutta and the Panjāb, but
+ retained in the meantime in Bombay and in Madras after a six years’
+ course.
+
+ Matriculation age in Madras and the Panjāb is fifteen.
+
+ _Quinquennial Review of Progress of Education in India_,
+ vol. ii. p. 65.
+
+ [Illustration: Missionary Settlement for University Women Students’
+ Hostel, Bombay]
+
+The question of the curriculum and of the nature of the studies
+required for the degree examinations has a very definite relation to
+the numerical problem stated above. Are these of a nature to attract
+increasing numbers? Are they sufficiently in accord with the Indian
+ideal of womanhood or with the aspirations of the reformers? The facts
+are worth analysis. From the first, the courses for men and women have
+been identical; no temporary expedient of a women’s examination such as
+the Cambridge Higher Local, and the St Andrews L.L.A., has been adopted
+by any of the Indian Universities; women must cover the same ground
+as men or none at all. The various courses in Bombay are indicated in
+the accompanying diagram. The range of subjects is somewhat similar to
+that of the University of London; for the B.A. examination, the average
+candidate presents himself in English, Philosophy, or History, and
+one Classical or Modern language. There is a corresponding scientific
+course, English remaining compulsory throughout. The Intermediate
+examination covers a wider range of subjects. The details differ in
+different Universities, but the standard on the whole is similar.
+Calcutta alone requires a compulsory essay in the vernacular for the
+B.A., and the emphasis laid on Sanskrit and Arabic is not the same as
+that laid on Latin and Greek in the Western Universities. The Panjāb
+University has a separate Oriental Course, for which as yet no woman
+has entered. The M.A. is given on the results of further examination,
+and, in some Universities, after a fresh course of study. The
+proportion of students who go through the whole course is small: for
+every seventeen who pass the Intermediate, only five become Bachelors
+of Arts, and only one a Master.[133] I have been unable to procure
+separate figures for women, but apparently the proportion is even less,
+and there are very few women who have obtained the degree of M.A. The
+examination system of the Universities has been subjected to severe
+criticism, both by enlightened Indians and by Europeans, the chief
+indictments being embodied in Lord Curzon’s Universities’ Commission
+Report of 1904, and we find tentative reforms in the subsequent Act.
+The “yattering” graduate who knows nothing and can decide nothing,
+but who can repeat yard after yard from any prescribed text-book,
+is the byword of those who wish to taunt India, and there is a germ
+of truth in the reproach. The effort to impart the highest Western
+culture through Indian teachers who have only partially assimilated
+it themselves, must prove to some extent unsatisfactory. Since the
+Public Service Commission in 1886, Indians have been admitted to
+the Educational Service in much larger numbers: for example, the
+Presidency College in Calcutta had in 1880 a complete staff of English
+professors and Oriental specialists; in 1911, only eight are English
+and twenty-three Indian, though in the meantime the number of pupils
+has increased from 350 to 700.[134] It is possible that here real
+efficiency has been sacrificed from the commendable motives of economy
+and a desire to utilize the Indians in their own Universities. To
+command a supply of the best men from home would involve a heavy
+financial strain, and yet, unless the Oriental, who can live on a
+smaller salary, has spent some years in Europe, he is hardly fitted to
+guide a University where the curriculum largely consists of Western
+subjects. It is interesting to find Mr Gokhale emphasizing the need
+of studying in a foreign University as a preliminary to professional
+work in India.[135] It is the presence of a fully equipped English
+staff (who are there for other reasons than the mere acquisition of a
+“living” wage) which forms the attractive force of a Mission college
+to the ambitious young Indian. The whole question is an exceedingly
+difficult one, and has been fully discussed recently by both Mr
+Chailley and Sir Valentine Chirol; it is raised here only in so far as
+it affects the women who study in mixed colleges. It should also be
+noted that there is no English lady on the staff of Bethune College,
+the only Government college for women. The feminine counterpart of the
+typical graduate indicated above is apparently his decided superior,
+for the Indian feminine virtues of modesty and reticence come to her
+aid, and she does not air her acquired knowledge. Still her knowledge
+is only acquired, not yet assimilated, and there is a lamentable lack
+of books in her study. The library at Bethune College is not utilized
+to the same extent as one in a corresponding English institution.
+Actual personal contact with some of the Indian students is a pathetic
+experience, as we are forced to realise how little real grit there is
+behind their text-book knowledge. They have gained no broad outlook
+on life: a tired brain has struggled through so many hours a day of
+lecture work and book work, and no energy is left for thought! Climatic
+and constitutional conditions account, to a certain extent, for this
+result; lack of hereditary culture to a still greater degree; but
+it is fostered largely by the conditions under which the girls have
+studied, and by the failure of Anglo-Saxon women to give them of their
+best. Where the women study apart in the additional classes of their
+former High schools they certainly receive individual attention, which
+results in creditable passes, and this is possibly the chief merit of
+a system which has little to be said for it from other points of view.
+The complete staff of the Isabella Thoburn College, the well-utilized
+library, and the reputation which its graduates have won throughout
+India, are facts which should be noted in this connexion. The Diocesan
+College is establishing a similar tradition.
+
+There is another side to University life than the purely intellectual,
+namely, the human and personal. This, with all its varied
+manifestations in the common pursuit of sport or of music, in the
+discussion of social problems and of mental difficulties, or still more
+in the gentle art of doing nothing, lends the charm to college days
+and is perhaps the more dominant factor in after life. The influence
+of certain personalities, men or women, who can be trusted, who can
+look at life’s problems from the same point of view as their students,
+and are able to throw light on their difficulties with the ripeness of
+experience and to lead them to a new moral or religious outlook, is
+often in the long run more powerful than that of the actual literature
+studied. If the University or college fails as a school of character
+it has failed of its _raison d’être_. Precisely on this ground has
+the strongest indictment recently been made against the Indian system.
+“There has been no more deplorable feature in the recent political
+agitation than the active part taken in it by Indian schoolboys and
+students.”[136] A University course inevitably shakes the foundations
+of their thought, and in many cases has resulted in a revolt from all
+former moral or religious standards of conduct without providing a new
+basis for life. Under a stricter _régime_, with liberal grants
+and every possible encouragement of private hostels where religious
+instruction is possible, an effort is being made to combat this lack in
+the training of character. The case of women students presents certain
+parallel features, and also difficulties peculiarly its own.
+
+The larger proportion of women students in Bombay in attendance at the
+mixed classes are living in their own homes; a few from the country
+are in residence at the Students’ Hostel of the Missionary Settlement
+for University Women,[137] where, though the majority are Christian,
+students of other faiths can be received under special arrangements.
+A Jain lady was at one time in residence there. This hostel is in
+close proximity to both the Wilson and the Grant Medical Colleges,
+and supplies a real need, but its residents so far have not been very
+numerous.
+
+The women students of Bombay as a whole have no corporate life of their
+own; they may attend some of the joint debating societies and kindred
+meetings, but do not as a rule take part. Their common rooms offer
+rather a geographical _pied-à-terre_ than a means of social unity. As
+regards athletics, badminton is pursued in a somewhat spasmodic way in
+one college, and by invitation to the Principal’s house in another, but
+the question of exercise in relation to non-resident students is always
+a moot point in a tropical climate. Some attempt to develop social life
+is made by the women graduates from British or Colonial Universities
+who are in charge of the students’ hostel; they visit the common rooms
+of two of the colleges, and occasionally organize debates or kindred
+functions at the hostel, to which the residents may invite other
+students. The writer was present at one such debate on the question of
+educating men and women on similar lines, and the opinions expressed
+by some of the Indian girls are embodied in much of the foregoing.
+This influence is also of a religious nature, being in connexion with
+the Students’ Branch of the Young Women’s Christian Association, and
+indirectly counts for much. It is, however, an extraneous one, and
+therefore many of the students, especially in the Government colleges,
+are beyond its reach. With their actual lecturers they can have, in the
+nature of the case, little or no personal contact, and the real need
+seems to be the introduction of women on the staff of these colleges,
+together with the tutorial system, which has proved itself so useful
+in mixed non-residential universities in Britain. The case is very
+strongly put by Mr Covernton, who was till recently Principal of the
+Elphinstone College.
+
+“It is becoming a problem how to provide accommodation and adequate
+supervision for these girls. It is ridiculous to expect that young
+unmarried graduates, fresh from Oxford and Cambridge, can mould the
+minds and characters of Parsi, much less of Brahman girls; while the
+training of Eurasian girls is still more difficult. Moreover, the close
+association of male and female involved in a mixed education is so
+totally opposed to the traditions of the East, as well as so fraught
+with possibilities of evil, that in my opinion the system is rather a
+barrier than an encouragement to female education.--A special lecturer
+and tutor of female students should be appointed to the Elphinstone
+College. She should be a British graduate, and a member of the Indian
+Educational Service. Her subject should preferably be English, because
+it is very easy to get women well-qualified to teach that subject.
+She would take complete charge of the girls’ studies in that subject,
+and would in addition supervise their general reading, their games,
+and most important of all their manners and conduct.”[138] As regards
+conduct the general bearing and influence of these girls in the mixed
+colleges has been most creditable in very trying circumstances,
+but there is certainly a need to relax the evident tension of the
+position, which is little in accordance with Oriental ideas.
+
+The condition of the women students in Madras who attend the mixed
+colleges is somewhat similar. There is an excellent hostel managed by
+the Students’ Branch of the Young Women’s Christian Association, where
+students of all faiths can reside, and former pupils of the mission
+schools can still remain in connexion with them. I understand that the
+same strain exists here, with the consequent lack of energy for any
+corporate life. An English woman graduate writes from Madras of the
+great need in South India of a first grade women’s college.
+
+In Calcutta conditions are entirely different; there is a good hostel
+in connexion with the Bethune College, and the Christian girls who
+attend it are resident in their former schools. There are only a few
+non-residential students, but as the colleges attended by the Arts
+students are very small, the system assimilates to the tutorial, and
+there is ample opportunity for contact between student and lecturer.
+In the Bethune College, however, where the majority of teachers are
+men, the conflict with Oriental ideas arises again, and one is not
+surprised, apart from other reasons, at the absence of Moslem or
+orthodox Hindu girls. Here again it seems unfortunate that there is no
+corporate life or unity amongst the women students as a whole, or even
+in the Bethune hostel itself. In the latter it would depend entirely
+on Indian initiative, and though one would expect it to assume a
+different form from the customary Saxon one, its entire absence can
+only be accounted for by unfavourable conditions.
+
+The corporate life of the Isabella Thoburn College has already been
+emphasized; a glance at the students’ _Lal Bagh Chronicle_
+is enough to convince the reader of its reality, and of its
+characteristically Indian nature.
+
+The case of the Indian woman medical student must be considered
+apart from the life of the Arts colleges. As a rule few women,
+except an occasional Parsi, pass from the one to the other, and
+there is little contact. It is unnecessary here to emphasize the
+need for every possible encouragement for Indian women to take up
+the practice of medicine. The sorrows and sufferings of Indian women
+behind the _parda_, who would rather face death than admit a
+male practitioner, are well known. If to some the statements made
+by missionary writers seem exaggerated, they have only to turn to
+the petition presented to the Viceroy in 1890 by the medical women
+practising in India to find evidence of the saddest facts. Indian
+medical students are divided broadly into two classes, those who
+study in one of the four Government colleges affiliated to one or
+other of the chief Universities, and those who study in the medical
+schools for a very much lower qualification.[139] Of the first class
+again some are genuine University students going up for the degrees
+indicated on page 204, while others are content merely with the college
+diploma which qualifies for practice in India. The medical schools,
+of which there are twenty-seven in different parts of India, are
+“intended primarily for the instruction of candidates for employment
+in Government Service as hospital assistants, but many of their
+pupils also go into private practice.”[140] They confer the title of
+sub-assistant-surgeon. A few women students are to be found in the
+former class: in 1907 it included thirty-four Indian women in all,
+and there has not been any marked increase in recent years. An even
+smaller number of these take the highest qualification. All that has
+been said of the strained life of the women Arts students applies
+even more strongly to the medicals. It is a very hard and difficult
+life, and there is little in the environment to lessen the burden.
+The statistics of the medical schools on the other hand show a larger
+figure, 138 in 1907, with a considerable increase in recent years.
+It is in these schools that the administrators of the Countess of
+Dufferin’s Fund,[141] which has done so much for the medical treatment
+of women, place most students, though some are also to be found
+studying in the Universities. Three of these schools are specially
+women’s schools--the North India Medical School for Christian Women
+at Ludhiana, the female branch of the Agra Medical School, and one
+centre in the Bombay Presidency with some half-dozen pupils. The work
+of the former, as it illustrates by contrast the serious problem of
+the mixed medical schools and colleges, is worthy of special notice.
+This school, which is under the management of a private committee,
+including members of the Indian Medical Service, was originally founded
+in 1894 through the agency of seven missionary societies working in
+the United Provinces and the Panjāb. Its aim was to secure “that the
+young Christian women who pass through a medical course, and then go
+out to Government or Native State or Mission Hospital work, should be
+so safeguarded and trained that they shall be worthy representatives
+of the religion they profess.”[142] The dangers of the joint-system of
+instruction in all subjects, with unlimited association in hospitals
+and museums, is apparent in every centre, with its consequent effect
+in some cases of bringing “female education and emancipation into
+discredit.” A letter of application to the Ludhiana School throws some
+light on prevalent conditions:--
+
+“I require a Female Hospital Assistant for my Hospital, and am very
+anxious to get one who has been trained under Medical Women. As your
+School is the only one in India of this sort, would you be kind
+enough to let me have one? This is not a Mission Hospital but one
+for _parda_ Moslem women only, under the Dufferin Fund, and it
+is essential that the Assistant be respectable. (This I find rather
+difficult to get amongst the class trained under males.) It is perhaps
+against your rules to supply Dufferin Fund Hospitals, but I hope you
+will stretch a point and oblige me by letting me have one, as I have
+had a great deal of trouble for the past year with Assistants.”
+
+The students of the Ludhiana School flock from all parts of India for
+the benefit of this tuition under qualified medical women. There are at
+present some twenty-seven Indian Christian students and five Eurasians,
+taking the four years’ course, while some thirty others are training as
+“compounders.” The linked women’s hospital,[143] with a record of 1300
+in-patients and 26,000 new out-patients in 1910, affords the necessary
+opportunity for practice. The staff is drawn from India, Britain, and
+America, and consists of eight fully qualified medical women. The
+record of the school is one of slow and steady progress in efficiency
+and numbers, and the latest stage is the proposed affiliation to
+the Panjāb University, the negotiations for which are progressing
+favourably. Under these conditions the school would be able as a
+college to send students up for the M.B., B.S. examination, and the
+Government students would be transferred to it from Lahore.
+The hostel life of the students is under careful superintendence, and
+arrangements are being made for the accommodation of non-Christian
+students. The contrast between the life here and that of women medical
+students in Bombay or Calcutta is marked; and if it be argued that
+the highest professional ability cannot be obtained with so limited
+a hospital roll, there is surely need for modifying in some way
+the conditions at these centres. Two Government hostels for women
+medical students exist in Calcutta in close proximity to the two
+hospitals;[144] the question, however, concerns not only hostel life
+but professional training under circumstances which will not injure
+character. The complete separation in the London and Edinburgh Schools
+of Medicine for Women affords a striking contrast. A certain number of
+Indian students, perhaps one or two a term, come over for a full or
+supplementary course in British colleges, as this qualification secures
+a better post on return.
+
+ [Illustration: Ludhiana School of Medicine--Hospital Court Yard with
+ Patients]
+
+To sum up, the problem respecting Indian women students, in both
+Arts and Medicine, arises, apparently, from the need of a numerical
+increase, from the lack of conditions so adapted to Oriental ideas
+that the highest courses shall be open without difficulty to women of
+all ranks, and from the lack of a curriculum calculated to raise the
+standard of the intellectual work done. Moreover, mental training must
+be combined with such opportunities for the development of character as
+shall ensure to Indian women the leaders they require.
+
+These needs interact, and affect one another; the numerical problem
+depends, as we have seen, on certain conditions of Indian society,
+and also on the attractive force of the education offered and its
+appeal to Indian ideas, as well as on the possibility of pursuing
+it under conditions which shall not be too utterly opposed to the
+tradition of the country. With the increase in the numbers receiving
+Secondary education there has not been a corresponding increase in the
+college courses. Mr Covernton, in the quotation given above, further
+emphasizes this, and points to the real need of Bombay, for which the
+appointment of a woman tutor would only be a temporary expedient. “If
+the conditions of University education were in accord with Oriental
+ideas of women’s functions, the number would go up by leaps and bounds.
+I am confident that the time is ripe for the creation in Bombay of
+a women’s college managed by a staff of Oxford or Cambridge women
+graduates.”[145] The spontaneous movement amongst Indian gentlemen to
+organize high-class schools, where, if desired, _parda_ can be
+kept, points to further possibilities. At present, if a Mohammedan or
+Hindu girl of high-caste, who had been educated in some such school,
+or privately, desired to take a University course, there would be
+no opportunity for her doing so. A Mohammedan lady, whose daughter
+was being educated in one of the mission schools in Bombay, told the
+writer she could not think of letting her attend any college in that
+city, though she was anxious for her to have University education. The
+only possible course was an English college, such as Cheltenham. The
+migration to England of Indian women Arts’ students has, so far, not
+been extensive; about a dozen have studied at Cambridge, Oxford, and
+Cheltenham; a larger number may have gone to America. The missionary
+societies which struck out a bold policy for attracting men by their
+great Christian colleges have not made any corresponding move to meet
+the new situation in women’s education. The one or two women’s colleges
+which exist are created so predominantly for Christian girls that they
+attract only isolated pupils of other faiths, and these not of the most
+influential classes.[146] It seems strange that in Great Britain the
+highest education for women should be to a certain extent apart, with
+the necessary contact carefully chaperoned, whereas in India, with a
+very different tradition of womanhood, one girl may sit alone in a
+class of over a hundred students. It may be argued that the best way
+to overcome this tradition is to ignore it, and that it should not be
+yielded to in any way, least of all in the case of Higher education,
+where the students have presumably risen above it. Some English women
+of experience in India take this bold attitude. On the other hand it is
+of the highest importance in any transitional stage to secure leaders
+from every stratum of the population; and if education be the only safe
+lever for the uplift of women in India, it seems a strategic mistake
+practically to close its highest stages to those whose families hold by
+a certain type of decorum which prohibits co-education.
+
+By adaptation of the curriculum is not meant in any sense the lowering
+of the intellectual standard nor the introduction of the element of
+domestic economy and so-called “feminine subjects” which are necessary
+at a lower stage, but rather a re-arrangement of studies which shall
+ensure more individual research and a fuller comprehension of the
+material studied. The revision of the curriculum is at present under
+consideration in at least one of the Universities, and is a matter for
+experts. The action of the University of Cambridge in permitting women
+candidates to go up for Honours courses only, and the success which has
+attended women candidates for the Triposes, suggest the advantage of
+specialized studies in the case of women. Mrs Satthianadhan’s opinion
+of the effect of University education on women is illuminating. “It
+will make women more methodical, more orderly in their arrangements,
+more precise, and better able to weigh causes and results.”[147] A
+three years’ specialized course would tend in many ways to develop
+these qualities, and would possibly produce the new and more thorough
+type of teaching which is so greatly needed in the schools. The
+intellectual strain which is so marked a feature at present might in
+this way be lessened without detrimental effect upon real intellectual
+development.
+
+Towards the end of last century, it seemed as if the goal of the
+women’s educational movement in Great Britain might be reached
+by the formation of a Women’s University with federal colleges.
+Various reasons have led rather to their taking a parallel place in
+the existing Universities, though still under somewhat anomalous
+conditions, so far as Oxford and Cambridge are concerned. The
+American solution is a different one. Vassar, Bryn Mawr, Wellesley,
+Mount Holyoke, and others have their separate degrees and completely
+separated life. It is possible that the solution of the Indian problem
+will rather follow these latter lines, and there are indications of
+this ideal, somewhat nebulously outlined, in the writings of leading
+Indian women. Such a Women’s University with affiliated colleges
+in the different large centres might establish a new era and a new
+tradition in the education of women. A competent staff of Indian
+women graduates, whose presence would secure the students from
+deorientalizing influences, and of English women graduates competent
+to teach on specialized lines, would raise the educational standard.
+The complete separation of such colleges from the High schools
+would render a corporate life possible, and give to the Indian girl
+graduates the opportunity of carrying on their studies in congenial
+and stimulating surroundings. “To them, too, college life might bring
+that joyous spring-time of youth, friendship, and unfettered delight of
+study and leisure which have hitherto been withheld from them.”[148]
+The Maharani of Baroda notes in her recent book[149] the tendency of
+women’s education in Europe to take a too exclusively literary form,
+and the consequent overcrowding of certain professions. While there is
+no danger that the teaching profession will be overcrowded in India
+for decades to come, the warning is not without its value. Such a
+University might have affiliated with it colleges of Indian Domestic
+Science and Economy, but the theory for this has yet to be worked out.
+
+It may seem to some readers, especially to those rightly imbued with
+the Eastern principle of _festina lente_, that the day for women’s
+colleges in India has not yet come, and that all available strength
+should be concentrated on Secondary education; and yet, on the other
+hand, the crux of the whole educational problem may be found here. Miss
+Emily Davies, who by universal consent stands as the chief pioneer of
+the movement in Britain, realized from the first that the reform in
+girls’ education must begin at the top. The same principle is seen in
+the history of Cheltenham Ladies College (founded 1853), and the early
+efforts of Miss Beale to face the same problem of the need of teachers,
+which is felt in every Indian school to-day. “Her efforts show how
+hard it was to found a school before the reformation of the higher
+education had given the necessary stimulus from above. It was a case
+of making bricks without straw.”[150] The proximity of certain dates
+is suggestive. In 1869, the “Girton Pioneers” first met at Hitchin to
+read for the examinations of the University of Cambridge. In 1872,
+the Girls’ Public Day School Company was founded, and in 1879 the
+Oxford Women’s Halls were opened. The two movements are of necessity
+contemporaneous, and cannot be viewed as successive stages towards the
+same end.
+
+The beginning exists in India; much excellent pioneer work has been
+done, and it now remains to raise the whole movement to a status from
+which its future development on Indian and womanly lines would be
+assured.
+
+
+
+
+ X
+
+ THE RELIGIOUS ELEMENT IN EDUCATION
+
+ “Education, education--education about what? Education about matter,
+ mere material things, thoughts and ideas. Education, according to the
+ Vedas, is the opening of the petals of the mind-lotus to the rays of
+ the spiritual sun, and that is what we now want first.”
+ --Swami Baba Pramânand Bhârati.
+
+
+The analysis of the religious element in education is a deep and subtle
+problem, and yet, at the same time, this element is the touchstone by
+which all systems of education are ultimately tested. The formation
+of independent thought and judgment, and of an upright character,
+spontaneously moral, may lead in adolescent years to the attainment
+of some unifying philosophy of life which shall dominate and satisfy
+the religious nature. The successful quest of this during the “silent
+period,” and the re-interpretation of it during a college career,
+must be the aim of all education. How is this aim to be achieved?
+The separation of religion from education in a Christian country,
+where morality is under the corporate sanction of inherited religious
+tradition, may be a dangerous experiment, but it is made under the
+supposition that the influence of home and Church will supplement the
+teaching at school. In India, a country of conflicting faiths, all in a
+period of transition, and withal a country of deep religious instinct,
+the case is different. There is no corporate sanction: religion and
+moral principles are not necessarily kindred terms; the influence of
+school and of home are often diverse, and thus the former, if it is
+in any sense to be the builder of character, must include religion as
+the only unifying educational factor. Theoretically, this statement
+is justified and endorsed, not only by missionary enthusiasts, but by
+official opinion and by Indian sentiment in so far as it is articulate;
+its practical endorsement, on the other hand, is one of the most
+difficult problems of Indian administration. A brief sketch of the
+attitude of Government in the past, and of the modern desire for its
+modification may serve to show the relation which this question bears
+to the present development of women’s education.
+
+The great educational Charter of 1854 established the Indian system
+on the only basis which seemed in accord with our whole Indian
+policy--that of religious neutrality; but it was not, as is sometimes
+erroneously supposed, an endorsement of a wholly secular policy. The
+Government could not of itself undertake direct religious teaching
+in its own schools, but the system of “grants-in-aid” with which it
+endowed the voluntary schools was “based on an entire abstinence
+from interference with the religious instruction conveyed in the
+schools assisted.” “The framers of this Despatch entertained the
+hope that under its provisions Hindu, Mohammedan, and Christian
+managers would supply, each class in its own particular way, what was
+already known to be a great defect of the course of instruction in
+Government institutions. The same hope was one of the chief reasons
+that led the Education Commission to make and the Government of India
+to adopt the recommendation that ‘the improvement and extension of
+institutions under private management be the principal care of the
+Department.’”[151] At the same time many of its members believed that
+even the more secular instruction given in the Government schools
+would remove ignorance and superstition, and ultimately pave the way
+towards the acceptance of Christianity. Moreover, definite provision
+was made for the inquiring mind. “The Bible is, we understand, placed
+in the libraries of the colleges and schools, and the pupils are freely
+able to consult it. This is as it should be; and, moreover, we have no
+desire to prevent, or discourage, any explanations which the pupils
+may of their own free-will ask from the masters on the subject of the
+Christian religion, provided that such information be given out of
+school hours.” The agitation of those who wished a more definitely
+Christian attitude to be adopted aimed at voluntary teaching of the
+Bible, where a suitable teacher could be procured, and a suggestion of
+teaching the Indian religions parallel with it is scarcely found. The
+argument, as it might be presented to an Indian expostulating in favour
+of neutrality, is thus put in Sir John Lawrence’s Despatches:--“We
+offer you the Bible in our Government schools because we believe it
+to be for your inestimable good if you choose to listen to it. We
+do not wish you to study it unless you do so voluntarily. But you
+cannot expect us to help in teaching your religion, which we do not
+believe to be true. That you can do for yourselves.”[152] “The Indian
+religions ought not to be taught; they have ample means of their own
+for doing this.” It should be noted that at this time the Samājes
+had not arisen, nor the Hindu reform movement, and that the Western
+comprehension of things Indian and religious was much more limited than
+it is now. The Despatch of 1859, after reviewing the various arguments
+for the modification of the “secular” policy, finally sums up--“They
+[Her Majesty’s Government] are unable, therefore, to sanction any
+modification of the rule of strict religious neutrality, as it has
+hitherto been enforced in the Government schools, and it accordingly
+remains that the Holy Scriptures being kept in the library, and being
+open to all the pupils who may wish to study them, and the teachers
+being at liberty to afford instruction and explanations regarding
+them to all who may voluntarily seek it, the course of study in
+all Government Institutions be, as heretofore, confined to secular
+subjects.”[153] The emphasis on the place of the aided school and
+the Government school has varied in the different periods of Indian
+administration and in different localities, but in the main in the
+education of boys the Government or municipal school has predominated.
+Its possible religious influence has been negative; and while there
+is no record of the English teacher expounding the Bible to inquiring
+minds after school hours, as the Despatches fondly picture, there
+is ample evidence that the Western education introduced sapped the
+foundations of ancient belief and substituted no new positive sanction
+of moral principles. The Hindu and Mohammedan effort of the early days
+on Western lines was also, with the exception of Aligarh College,
+largely on a secular basis. Thus, the place of definite religious
+teaching was confined to the schools under missionary management, and
+though their influence, especially in South India, has been enormous,
+it can in no sense be considered conterminous with Western education in
+India. A predominantly secular education has therefore produced its own
+fruits, and a discussion of it when so much literature already exists
+on the subject is superfluous.
+
+The modern reaction is manifest in popular speeches, in the Press,
+and in Government reports. An Indian writer pleads that the Durbar
+boon of additional grants for education is no boon, but a curse, if
+it perpetuate only the “nauseatingly materialistic, all-intellectual,
+and soul-killing system,” and is not in consonance with the
+“natural ideals, national aspirations, and the world-old mental
+characteristics”[154] of the Indian people. It would be easy to
+multiply quotations in grandiloquent language, which, for all their
+quaintness, have a strong element of truth. Parallel with the plea
+for religious instruction, and to a certain extent confused with
+it, is the plea for moral instruction, either apart from or based
+on religion. The most trustworthy evidence as to the extent of this
+demand and its somewhat incoherent nature was given at the Government
+Educational Conference held recently in Allahabad, when a whole day was
+devoted to the subject of Moral and Religious Education. The preceding
+questionnaire inquired (_a_) how far moral lessons were included
+in the ordinary Primary readers, (_b_) whether special moral
+text-books were in use, (_c_) whether direct moral instruction
+was given and appreciated, (_d_) whether the trend of public
+opinion was really in favour of moral instruction in the schools, and
+finally (_e_) whether any divergent views thereon were based on
+differences of creed. Most of the provinces reported a certain element
+of moral instruction in the shape of stories and poetry in the readers,
+with the comment that these were mainly used as reading or grammar
+lessons, or else were too didactically taught to have any lasting
+effect. Certain moral text-books are in use, but these are mainly of a
+religious nature and found in the newer Indian schools. The “Sanatana
+Dharma” series, issued by the Central Hindu College, Benares, which
+attempts to deal only with basal principles of religion, is used by
+the Surat municipality, in Mysore, in Baroda and elsewhere, but is not
+generally acceptable to orthodox Hindus. The classic Bhaghavat Gita--an
+eclectic synopsis reconciling different systems of Hindu philosophy
+and religion--is also taught as a class-book in the higher classes
+of certain schools in Bengal which were started as rivals to mission
+schools. The Anjuman-i-Islamia, Lahore, also prepares books for both
+Primary and Secondary classes in Mohammedan schools, and in these again
+moral instruction is imparted through religious references. Moral
+text-books pure and simple are not used except occasionally those of
+the International Moral League in some of the hostels in Baroda and
+elsewhere. As regards lessons in direct moral teaching, apart from
+religion, there seem to be exceedingly few. A few debating societies
+exist for this purpose. One school reports a weekly lecture thereon,
+but the boys of the school are credited with stoning a visiting cricket
+team which had defeated them! Moral instruction combined with religion
+is more common than it is thought in the Indian aided schools, and
+various instances are on record. The old-fashioned Koranic schools and
+Sanskrit “_tols_” are steeped in religion. “To describe the system
+of moral training in such institutions would be to write an account
+of the rites and tenets of the Hindu and Mohammedan religions.”[155]
+With two exceptions the reports show in detail a general state of
+dissatisfaction with things as they are, and a desire for definite
+moral instruction combined with a strong preference for a religious
+basis where such could be made possible. The words “moral instruction”
+seem also to have become a sort of shibboleth. “People are also rather
+vague as to what comes under the head of religion or morality.” A
+Brahman student is instanced as having devoted much time to religion,
+which was found to mean “breathing exercises.” “There are a few of
+exceptional intelligence who hold that the teaching of morality must
+be based on religion. These would advocate the teaching of a religion,
+or rather a combination of religious truths that all men could agree
+on.” “The public mind in Bengal is not ripe for the idea of moral
+instruction totally severed from religion.” At the same time it is
+noticed that little advantage has as yet been taken of the opportunity
+to teach religion in the Government schools in the United Provinces
+and in Burma. The restrictions which surround it in the former and the
+recent date of the permission for it in the latter may possibly account
+for this.
+
+The bulk of the answers to the questionnaire issued by the Conference
+may be summed up in respect of moral instruction as follows: it is
+inefficient, unless impressed by the personality of the teacher, and
+unless based on religion; a merely moral system can be accepted only
+in circumstances which completely prohibit the religious element.
+Combined with the desire for it is a certain healthy scepticism as to
+whether moral instruction can be imparted in small doses, and whether
+the more effective influence is not the general discipline and tone of
+the school. The discussions at the Conference, which represented every
+shade of official and religious opinion, followed the same line. The
+emphatic testimony of Christian and Mohammedan dwelt on the need for
+the religious sanction, the Hindu testimony on the same need, but also
+on the impossibility for Hindus of finding a common ground amongst
+themselves. “No teaching which rests merely upon the basic principles
+of religion will be accepted by Hindus as taking the place of directly
+orthodox religion.”[156] The incorporation of moral teaching in the
+Government system by means of a general text-book seemed at best only a
+makeshift, and did not meet with universal approval.
+
+The evidence of the Allahabad Conference reveals a need and a deadlock.
+The country needs morality taught under religious sanction, but how
+can a Government pledged irrevocably to religious neutrality provide
+this? The granting of equal opportunity in the Government and
+municipal schools for parallel instruction in the various faiths, as
+Sir Valentine Chirol suggests,[157] would not meet the special case of
+the Hindus, and might possibly complicate the position of the mission
+schools. The disintegration of a school where rival influences were
+at work would further render impossible the unity necessary to tone
+and discipline. The solution of the problem seems rather to lie in the
+_religious influence of a single kind_, and this is possible only
+in the aided schools. The development of these, and the allocation of
+a greater proportion of public funds to them, especially now that the
+indigenous Indian schools of the newer type are developing religious
+instruction, would be in historical continuity with the principles of
+1854, and would not contradict the principles of neutrality.
+
+The problem of female education was not considered separately at
+Allahabad, and there was no reference throughout the discussion to
+girls’ schools. But though girls’ education may be assumed to be some
+fifty years behind that of boys, a great deal of the report has a very
+direct bearing on our subject as indicating dangers to be avoided and a
+more profitable course to be pursued. The whole question is even more
+vital in their case, as the removal of religious and moral principles
+would be fraught with consequences even more serious to the community.
+How far is the education of women in India undermining their religious
+beliefs? How far is this influence being counteracted by moral
+teaching, or by definite instruction in the principles of their own
+religion or of Christianity?
+
+As regards the vast proportion of girls who attain a mere literacy
+in the Primary schools, the disintegrating influence can scarcely be
+said to have begun; on the other hand, in the Government and municipal
+schools there is a lack of constructive influence guiding them towards
+that which is true, honest, and of good report. Exceptional women
+amongst the few trained teachers may use the opportunity afforded by
+the moral lessons in the readers, but only the exceptional women.
+Schools started for girls by Indian societies have arisen mostly in the
+later period of religious revival, and some of their Primary schools
+are saturated with religion. In so far as an outsider can judge, this
+tends mainly to the abnormal development of the repetitive faculty. In
+the Christian Primary schools the influence of the Biblical instruction
+given naturally varies enormously according to the method of the
+Indian teacher and according to the frequency of the visits of the
+English missionary. The writer has watched a Scripture lesson given
+by an Indian teacher to a group of Bengali girls aged about eight
+years; their attention, response, and independent questions compared
+favourably with those of English children of the same age. It is also
+part of the ordinary experience of the zenana visitor to find the
+influence and memory of these school lessons still alive amongst those
+who have long left school.
+
+In the Secondary and Training stages, the question is totally
+different, and the beginning of the influence which has proved
+so disastrous on the men’s side is already felt. The Head of one
+Government Normal school stated, “Our education cannot fail to
+undermine their previous ideas,” and then commented afterwards on the
+ineffectiveness of the moral instruction she was trying to introduce.
+In some of the Government schools where the Principal is a woman
+of special ability and tact, moral instruction is given, but as a
+rule it is not attempted. In the Government mixed colleges there is
+naturally no influence of this nature. In the Indian schools religious
+instruction is the rule, its character, as indicated in the reports to
+the Allahabad Conference, differing enormously in different places. In
+some it is carefully thought-out moral instruction, linked with those
+ideas in the particular religious faith which bear it out. The Benares
+school is a typical example of this; the whole school join in morning
+_puja_, to Sarasvati, the goddess of learning, and there are
+special times during the week for instruction from the Sanatana Dharma
+series. The new Hindu High school in Bombay is visited once a week for
+the purpose by a Brahman, and a small catechism of a more orthodox
+nature is in use. The only Buddhist girls’ Anglo-Vernacular school
+in Burma is marked by a strong religious tone. Instruction is given
+daily by an elderly priest to the whole school together, “in order that
+they may feel religion is the most important thing in daily life and
+therefore must be daily.” A specimen of the catechism used is typical:--
+
+ “What are the three things to seek daily?
+ Truth, Knowledge, Righteousness.”
+
+ “What will you do when you go home?
+ We will do salutation to our parents.”
+
+ “And afterwards?
+ We will do our work.”
+
+ “And in the morning?
+ Our first thought will be of righteousness.”[158]
+
+Religious and moral instruction is now given in most of the Parsi
+schools of Bombay under the auspices of a special Zoroastrian
+Association. This is, I understand, an innovation of the last ten
+years. In the schools under committees of different faiths the same
+difficulty is felt as in the Government schools. It is solved in one
+case by carefully prepared moral instruction on an eclectic basis, in
+another by parallel religious observances. There is no uniformity in
+practice, but the universal attempt is a clear proof that the Indian
+desire for education on a religious basis for their daughters is
+genuine.
+
+The Christian factor so far has been the predominating one,
+for the “bulk of female Secondary education is provided by the
+missionaries.”[159] The religious atmosphere is one of unity and
+simplicity. It is part of the wonderful tolerance of Hinduism and
+its desire to embrace other faiths in its pervading atmosphere, that
+Hindu girls can share outwardly in Christian worship without apparent
+realization of its incompatibility with their ancestral religion. The
+daily instruction is given in class groups, and where the non-Christian
+element enters largely there is usually a separate classification for
+this. Its bearing is stated in simple direct terms by a teacher. “The
+education of any child is not complete which has not led it consciously
+to realize the supernatural, and the revelation of God in Christ.”
+In the few schools where a “conscience clause” exists, it is not as
+a rule taken advantage of. The girls in one convent who were thus
+exempted sat in the back row quietly and were not asked questions;
+they also attended chapel, but might take their own books with them.
+Another curious instance of the working of the Hindu mind is seen in
+the case of an Indian gentleman who withdrew his daughters from the
+regular school lesson by virtue of the conscience clause, but sent
+them back voluntarily to a special Scripture class held once a week.
+Caste prejudice was possibly justified by this arrangement. The tone
+and influence of the Christian schools is greatly appreciated; it is
+this which fills the Diocesan School in Calcutta with pupils, although
+a thorough education is available in the Bethune School. A high-caste
+Brahman lady in Bombay testified in the warmest tones to the wonderful
+character and spirit of the Catholic sisters who had educated her,
+and to whom she had sent her daughters. It is not only the English
+education which attracts, it is something more. It would be invidious
+to multiply instances, but the testimony is practically universal to
+the acceptability of educational work done in the name of Christ.
+
+The three factors contributing to the education of women in India have
+thus a varying contribution to make to the most fundamental element in
+education, and it is this diversity which supplies the keynote to the
+whole problem, and indicates the line for Western action in the future.
+The share of the Government, as indicated by the present policy in
+Eastern Bengal, Madras,[160] the United Provinces, and elsewhere will
+of necessity become an increasing one in the direct establishment of
+schools, if there is not a sufficient development of aided schools to
+meet the rising tide. Its contribution to religion will be a negative
+one. The spontaneous Indian schools which attempt to supply the need
+are at their best--and they are not always at their best--only an
+imperfect solution. It would be but a poor form of Christianity which
+failed to recognize the diverse manners in which God has revealed
+Himself to the world, and the truth of permanent value in the great
+ethnic faiths of the world which finds its final interpretation in That
+which is Perfect. There is nothing more striking in the modern reform
+movements of India than the reflection in them of Christian thought and
+idealism, and this is specially seen in the instruction given in the
+girls’ schools. Christian hymns are used with certain specific verses
+left out, the Lord’s Prayer is printed in a Parsi manual of devotion,
+verses from Watts and Charles Kingsley are in the Benares series, and
+the hope of Christ as the Lode Star of Indian thought can be read
+in many a school manual. Together with all this is the perpetual
+allegorizing of such facts in Indian literature as will not bear the
+pure ethical light. Principal Paranjpe of the Fergusson College at
+Poona, in arguing at the Bombay Educational Conference for a secular
+basis for moral teaching, held that to make morality depend upon
+religion is dangerous if the religious sanction comes to be no longer
+regarded as binding. His speech is so illuminating as to be worth while
+quoting in full:--“In times like ours where landmarks that were but
+yesterday regarded as perennial are being removed to-day and are likely
+to be forgotten to-morrow, it is best not to cling to too many rocks.
+The one solid rock on which we can rest is our own reason. If eating
+pork is a heinous sin with one set of people, beef with another, and
+any meat at all with a third, how can the alleged basis of morality be
+regarded as absolute! Especially when, as in India, there are various
+religions, each religion divided into innumerable sects, and each sect
+divided into many separate sections; when the feeling aroused by any
+religious question is of a pitch which can hardly be conceived in
+Western countries; when the respectability of a man is in inverse ratio
+to the number of people he is able to associate with without coming
+into conflict with the prevailing religious ideas--it will be seen that
+the less we have to do with religion in moulding the character of young
+children the better for our national being. Let boys be taught to see
+that there are some principles which they can all believe irrespective
+of the fact that they belong to one religion or several. It is only in
+this way that our various races can be brought closer together.”[161]
+To bring morality into relation with a religion which is ethical to
+the core, and which has attained with modern science and historical
+criticism only a fuller and deeper content, is to place it on a new
+footing and to endow it with spiritual power. While full sympathy
+must be extended to the Indian effort, the emphasis must fall on the
+Christian schools. They alone can supply in full the religious element
+so needed in Indian education. The present situation offers to them
+in increasing measure an opportunity for a voluntary contribution of
+the needed spiritual force and power to the educational development
+of India. Their contribution, as already indicated, has been great,
+but modern conditions demand something more. Old schools must be
+remodelled, new schools started; independent work must be done in
+adapting curricula to Indian ideas and the special needs of girls; the
+whole educational machinery must be raised to the level of the standard
+required for men if the opportunity for imparting this spiritual power
+is to be retained.
+
+No social or religious problem can bear isolation, and if this book has
+treated the question of the education of women in detail and in its
+technical bearings, the relation of that question to the Christianizing
+of Indian life and thought is the main interest in its composition.
+The problem is a question of character, but of character built upon
+personal contact with the Christ-life in God--a question of environment
+and curricula, but also of showing that Christianity is of the East,
+and Eastern in its spiritual appeal; a question of womanhood, but
+also of that more perfect human fellowship where Christ is all and
+in all. “Jesus Christ, by the silent action of a lifetime, laid the
+first emphasis on the identity of woman’s humanity rather than on the
+difference of her sex, thus both dignifying her and man in his attitude
+to her.”[162] The solution of India’s social problem lies in the
+fulfilment of the Christian ideal, and the progress towards it must be
+a united one, in which both sexes share alike. The negative influence
+of the home is often found to be the strongest in the student life of
+the great Christian colleges, and many an earnest man has fallen back
+from what he seemed to have gained because of a silent, unseen woman.
+The work of Christian education in leavening thought and producing
+the atmosphere in which there is hope of the ultimate acceptance of
+Christianity is regarded by many as the most potent influence for
+the Kingdom of God in India. The great majority of converts in later
+life, who belonged to the high-castes, have been drawn from the ranks
+of those who have been educated in Christian schools, and in spite of
+intense opposition there are actually men to-day who seek for baptism
+during their college career.[163] There is the further, and perhaps in
+the sure Providence of God the greater, result in the permeation of
+Hindu society by Christian thought and sentiment, which may yet pave
+the way for a movement of the higher castes to Christ. At the recent
+anniversary services of the Prārthanā Samāj in Bombay, the sermon
+preached by a Justice of the High Court, on the present day as “The
+Age of the Holy Spirit, the Age of Education,” throbbed throughout
+with the reverence of one who had studied at the feet of Jesus. The
+long open hall was packed from end to end with young men who had been
+touched by the new ideas; in one corner sat some twelve Indian women
+whose sympathies were with them. The disparity of the two sexes in the
+audience indicted how the leavening influence of Christian education
+will be deprived of half its power unless it touches the family as
+the unit of civilization. The “direct result” longed for by those
+who teach in Christian schools is not lacking. It is unnecessary in
+these days to contradict once more the impression that the baptism of
+children and girls of immature age is attempted. There are some cases
+of the baptism of mother and child together, where careful zenana
+visiting has followed up the school pupil; others--and these are the
+majority--are secret disciples whose whole environment is massed up
+against an open confession. One Moslem girl in the higher classes of
+a Christian school is convinced of the truth of Christianity; every
+vacation her parents inquire whether she is a Christian yet, and she
+knows that if she replies in the affirmative all the advantages which
+her younger sisters are enjoying in another Christian school will
+cease. The case is not an extreme one. There is a different story of a
+girl in Burma who was found teaching the children of her jungle village
+daily, and gathering them on Sundays for Bible stories and hymns,
+“until,” as she put it, “some one comes who can do it better than I.”
+Her former school knew nothing of it, and but for the chance visit of a
+Commissioner’s wife the tale would never have been told. Surely this is
+direct result.
+
+Christian educational work has also its place in the problem of the
+Indian Church. Ultimately the interpretation of Christ to India
+must be through the Indian, and the building up of a strong Indian
+Christian community is strategically necessary. The power of the Indian
+Christian home is in proportion to the power of the woman. Yet only 43%
+of the Christian community are being educated. The dangers of mass
+movements and of illiterate, uninstructed Christianity on one side,
+of europeanizing the convert and educating him beyond his capacity on
+the other, show at the same time the necessity and the difficulty of
+action. The less romantic educational work of industrial orphanages has
+its place in the building up of a strong, true community. The training
+of Christian girls as teachers, through whom the leavening process
+will again work on the non-Christian village life, is perhaps the most
+definite and most direct form of influence.
+
+There is no more subtle problem than the lack of any characteristically
+Indian note in the Indian Christianity which is now assuming some
+numerical importance. “There is no doubt that the lack of vitality,
+the half dead and half alive spirituality which is the present
+characteristic of the Indian Church, is due to enforced conformity to
+Western standards of what is Christian and what is not Christian.”[164]
+It may be that this problem too has its relation to the education on
+Christian and Oriental lines of the women, who have been from all time
+the custodians of religion, the upholders of traditional custom, and
+conservative rite.[165]
+
+From whatever point the larger question of the whole country is viewed,
+it seems to attain perspective and reality in relation to the education
+of its womanhood, and it is only thus as part of one great Christian
+movement that the feminist problem receives its right emphasis and
+value.
+
+
+
+
+ XI
+
+ CONCLUSION
+
+ “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of
+ the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of
+ the fulness of Christ.”
+ +EPHESIANS+ iv. 13.
+
+
+The spiritual heritage of the twentieth century is marked by extreme
+diversity and yet by a deep inward reality. The march of science and
+commerce, and the development of international relationships have
+given a new content and width to the world’s thought. Isolated life
+is powerless, and a larger synthesis links the human race together.
+All such relationship must inevitably have spiritual content. The
+social upheaval, the claim of the individual for recognition, have a
+determining influence on the interpretation of our faith. Pragmatism
+in modern philosophy tests religion by its results. The religious
+evolution necessitated by the play of international forces is all the
+more critical in that it is to a certain extent unconscious. There is
+a deep Christianity apart from the Church as it is, which has yet to
+make the Church its own. The demand is now for reality--an embodiment
+of religious principles in modern social conditions; for charity--a
+sympathy with the ethnic faiths which is the surer for belief in the
+finality of the Christian revelation; for unity, since the modern mind
+cannot accept a Christianity which does not transcend and interpret all
+political, social, and intellectual life. “It is not our duty to-day to
+fight for a new religion; we have but to awaken into freshness of life
+the fathomless depths of Christianity. In so far as we succeed in doing
+this, we can completely satisfy the requirements of the new situation;
+we can seek to realize a Christianity that shall be at once more
+universal and more active and intent on disengaging itself from its
+anthropomorphisms; at the same time we shall view as our very own the
+wealth of religious profundity and inward experience which the older
+Christianity has gathered through its centuries of service, and shall
+seek to realize them in our own life.”[166]
+
+The growth of the desire to make Christianity universal is perhaps the
+most wonderful phase in the advance of thought; while in one sense
+it is very old and a return to the primitive times of the faith, its
+modern phase thrills with fresh content by the ever-present working
+of the Spirit of God. The fresh light which criticism has shed on
+the historical Jesus has thrown once more into relief His wonderful
+doctrine of the brotherhood of men in the Fatherhood of God. The desire
+is not so much to bring salvation to those whom a rigid theology long
+condemned as “heathen,” as to give freely of the fulness received in
+clear consciousness of the solidarity of the human race. The world’s
+best thought must be in terms of Christian philosophy; the Kingdom is
+conceived as present now in power; Christ is seen as the Fulfiller of
+all that is true and eternal in the ancient Faiths, and essentially the
+Saviour of the corporate life.
+
+The appeal of this book is thus for the Christianizing of every factor
+in the education of women in India. None of the three contributing
+forces need be alien to the Spirit of Christ; their unity, their mutual
+relationship, and the necessity of their presence in a transitional
+period must be felt and realized. Can all this educational advance be
+made, if not directly in the Name of Christ, at least in the power
+of His Spirit? The Government influence must determine the tone and
+character of the whole frame-work. Can the Educational Service be
+supplied in all its branches with women who, while absolutely loyal to
+the great principle of neutrality, yet seek through it the spiritual in
+the material, and whose whole work in Empire-building is consciously
+related to the Kingdom of Christ? India has known men of this type
+in the Government Service, and has esteemed their strict neutrality
+the more because of the Christian conviction which lay behind it. The
+influence of Christian ethics in the Government schools behind such
+moral instruction as is possible is enormous, and it naturally enters
+into the teaching of secular subjects. The direct influence permitted
+out of school hours is a matter of great difficulty and calls for the
+utmost discretion. If the Government policy were ultimately modified so
+as to permit of parallel religious instruction, the direct opportunity
+would be present, but in the meantime indirect religious influence has
+a very definite place.
+
+The spontaneous Indian element will have an important contribution to
+make in the determining of the curricula. Will the Indian committees,
+who need the help of English women, be able to secure those of the
+highest talent and educational qualifications, who for the sake of
+Christ will give them of their best and remain, if silent, yet strong
+in the Faith? This is hard and perplexing work, and calls for strong
+personalities, but it is fraught with endless possibility. India will
+never be won if she does not behold Christianity in her midst lived in
+the lives of those who pursue their ordinary vocation in the Spirit of
+the Master.
+
+These suggestions are made with hesitation lest their attraction should
+weigh with those who could take the more definite line of associating
+themselves with the educational work in India which is done directly
+in the name of Christ. The development of this work on sound lines
+by women of experience and of the highest educational qualifications
+is, as has been indicated in the preceding chapter, the keynote to
+the whole problem. In no work is there such a magnificent sphere of
+influence as in this. A spiritual heritage involves responsibility and
+opportunity. Nearly a century of patient work for the women of India
+is written in the annals of the Church: the task of the present day is
+to enter into this work with the same earnest patience. The need for
+action is urgent. It is not only that there are endless opportunities
+for new work which are not being utilized, but that schools with an
+excellent tradition are not being raised to the modern standard of
+efficiency. They are inevitably handicapped by shortage in the English
+staff. A young girl of little experience may find herself almost at
+once at the head of some most complex institution, long before she
+would ever have had such a position of responsibility at home. The
+perpetual strain on those who work on at such tension prevents the due
+result. In other cases the needed and desired expansion is checked by
+lack of the trained educator who could supervise village schools and
+their teachers, or who could put her energy and talent into building
+up a first-class school for non-Christian girls in the centre of
+some district where the new spirit is manifest. Facts indicate the
+appointment in the future of women to act as Tutors or Directresses
+of Studies to the girl students in the mixed mission colleges. There
+is the possibility also of women’s Christian colleges. On every side
+the need is apparent, and the power to meet it lies with the women
+of the English-speaking countries. It is work which makes demands on
+intellect, on character, and on the religious nature. The hesitation
+to respond to it springs in part from the sense of reverence for
+things sacred. There are women in educational circles at home who hold
+the truth of Christianity and its sufficiency to meet the need of the
+whole world, but have not offered to share in educational missions
+lest their contribution be not of the required type. There is need in
+India for every type of worker. Christianity gains there, as at home,
+by interpretation through diverse personalities, and there is room
+for all who can reflect, it may be silently, its spirit and power in
+the daily routine of work. A sense of vocation is a sense of personal
+relationship to Him Who calls, and therein lies the motive power for
+all educational work done in the name of Christ.
+
+
+
+
+ Appendix A
+
+ +CURRICULA+
+
+
+Matriculation subjects of the five Universities of Calcutta, Madras,
+Bombay, Panjāb, and Allahabad:--
+
+ English and Mathematics, compulsory in all.
+
+ History and Geography, compulsory in all except Calcutta.
+
+ Science, compulsory in Madras and Bombay; elective in the other three.
+
+ Classical language, compulsory in Calcutta, Bombay, Panjāb;
+ alternative with vernacular in Madras; elective in Allahabad.
+
+ Vernacular compulsory in Calcutta and Bombay; alternative with
+ classical in Madras; elective in Allahabad and Panjāb.
+
+ Drawing, elective in Allahabad and Panjāb.
+
+ +TEXT-BOOKS+
+
+
+ State Schools.--No choice.
+
+ Aided Schools.--Choice among authorized alternatives.
+
+ Unaided but recognized Schools.--Abstention from books disapproved by
+ Government.
+
+ Text-book Committees.--In every case appointed by Government, and
+ include official and non-official members; in some provinces places
+ are reserved for members of the staff of mission schools.
+
+From Analysis of Educational Codes in British India.
+
+
+
+
+ Appendix B
+
+ +COURSES FOR THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS+
+
+
+Training colleges and classes:--
+
+ (1) Graduate Course--one year. } Both in
+ (2) Undergraduate Course--two years. } English.
+ (3) Vernacular Course--after Middle examination--two years.
+ (4) Lower Vernacular Course--after
+ Upper Primary examination (women only)--two years.
+
+Courses (1) and (2) are pursued in the Universities, in special English
+Training schools for men, or in the Training Department of some
+European schools.
+
+Courses (3) and (4) in Government or mission Vernacular Training
+schools for women. These consist frequently of very small groups in an
+ordinary Middle or High school. A few students are also found in mixed
+schools.
+
+
+
+
+ Appendix C
+
+ Diagram showing INCREASE OF FEMALE EDUCATION in India.
+
+
+ [Illustration:
+
+ In Burma 9.6% of girls of school age are receiving education.
+ ” Bombay 7.2% ” ” ” ”
+ ” Madras 6.8% ” ” ” ”
+ ” Bengal 4.3% ” ” ” ”
+ ” Punjāb 3.1% ” ” ” ”
+ ” United
+ Provinces 1.3% ” ” ” ”
+ ]
+
+
+
+
+ Bibliography
+
+
+ +BARODA+, Maharani of. _Position of Women in Indian Life_.
+
+ +BRADLEY BIRT, F. B.+ _Romance of an Eastern Capital_.
+
+ +CARPENTER, J. E.+ _Life of Mary Carpenter_.
+
+ +CARPENTER, M.+ _Six Months in India_.
+
+ +CHAILLEY, J.+ _Administrative Problems in British India_.
+
+ +CHIROL+, Sir +VALENTINE+. _Indian Unrest_.
+
+ +DAVIES, E.+ _Questions relating to Women_.
+
+ +DUTT, R. C.+ _Ancient India_.
+
+ +DUTT, R. C.+ Translation of _Ramāyana and Mahabhārata_.
+
+ +FESTINÉ, G.+ _From the Land of the Princes_.
+
+ +FRASER+, Sir +ANDREW+. _Among Rajahs and Ryots_.
+
+ +JAMES, H. R.+ _Education and Statesmanship in India_, 1797-1910.
+
+ +LOW, SIDNEY.+ _A Vision of India_.
+
+ +LYALL+, Sir +ALFRED+. _Asiatic Studies_.
+
+ +MITRA, S. C.+ _Indian Problems_.
+
+ +NEVINSON, H. W.+ _The New Spirit in India_.
+
+ +PURSER, W. C. B.+ _Christian Missions in Burma_.
+
+ +POOLE, F. F.+ _Woman’s Influence in the East_.
+
+ +RICE, B. L.+ _Mysore_.
+
+ +RULERS OF INDIA SERIES.+ Edited by Sir William Hunter.
+
+ +RICHTER, J.+ _History of Missions in India_.
+
+ +SCOTT+, Sir +GEO.+ _Burma_.
+
+ +SMITH, GEO.+ _Life of Alexander Duff_.
+
+ +SORABJI, C.+ _Between the Twilights_.
+
+ +STEELE, F. A.+ _India through the Ages_.
+
+ +STRACHEY+, Sir +JOHN+. _India_.
+
+ +ZIMMERN, ALICE.+ _Renaissance of Girls’ Education_.
+
+
+ _Imperial Gazetteer of India_.
+
+ _Quinquennial Report on Progress of Education in India, 1907_.
+
+ _Public Instruction Reports, 1860-1910_. Selections
+
+ _Statistical Abstract relating to British India, 1911_.
+
+ _Reports of Various Missionary Societies_.
+
+
+
+
+ Index
+
+
+ +AHMEDABAD+, 181
+
+ Ahmednagar, 180
+
+ Ajmer-Merwara, 156
+
+ Alexandra School, 173
+
+ All-Indian Moslem League, 24
+
+ Allahabad Conference, 231
+
+ Alwar, 154
+
+ American Baptist Mission, 67, 151
+
+ American Board, 178
+
+ Amherst, Lady, 36, 103
+
+ Anglo-Indian (Eurasian), 63, 69, 76, 90, 180
+
+ Anjuman-i-Islamia, 229
+
+ Ārya Samāj, 15, 133, 157
+
+
+ +BAPTISTS+, 67, 85, 151
+
+ Baroda: Maharani of, 15, 103, 221;
+
+ ---- schools in, 148, 229
+
+ Benares, 133, 229
+
+ Bengali, 101
+
+ Besant, Mrs, 133
+
+ Bethune School and College, 36, 45, 110, 194, 206
+
+ Bharat Stri Mahamandal, 17
+
+ Bhopal, 27
+
+ Bhore, Miss, 181
+
+ Bombay, 160 ff.
+
+ Bose, Miss, 111, 201
+
+ Brāhma-Samāj, 14, 89, 102, 111, 123, 198
+
+ Buddhist, 60, 66, 196, 234
+
+
+ +CALCUTTA, SCHOOL SOCIETY+, 34, 103
+
+ Capitation grant, 130
+
+ Carpenter, Miss, 38, 42
+
+ Chanda Ramji, 167
+
+ Chichgar, 173
+
+ Chiefs’ College, 145
+
+ Christian students, 197 ff.
+
+ Church Missionary Society, 104, 139, 142, 194
+
+ Clewer Sisters, 116
+
+ Compulsory Education, 24, 149
+
+ Conversion, 242
+
+ Cook, Miss, 35, 103
+
+ Covernton, 210, 217
+
+ Curriculum, 53, 71, 95, 125, 144, 189, 203
+
+ Cursetji, 166
+
+
+ +DACCA+, 78
+
+ Danish missionaries, 35
+
+ Davies, Emily, 221
+
+ Dehra Dun, 133
+
+ Diocesan High School, Calcutta, 116, 194
+
+ Duff, Dr Alex., 35
+
+ Dufferin Fund, 212
+
+
+ +EDEN GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL+, 89
+
+ Education: Despatch, 1854: 34, 224;
+
+ ---- Commission, 1884: 34, 46;
+
+ ---- Despatch, 1904: 46
+
+ Elphinstone, Lord, 162;
+
+ ---- College, 194
+
+ Eurasian, cp. Anglo-Indian
+
+
+ +FRERE, LADY+, 172
+
+
+ +GĀRGĀ+, 29
+
+ Gokhale, G. K., 20, 24
+
+ Gondal, Rani of, 15
+
+ Government, system of education, 22 ff.
+
+ Government: attitude to female education, 37, 46, 64, 109, 130, 156,
+ 181, 193, 216;
+
+ ---- Female Education Committee, 80
+
+ Grant Medical College, 208
+
+ Gujerati Stri Mandal, 17, 166, 170
+
+
+ +HASTINGS, LADY+, 36, 106
+
+ Hindu, 15, 17, 30, 35, 39, 87, 113, 143, 166 ff., 198, 230
+
+ Hindu Female Training School, 123
+
+ Hostels, 85, 208, 211, 216
+
+ Hyderabad, 151
+
+
+ +IDEALS OF WOMANHOOD+, 26, 29, 113, 144, 216, 240
+
+ Indian Church, 242
+
+ Indian National Congress, 24
+
+ Indian schools, 47, 66, 145, 167
+
+ Inspectress, 41, 46, 95, 131, 151, 156, 182, 246
+
+ International Moral League, 229
+
+ Isabella Thoburn School, 45, 137, 194
+
+
+ +JAIPUR+, 154
+
+
+ +LADIES’ SOCIETY FOR FEMALE NATIVE EDUCATION+, 106
+
+ Lawrence, Lord, 38
+
+ Learned ladies, 31 ff.
+
+ Lilavati Singh, 137, 201
+
+ Literacy, 25, 63, 150, 165
+
+ London Missionary Society, 152
+
+ Ludhiana, 215
+
+
+ +MADRAS+, 27, 36, 54, 194, 211, 237
+
+ Mahakali Pathshalas, 47, 84, 113 ff.
+
+ Maharani’s College, 194
+
+ Maitreyi, 30
+
+ Manu, Code of, 30
+
+ Marathi, 179
+
+ Marshman, Mrs, 103
+
+ Medical students, 212
+
+ Methodist Episcopal, 67
+
+ Minto, Lord, 22
+
+ Mission schools, 44, 50, 67, 93, 103, 115, 137, 141, 151, 155,
+ 176, etc., 233
+
+ Missionary Settlement for University Women, 208
+
+ Mohommedan, 14, 17, 69, 82, 89, 111, 163, 171, 202, 229
+
+ Moral instruction, 223 ff.
+
+ Municipal schools, 36, 87, 182
+
+ Mysore, 151, 194
+
+
+ +NASIRABAD+, 156
+
+ National Indian Association, 18
+
+ Native States, 146, 195
+
+ Nauraji, 165
+
+ Neo-Hinduism, 133
+
+ Nivedita, Sister, 21
+
+ Normal schools, cp. Training
+
+
+ +OXFORD MISSION+, 85
+
+
+ +PARANJPE, PRINCIPAL+, 238
+
+ Parda: absence of, 163;
+
+ ---- introduction of system, 33;
+
+ ---- party, 18, 98;
+
+ ---- schools, 90, 113, 123, 135, 158, 167
+
+ Parsi, 17, 36, 164, 171 ff., 198, 235
+
+ Poona, 167, 178, 181
+
+ Prabhu Brahmans, 164
+
+ Prārthanā Samāj, 170, 241
+
+
+ +QUEEN MARY COLLEGE+, 143
+
+
+ +RAJPUTANA+, 153
+
+ Ramabai, 180
+
+ Rangoon, 67, 194
+
+ Religious instruction, 225 ff.
+
+ Results, 241
+
+ Roman Catholic, 67, 117
+
+
+ +SARAH TUCKER SCHOOL+, 45, 194
+
+ Secondary training, 58, 125, 188
+
+ Seva Sadan, 17
+
+ Social life, 17, 207
+
+ Society for Propagation of the Gospel, 67, 142
+
+ Sorabji, Cornelia, 200
+
+ ---- Lena, 89
+
+ ---- Mrs, 178
+
+ Specialization, 219
+
+ Stages of education, 51, 125, 164
+
+ Stipends, 198
+
+ Students Literary and Scientific Society, 165 ff.
+
+
+ +TEACHERS+, 57, 74, 96, 122, 185
+
+ Training schools, 58, 75, 90, 93, 118, 123, 142, 149, 157, 174,
+ 177 ff., 194
+
+ Travancore, 152
+
+ Trevandrum, 195
+
+
+ +UNITED FREE CHURCH MISSION+, 45, 118, 115, 179
+
+ University, 192 ff.
+
+ Unrest, political, 20, 208
+
+
+ +WELSH PRESBYTERIANS+, 85
+
+ Wesleyan, 139, 151
+
+ Whyte, Miss, 118
+
+ Widows, 58, 123, 149, 157
+
+ Wilson College, 194, 199
+
+ Wilson, Mrs, cp. Cook
+
+ Wilson, Mrs Margaret, 35, 165, 177
+
+ Wilson, Miss, 187
+
+ Women’s colleges, 194
+
+ ---- University, 220
+
+
+ +Y.W.C.A+., 96, 209, 211, 216
+
+
+ +ZENANA BIBLE AND MEDICAL MISSION+, 37, 142, 178
+
+ Zenana, cp. parda
+
+
+
+
+ FOOTNOTES:
+
+
+[1] An Indian Theistic sect eclectic in character, founded by Raja
+Rammohan Roy in Calcutta, 1828. _Cp. New Ideas in India_--John
+Morrison, D.D.
+
+[2] Or Vedic Theistic Association, a patriotic and religious sect,
+chiefly in the United Provinces and the Punjāb. Founded in 1875 by
+Dyanand Saraswati. _Cp_. as above.
+
+[3] Women who remain behind the curtain.
+
+[4] _Among Indian Rajahs and Ryots_--Sir Andrew H. L. Fraser, K.C.S.I.
+
+[5] _Between the Twilights_--Cornelia Sorabji.
+
+[6] _Women in the Modern National Movements of the East_ (S.C.M.
+Pamphlet), by A. de Sélincourt.
+
+[7] Seva Sadan Report.
+
+[8] _Ruler of India Series_--Lord Amherst.
+
+[9] Speech at the Education Congress, 1897--G. K. Gokhale.
+
+[10] _Among Indian Rajahs and Ryots_--Sir A. H. L. Fraser, K.C.S.I.
+
+[11] _Cp_. Diagram, Appendix C.
+
+[12] Lodgings.
+
+[13] 1911 Census Returns. In 1901, 9.8 per cent. men, 0.07 per cent.
+women.
+
+[14] _Women in the Modern National Movements of the East_ (S.C.M.
+Pamphlet, 1912), A. de Sélincourt.
+
+[15] _Vedic Quarterly_, 1911.
+
+[16] _Koran Sura IV_. (Rodwell’s edition, _Sura_, C.).
+
+[17] A secret phrase or password used for initiation into Hindu sects.
+_Cp. Primer of Hinduism_--J. N. Farquhar (C.L.S.).
+
+[18] _Cf. Ancient India_. R. C. Dutt.
+
+[19] _Vedic Quarterly_, 1911.
+
+[20] Manu, ii. 67. S.B.E. The Vedic Sacrament had for its object the
+study of Vedic texts.
+
+[21] Manu, ix. 18. S.B.E.
+
+[22] _India through the Ages_. F. A. Steele.
+
+[23] _India through the Ages_. F. A. Steele.
+
+[24] Smriti=tradition (of philosophy).
+
+[25] System of philosophy.
+
+[26] _Calcutta Review_, September 1855.
+
+[27] _India through the Ages_. F. A. Steele.
+
+[28] _History of Missions in India_. J. Richter.
+
+[29] _Biography of Alexander Duff_. George Smith.
+
+[30] Appointed to the Subordinate Educational Service in 1876. India
+Office Note.
+
+[31] Popular Education in the North Western Provinces.--_Government
+Report_, 1860.
+
+[32] Popular Education in the North Western Provinces.--_Government
+Report_, 1860.
+
+[33] An agricultural caste.
+
+[34] Landowners.
+
+[35] _North Western Provinces Report on Education_, 1875.
+
+[36] _Life and Work of Mary Carpenter_. J. E. Carpenter, 1879.
+
+[37] _Six Months in India_. Vol. I., p. 278. M. Carpenter.
+
+[38] _North Western Provinces Report on Education_, 1877.
+
+[39] _Ibid_.
+
+[40] The Madras Report alone gives separate figures:
+
+Secondary schools, Government, 2 Mission, 35 Indian, 0 Primary schools,
+” 208 ” 523 ” 331
+
+[41] Pathshala = school.
+
+[42] _Quinquennial Survey of Progress of Education in India_, 1907.
+Vol. II. Tables 181-184. These statistics include Eurasian Schools.
+
+[43] _Quinquennial Survey_, 1907. Vol. II. Table 180.
+
+[44] _Quinquennial Survey_, 1907. Vol. I., p. 257.
+
+[45] Comparative Percentages. In 1886--1.6 per cent.; in 1896--2.1 per
+cent.; in 1901--2.2 per cent.; in 1907--3.6 per cent.; in 1910--4.6 per
+cent.
+
+[46] Schools are classified as
+
+(_a_) Primary, including Standards I to IV.
+
+(_b_) Vernacular Middle, including Standards I to VII.
+
+(_c_) Anglo-Vernacular Middle or Middle English, including Standards I
+to VII. English taught from Standard IV.
+
+(_d_) High, including Standards I to X. English taught from Standard IV
+and used as a medium in the higher stages.
+
+This classification varies somewhat in the different provinces,
+especially as to the age for using English as a medium. (_b_) is
+entirely absent from some returns. (_c_) and (_d_) are often grouped
+together as secondary schools.
+
+[47] _Quinquennial Survey_. Vol. I., p. 255.
+
+[48] _Renaissance of Girls’ Education_, A. Zimmern.
+
+[49] _Cf_. Appendix A. for curriculum.
+
+[50] _World Missionary Conference Report_. Vol. III. p. 51.
+
+[51] _Cf_. Appendix B.
+
+[52] “Marriage in Burma is simply concubinage, which may terminate at
+the desire of either party.” _Christian Missions in Burma_. W. C. B.
+Purser.
+
+[53] _Public Instruction Report, Burma_, 1910.
+
+[54] _Public Instruction Report, Burma_, 1910.
+
+[55] _Missions in Burma_, p. 13. W. C. Purser.
+
+[56] _Burma_. M. and B. Ferrars.
+
+[57] _Report of Public Instruction in Burma_, 1910, p. 41.
+
+[58] Dramatic tales with pointed moral. The “Pyazats,” the modern
+development thereof are popular burlesque plays, performed at
+festivals. _Cf_. _Burma_. Sir George Scott.
+
+[59] _Public Instruction Report_, p. 18.
+
+[60] _Cf_. p. 66.
+
+[61] This was written before the Durbar Proclamation on the further
+re-adjustment of Bengal areas. Calcutta is now the capital of the
+Bengali-speaking districts.
+
+[62] White veil with eye-holes, enveloping the whole person.
+
+[63] Mohammedans, 18 millions. Hindus, 11½ millions. Animists, 1¼
+millions. 1901 Census.
+
+[64] This title is used of a Mohammedan woman of a ruling family, or
+who can prove direct descent from the Prophet.
+
+[65] A literary caste.
+
+[66] A literary caste, about 25 per cent. of their women are literate.
+
+[67] Descendants probably of the original inhabitants of the district.
+
+[68] Shloka, a particular type of Sanskrit metre, often used loosely to
+mean any verse of Sanskrit poetry.
+
+[69] Patshala = school.
+
+[70] Information throughout is chiefly drawn from _Proceedings of
+Female Education Committee_.
+
+[71] Teacher.
+
+[72] _Cf_. p. 137.
+
+[73] 50 rupees per month in addition to 25 rupees gari-allowance is
+given to each governess and the pupils do not contribute much.
+
+[74] _Indian Speeches_. Lord Curzon.
+
+[75] Work. “It is not my work” is a common excuse.
+
+[76] _Cf_. Note Chap. IV, p. 78.
+
+[77] _Imperial Gazetteer of India_--Volume _Bengal_.
+
+[78] Only 3171 in the 1901 Census.
+
+[79] _Position of Women in Indian Life_. Her Highness the Maharani of
+Baroda. _Cf_. also Chap. II, p. 36.
+
+[80_1] _Calcutta Review_, 1855.
+
+[80_2] _Calcutta Review_, 1855.
+
+[81] _Address on Female Education in India_, 1839, delivered by Dr Duff
+at the First Annual Meeting of the Scottish Ladies’ Association.
+
+[82] Percentage of girls of school age at school.
+
+ 1881 0.87
+ 1891 1.61
+ 1901 1.8
+ 1910 4.3
+
+The total number of girls under instruction is now 171,569.
+
+_Imperial Gazetteer. Bengal Public Instruction Report_, 1910.
+
+[83] _Imperial Gazetteer_.
+
+[84] _Cf_. Chap. II, p. 36.
+
+[85] _Cf_. Chap. IX.
+
+[86] The Goddess of Learning. On her festival, students will pile their
+books and inkpots before the shrines in their colleges for special
+blessing.
+
+[87] Worship.
+
+[88] Lady, a title of respect.
+
+[89] _Report of the Mahakali Patshala_.
+
+[90] 1911 Census. _Statistical Abstract of British India_.
+
+[91] A school under the English Code, where only 15 per cent. of the
+pupils may be of Indian parentage.
+
+[92] _Bengal Public Instruction Report_, 1910.
+
+[93] _Cf_. Chap. VIII.
+
+[94] Inspectress’s Report.
+
+[95] _Public Instruction Report, United Provinces_, 1910.
+
+[96] _Cf_. _Young India and the Education of Girls_, E. R. M’Neile
+(C.M.S.).
+
+[97] Formed from Statistical Tables III and IIIA. _in Public
+Instruction Report for United Provinces_, 1910.
+
+[98] _Cf_. _The Renaissance in India_, C. F. Andrews.
+
+[99] _Public Instruction Report, United Provinces_, p. 34.
+
+[100] _Public Instruction Report, Panjāb_, 1910.
+
+[101] _Cf_. p. 178.
+
+[102] _Female Education in North India. East and West_, January 1911.
+M. P. Western, Principal, Victoria May School.
+
+[103] The prospectus of the Conjeevaram School (South India) presents
+several unique features. The Hindus consider it their best school. A
+visit was, unfortunately, impossible.
+
+[104] _Administrative Problems of British India_, book ii., chap. i. J.
+Chailley.
+
+[105] Chief minister.
+
+[106] _Public Instruction Report, Bombay_, 1910, p. 24.
+
+[107] _Imperial Gazetteer of India_.
+
+[108] The great “war-sacrifice of honourable death” practised by the
+Rajputs. When resistance was unavailing, they chose death in battle
+rather than surrender.
+
+[109] From _The Land of the Princes_, Gabrielle Festing.
+
+[110] _Imperial Gazetteer_.
+
+[111] _Statistical Abstract of British India_, 1911. Approximate
+figures.
+
+[112] Asoka, ruler of India, +B.C.+ 272-231. He is known as the
+Constantine of Buddhism.
+
+[113] A society similar to the Brāhma-Samāj, but less organized and not
+so strong numerically. _Cf_. _New Ideas in India_. Morrison.
+
+[114] There are also 190 girls studying in the High Stage of 12 of the
+schools classified for various reasons as Middle.
+
+[115] High and Middle schools which have a Primary Department are
+included again in the returns of Primary schools.
+
+[116] _Public Instruction Report, Bombay_, Table IIIA.
+
+[117] “English-teaching” schools form a special category in the Bombay
+Presidency. There is no limitation to the number of Indian pupils, and
+they are not bound by the Anglo-Vernacular Code. _Cf_. p. 179.
+
+[118] Hindu ladies attended first about 1863 in response to special
+efforts made on their behalf by Lady Frere.
+
+[119] Farthings.
+
+[120] Detailed information can be obtained in the reports of the
+various societies. There are 26 Protestant societies in the Presidency,
+most of whom have educational work for girls.
+
+[121] _Cf_. _Life of Pandita Ramabai_, Helen Dyer.
+
+[122] _Public Instruction Report, Bombay_, 1910, p. 27.
+
+[123] _Public Instruction Report, Bombay_, p. 27.
+
+[124] _Ibid_., p. 18.
+
+[125] _Public Instruction Report, Bombay_, p. 29.
+
+[126] _Public Instruction Report, Bombay_, p. 16.
+
+[127] There are in addition three Training Colleges.
+
+[128] Approximate number only.
+
+[129] _Cf_. also _Statistical Abstract, British India_, Table 105.
+
+[130] Dr Mackichan, in Preface to Ratanbai’s Translation of _Les
+Parsis_.
+
+[131] F.A.--title given to those who have passed the First Arts
+examination, corresponding to “Intermediate.” It is abolished by some
+of the Universities. _Cf_. p. 116.
+
+[132] Now married to Pandit Keshavan.
+
+[133] _Administrative Problems of British India_. J. Chailley.
+
+[134] _Indian Unrest_. V. Chirol.
+
+[135] _Administrative Problems_. J. Chailley.
+
+[136] _Indian Unrest_. Chirol.
+
+[137] _Cf_. Report from Secr. M.S.U.W., 74 Denison House, Vauxhall
+Bridge Road, London.
+
+[138] _Public Instruction Report_, Bombay, 1910.
+
+[139] There are at present in hospital work in India 47 women medicals
+of the first grade (including English women), 92 assistant surgeons,
+and 67 hospital assistants, practitioners, etc. _Cf_. _Report of the
+Countess of Dufferin’s Fund_, 1911.
+
+[140] _Quinquennial Report_, vol. i.
+
+[141] Founded in 1884, the total value of hospital buildings connected
+with the Fund is now 50 lakhs. 90 students are in receipt of stipends.
+_Cf_. Report.
+
+[142] _A Problem and its Solution_, E. M. Brown, M.A., M.D. (Procurable
+from 36 Fairfield Road, Bromley, Kent.)
+
+[143] Further hospital practice might be available in Ludhiana.
+
+[144] The Y.W.C.A. has student branches in these hostels.
+
+[145] _Bombay Public Instruction Report_, 1910.
+
+[146] Exceptions exist in the Diocesan College, Calcutta, in the case
+of non-residents.
+
+[147] _Indian Ladies’ Magazine_.
+
+[148] Alice Zimmern on the aims of the Girton pioneers in _Renaissance
+of Girls’ Education_.
+
+[149] _Position of Women in Indian Life_, by Her Highness the Maharani
+of Baroda.
+
+[150] _Renaissance of Girls’ Education_. A. Zimmern.
+
+[151] _Unrest and Education in India_. Wm. Miller, D.D., LL.D., C.I.E.
+
+[152] Despatches on Christianity in India--Sir John Lawrence (_Times_
+Reprint).
+
+[153] Despatch of the Secretary of State, 1859.
+
+[154] “King George and the Hindoos,” _XIX Century_, January 1912.
+
+[155] _Allahabad Conference Report_, 1911.
+
+[156] G. K. Gokhale.
+
+[157] _Indian Unrest_. Sir Valentine Chirol.
+
+[158] The quotation is from a verbal translation given during the visit
+to the school.
+
+[159] _Quinquennial Report_, vol. i. p. 257.
+
+[160] _Unrest and Education in India_. Wm. Miller, D.D., LL.D., C.I.E.
+
+[161] _Allahabad Conference Report_, 1911.
+
+[162] _International Review of Missions_, January 1912. Article by T.
+Gairdner.
+
+[163] The Aim of Educational Missions. _East and West_, January 1912.
+W. E. S. Holland.
+
+[164] _Student Movement_, 1911, Article by S. K. Rudra.
+
+[165] Cp. on this _The Renaissance in India_, C. F. Andrews.
+
+[166] _Christianity and the New Idealism_, Rudolf Eucken.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78894 ***
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+</head>
+
+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78894 ***</div>
+
+
+<div class="transnote">
+<p class="center"><b>Transcriber’s Note:</b></p>
+<p class="p0 hang">1.New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.</p>
+<p class="p0 hang">2.Certain typographic errors &amp; hyphenation inconsistencies were silently corrected.</p>
+<p class="p0 hang">3.Footnotes moved to the end of the file.</p>
+<p class="p0 hang">4.Tables and Illustrations tags have been moved so they do not break up the
+ paragraphs. Page numbers in the List of Illustrations and the Statistical
+ Tables sections reflect the position of the illustration in the original text,
+ but the links point to the current position of the illustrations.</p>
+<p class="p0 hang">5.Page number references in the index are as published in the original
+ publication and have not been checked for accuracy.</p>
+<p class="p0 hang">6.In Statistical Tables List, item “V” is a Footnote reference in
+ Page 107 of original text. Hence, “Footnote [82] reference” is added
+ in text version List & Footnote reference [82] linked in HTML.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="i_cover" style="max-width: 45.0em;">
+ <img class="w100" src="images/i_cover.jpg" alt="">
+</figure>
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span></p>
+
+<p class="p0 center bold xxlarge">
+The Education of<br>
+the Women of India
+</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp42" id="i_frontis" style="max-width: 42%">
+ <img class="w100" src="images/i_frontis.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>[A Parsi Girl]</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span></p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h1>The Education of <br>the Women of India</h1>
+
+<br>
+<p class="p0 center">By
+<br>
+MINNA G. COWAN, M.A. (<span class="allsmcap">T.C.D.</span>)<br>
+<span class="small">Girton College</span>
+<br>
+<br>
+<i>ILLUSTRATED</i><br>
+</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp74" id="i_title" style="width: 13.625em;">
+<img class="w100" src="images/i_title.jpg" alt="logo">
+</figure>
+
+<br>
+<p class="p0 center">
+<span class="medium">Oliphant, Anderson &amp; Ferrier</span><br>
+<span class="small">Edinburgh and London</span><br>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span></p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="p0 center">
+PRINTED BY<br>
+TURNBULL AND SPEARS,<br>
+EDINBURGH<br>
+</p>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Preface">Preface</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>It has been well said that no Western should attempt to make any
+general statement about inscrutable India; the most he can venture
+to say is, that “in certain places certain things which he saw may
+possibly have been what he thought they really were.” The present
+volume is therefore based upon appearances which may or may not have
+represented reality, upon conversations with Government officials,
+missionaries and Indian friends, who kindly gave of their leisure
+to a stranger, and upon the study of Government Reports. Where any
+generalization has been made, the writer trusts it will be taken with
+the reservations which a very brief residence in the East renders
+needful. If the book help the women of the West to realize how critical
+is the present evolutionary period in the education of the women of
+India, especially in its<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span> relation to constructive Christianity, it
+will not have failed of its purpose.</p>
+
+<p>My thanks are specially due to Miss Richardson and Miss M’Dougall
+of Westfield College for aid in revision, to many friends for their
+unstinted help, and to the Faculty of Advocates for the use of their
+Library.</p>
+
+<p class="p0 right">M. G. C.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Edinburgh</span>, <i>July 1912</i>.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span></p>
+<hr class="hr x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="p0 center">
+<span class="font1">To</span><br>
+the<br>
+G. A.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span></p>
+
+<hr class="hr x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span></p><h2 class="nobreak" id="Contents">Contents</h2>
+</div>
+
+<table><tbody>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER</td>
+<td class="tdr">PAGE</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr><td class="tdl" colspan="3"></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">I.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Introduction</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">II.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Historical Survey</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">III.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Burma</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">IV.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Eastern Bengal and Assam</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">V.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Bengal</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">VI.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Interesting Institutions in the United</span><br><span class="smcap">Provinces and the Punjāb</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">VII.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Sidelights on some Native States</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">VIII.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Bombay</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">IX.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">University Education</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">X.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Religious Element in Education</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_223">223</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XI.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Conclusion</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_244">244</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Bibliography</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_253">253</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Index</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_254">254</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</tbody></table>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Illustrations">Illustrations</h2>
+</div>
+
+<table><tbody>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdc"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2">A Parsi Girl</td>
+<td class="tdr"><i>Frontispiece</i></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2"></td>
+<td class="tdr small">OPPOSITE PAGE</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2">Government Examination of Girls, Calcutta</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2">Girls at St Luke’s Mission, Toungoo, Burma</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2">Ghurka Girl Boarder at S.P.G. Girls’ School, Mandalay</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2">A Hill School, Eastern Bengal</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2">High School Class, Eastern Bengal</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2">Four Scholarship Girls. United Free Church Mission School for Hindus, Calcutta</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_120">120</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2">Standards I. to IV. United Free Church Mission School for Hindus, Calcutta</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2">The Isabella Thoburn College, Lucknow</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2">C.M.S. Middle School, Amritsar—Hoop Drill</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2">The Alphabet Class, Nasirabad</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_156">156</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2">The University Settlement Students’ Hostel, Bombay</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_208">208</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2">Ludhiana School of Medicine—Hospital Court Yard with Patients</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_216">216</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</tbody></table>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Statistical_Tables">Statistical Tables</h2>
+</div>
+
+<table><tbody>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2">TABLE</td>
+<td class="tdr">CHAP.</td>
+<td class="tdr">PAGE</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="4"></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">I.</td>
+<td class="tdl">Management of Girls’ Schools. All India</td>
+<td class="tdr">II.</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">II.</td>
+<td class="tdl">Classification by Race or Creed. All India</td>
+<td class="tdr">II.</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">III.</td>
+<td class="tdl">Management of Girls’ Schools. Burma</td>
+<td class="tdr">III.</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">IV.</td>
+<td class="tdl">Classification by Race or Creed. Burma</td>
+<td class="tdr">III.</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+
+<td class="tdr">V.</td>
+<td class="tdl">Comparative Figures. Bengal</td>
+<td class="tdr">V.</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a id="FNanchor_82_2" href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor"><span class="xlarge u">107</span></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">VI.</td>
+<td class="tdl">Management of Girls’ Schools. Bengal</td>
+<td class="tdr">V.</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">VII.</td>
+<td class="tdl">Management of Girls’ Schools. United Provinces</td>
+<td class="tdr">VI.</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">VIII.</td>
+<td class="tdl">Management of Girls’ Schools. Bombay</td>
+<td class="tdr">VIII.</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">IX.</td>
+<td class="tdl">Classification by Race or Creed. Bombay</td>
+<td class="tdr">VIII.</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">X.</td>
+<td class="tdl">Classification of College Students</td>
+<td class="tdr">IX.</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XI.</td>
+<td class="tdl">Diagram of University Courses</td>
+<td class="tdr">IX.</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</tbody></table>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span></p>
+
+<table><tbody>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdc"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="3">APPENDIX</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2"></td>
+<td class="tdr">PAGE</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2">A. Matriculation Course</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_250">250</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2">B. Teachers’ Certificates</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="2">C. Growth of Female Education in India</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_252">252</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</tbody></table>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="I">I</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p0 center xlarge">INTRODUCTION</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+ <div class="poetry">
+ <div class="stanza">
+<div class="verse indent0">“That is true knowledge which can make</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Us mortals saintlike, holy, pure,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The strange thirst of the spirit slake</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And strengthen suffering to endure.”</div>
+<div class="verse indent10"><span class="smcap">Toru Dutt.</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+
+<p class="dropcap-paragraph">T<span class="upper-case">o</span> write a book on the education of Indian women is a prosaic action
+impelled by Western devotion to matter of fact; it would be more
+fitting to write of the veil of mystic romance which has hidden the
+sorrows and the joys of Indian women from the world; of the Rajput
+women who issued from the royal zenana to lead a forlorn cause against
+their country’s foes, or passed by hundreds to a fiery death rather
+than touch the conqueror’s hand; of those whose intrigue and strategy
+were redeemed from falseness by underlying devotion to others, of those
+who rose above the symbols of ritual and worship to the true perception
+of the Divine in life. But the modern world of the East has its own
+romance, that of the meeting of diverse civilizations, of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span> the craving
+for truth and reality, of multitudes in the valley of decision. The
+old chivalry is there in a new form. It is not a little thing to open
+the door of self-realization, with its opportunity for an even greater
+selflessness, to the myriads of Indian women. The new thought and new
+ideals which are permeating the whole East have no more striking phase
+than their manifestation in the life of women. The tentative attitude
+towards growing freedom, the hesitation to enter in and possess, the
+recurring tragedy of those who are ahead of their times, and of others
+for whom the new wine is too strong, are only partial aspects of a
+problem which cuts deep into modern civilization. The women who live
+behind the veil in India, or who, though without, are utterly untouched
+by modern education and modern ideas, are still the vast majority,
+and there is in no sense a Feminist movement such as exists in Japan
+and to a certain extent in China; still, the new type is there, the
+pioneer in a transitional period and the fruit of modern education. A
+Mohammedan lady of good social standing in Bombay keeps a school for
+poor girls in her own house, and has completely given up <i>parda</i>;
+Brāhma-Samāj<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> ladies are doing excellent work on Government Education
+Committees; an orthodox Hindu lady goes on tour to advocate a special
+system of Hindu schools; an Ārya<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span> Samāj<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> widow staffs a school for
+high-caste girls in her own house with entirely voluntary teachers.
+An excellent Ladies’ Magazine is edited by an Indian woman graduate
+in Madras. A Parsi woman holds the position of Legal Adviser for
+<i>parda-nashin</i><a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> women to the Government of Bengal. Indian women
+are found doing excellent work as doctors, and a few as principals of
+girls’ schools. It would be easy to multiply examples not only of those
+who have taken up definite professional life, but also of others who
+share in the work and interests of their husbands as closely as any
+woman of the West, and who use their social influence on the side of
+progress; the Maharani of Baroda has written a book to interpret to
+her more secluded countrywomen the many phases of the Englishwoman’s
+life; the Begum of Bhopal, on her return from the Coronation, summoned
+the Ladies’ Club of her capital to exhort them once more on the
+never-failing theme of education as the root of all progress; the Rani
+of Gondal and many other Indian princesses take a personal interest in
+the welfare of their people. The same phase is also to be seen in other
+ranks; we find the orthodox Hindu wife of an Indian Deputy Commissioner
+accompanying him on tour through his district, rather than that he
+should live the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span> greater
+part of his life apart from her.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Then there
+are the transitional types, women who venture thus far and tremble on
+the brink of many complicated problems; the wives of “England-returned”
+men, whose anglicized husbands have done their best to educate them,
+and by leading them painfully through the new ideas to bring them,
+to some extent at least, into the “reformed life.”
+<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> There is much
+that is pathetic here, and the tragedy of “The Broken Road,” has its
+counterpart to-day in the heart of many an Indian girl, who knows that
+the husband who is studying in Britain will, when he returns, have
+entered a new world in which she can never share. And so by many stages
+one passes back to the old, the real, India, where the woman graduates
+in suffering, and where the babies seem to grow, with no stage of
+girlhood, into little women on whom the burden of life falls heavily.
+Yet who can say whether the influence of these “secluded ones” is not
+even yet the most potent factor in modern India?</p>
+
+<p>The “advanced ones” have their corporate life, and one of the most
+interesting features in India to-day is the number of women’s societies
+which are springing up, partly in conjunction with European ladies and
+partly by entirely spontaneous effort. The traveller accustomed to read
+of secluded Indian ladies would be surprised<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span> to visit the Princess
+Mary Victoria Gymkhana in Bombay and meet Parsi, Mohammedan and Hindu
+women playing croquet and Badminton, or having tea with their friends,
+and even entertaining men of their acquaintance twice a year. It is
+true that Parsi influence marks off the social life of Bombay from that
+of more conservative India, but the Bombay women do not always remain
+in Bombay. Some of the societies are linked with the various religious
+movements, others are purely social and educational. One society, the
+<i>Bharat Stri Mahamandal</i>, in the United Provinces and in Bengal,
+has been founded by Hindu and Moslem women, but is intended to include
+all sympathizers. Its aim is “to form a common centre for all women
+thinkers and co-workers of every race, creed, class, and party in India
+to associate themselves together for the progress of humanity.”<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>
+Another, the <i>Gujerati Stri Mandal</i>, in Bombay, is a purely Hindu
+society, which aims at bringing many of the Gujerati women, who keep
+<i>parda</i>, into contact with other women, and has a definite if
+somewhat ambitious educational programme. <i>The Seva Sadan</i>, or
+Sisters Ministrant, a society established in Bombay in 1909, with four
+branches, is under a united committee of Hindu, Mohammedan, and Parsi
+representatives, and aims at philanthropic and educational work. “In
+the name of Him, Who has given us so many benedictions,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span> we call upon
+every woman to become a Benediction, and we call upon all who realize
+that India’s two great sins are her sin against women and her sin
+against the depressed, to help us in creating Sisters Ministrant.”<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>
+The vow which these Sisters Ministrant are called upon to take, is to
+“look upon life as a sacred trust for loving, self-sacrificing service,
+and to do such service. So help me God.” It is true that when the
+high idealism of this prospectus and report are compared with actual
+fact, there is evident a certain lack of reality, characteristic of
+many Indian schemes. Still, good work, not unlike that of a London
+Settlement, is being actually done by two splendid women at the
+society’s Settlement in Bombay, and idealism never fails of its
+ultimate fruit.</p>
+
+<p>No account of the corporate life of Indian women would be complete
+without mention of the National Indian Association, which, though
+organized from London, has many Indian ladies as secretaries or
+committee members of its Ladies’ Branches in India. Amongst its
+many activities one of the most effective has been the holding of
+<i>parda</i> lectures and other gatherings for the encouragement of
+education, and scholarships are also awarded through it to suitable
+candidates. Apart from all organization, the <i>parda</i> party, pure
+and simple, whether given by the wives of Government officials, or by
+private individuals, has its own part to play. The honour of holding<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span>
+the first of these, as a species of feminine <i>durbar</i>, belongs
+probably to Lady Amherst.<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> At the request of the famous Baiza Pai,
+wife of the Maharaj of Scindhia, she received a deputation of Maratha
+ladies at Agra in 1827, and the account translated from a Persian
+letter by one of the guests reveals the quaint misconception of all
+things Western under which the deputation laboured. The number of Lord
+Amherst’s supposed wives, the English “nautch girls,” who played the
+table with the ivory teeth, the strange attitude of the English ladies,
+reveal a world far apart, and though the modern <i>parda</i> party may
+not be needed to-day to dispel such extreme delusions, it is still a
+meeting ground for worlds far apart, and the source of many new ideas
+to both English and Indian ladies. These gatherings and societies
+have an extraordinary influence especially on those who have fought
+shy of the proffered friendship of the missionaries, or of Government
+educational effort, and they certainly count for much in the breaking
+down of artificial barriers to progress.</p>
+
+<p>The “secluded ones” of the real India have no corporate life and belong
+to no society save that of the family. The unit of Indian civilization
+is the family, and where that word includes the joint-family to
+remote degrees, one may perhaps faintly understand what the corporate
+influence of the women of the household means, and measure it against
+the impotence of a mere society.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span></p>
+
+<p>Such in all its variety is the diverse life of the women of India
+to-day, the meeting-place of two civilizations, and fraught with untold
+consequences and influences for the future. Hitherto the weight of
+woman’s opinion has been conservative and religious. “A combination
+of enforced ignorance and overdone religion have not only made women
+in India willing victims of customs unjust and hurtful in the highest
+degree, but it has also made them the most formidable because the most
+effective opponents of all change or innovation.”<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> But signs have not
+been wanting to show that this same influence has been inflammatory of
+revolution and sedition, and instances are given, by a recent writer,
+of ladies’ meetings in which sympathy was extended even to anarchists
+who had been guilty of murder, and in which ladies gathered together
+in zenanas were urged to do all they could to advance a mischievous
+propaganda.<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> True, this kind of influence is not widespread, but it
+is a natural result when impressionable characters are brought into
+contact with ideas which they have not the knowledge nor opportunity
+of weighing aright. There is the farther risk of recoil from enforced
+restraint towards the liberty which is not a law unto itself. The
+slavish imitation of the West which has marred much of the modern
+movement in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span> past and from which the Swadeshi of to-day is a
+reaction, is even more repellent in the life of women than of men,
+and the Indian world would lose much of its fascination and charm if
+instead of a rehabilitation of the ancient ideals of womanhood the
+modern type were to develop merely as a denationalized caricature.
+The classic Indian ideal of womanhood, with its wonderful vicarious
+suffering, its selflessness and devotion, is enough to make the world
+weep, yet it may be that it has proved throughout the centuries one
+of the subtlest temptations to the strong. “It is a terrible thing,”
+writes Sister Nivedita, who made the Hindu woman’s life her own; “it
+dwarfs the wife. I often think that it would be good for the husbands
+themselves if their wives were less soft and good.” But the glory and
+the grace of it may live, and its gentle womanliness transfigure modern
+life. The Indian woman need lose none of those qualities which made her
+loved in Vedic times, but may prove to the world that she is conscious
+of her own heritage and capable of choosing only what is good from the
+life of the West.</p>
+
+<p>History is made quietly, and the modern movement for the education
+of the women of India and its guidance along right lines is a matter
+of Imperial importance. On education of some sort they will insist.
+The latest Quinquennial Report (1907) shows an increase in the
+period of over 45 per cent. of the total number of girls at school,
+and since then some districts show<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span> even more.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> The emphasis at
+present laid on girls’ schools is in part the result of the general
+educational ferment in India. One hundred years have elapsed since
+Lord Minto wrote his famous letter to the Directors of the East
+India Company, animadverting on the decay of Hindu and Mohammedan
+science and learning; this letter was followed two years later by the
+decision to spend a lac of rupees annually for educational purposes,
+a paltry sum in comparison with the Government’s educational outlay
+to-day, yet representing the inauguration of a new policy. The great
+principles of the systematic introduction of Western learning,
+with the English language as a medium of instruction in the higher
+stages; of the possession of English education as the criterion for
+Government service; of the direct responsibility of the State for
+secular instruction only, together with the encouragement of voluntary
+effort on other lines by a policy of grants-in-aid, have borne fruit
+far beyond the imagination of those who laid them down in the early
+half of last century. A vast system has grown up: five Universities
+with magnificent Government and missionary colleges, a network of
+Primary and Secondary schools both in British territory and the
+Native States, an Educational Department in every province under a
+Director of Public Instruction, centralized till recently under a
+Director-General, an expenditure in 1907 of public funds amounting
+to 559 lacs, and,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span> along with all this, to-day, a grave criticism,
+representing various shades of political and religious opinion, of the
+work done, with a questioning of its beneficial influence and of the
+fundamental principles involved. Good results there certainly have
+been, but there is a tendency to-day to emphasize the weak points in
+the system rather than to lay stress on the actual good done, as always
+happens in a world bent on reform. The main points of the indictment
+brought against the system by current journalism are briefly these:
+an educated minority has been created, while only 28.7 per cent. of
+the present generation of boys are at school; the ranks of the lower
+Government services are overcrowded, and disappointed candidates turn
+only too readily to sedition; the Code tends to an abnormal development
+of the repetitive faculty; intellect is emphasized at the expense of
+character; the whole tendency is to take away from the Indian child
+his own historical heritage of thought and feeling. The Government is
+now devoting careful attention to the whole problem in its relation
+to the general political situation. In January 1911, a new Central
+Department of Education was formed, with a representative on the
+Governor-General’s Council. Under its auspices a special Conference
+of the higher educational officials and others was recently held at
+Allahabad to discuss outlines of future policy, with special emphasis
+on the burning topics of Primary education and moral teaching.
+Lord<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span> Hardinge personally visited incognito some of the students’
+“Messes”<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> in Calcutta to see the facts with his own eyes. The boon
+granted at the Durbar includes an additional expenditure of fifty lacs
+of rupees for educational purposes.</p>
+
+<p>Apart from Government there is an expression in Indian circles of
+the sense of crisis, and of the need for the extension of popular
+education. Though doubtless engineered by a minority, still it is
+not without value. The Indian National Congress and the All-Indian
+Moslem League have passed resolutions in favour of compulsory Primary
+education which show some sense of what education really means. “Its
+universal diffusion is a matter of primary importance, for literacy
+is better than illiteracy; education is something more than the
+mere capacity to read and write. It means a keener enjoyment of
+life and a more refined standard of living. It means the greater
+moral and economic efficiency of the individual.” In March 1911, Mr
+Gokhale introduced his Bill for Compulsory Primary Education to the
+Governor-General’s Council, and thereby awakened discussion throughout
+the country. Idealistic it certainly is, when the dearth of trained
+teachers is considered and the conservatism of the real India taken
+into account, but it marks the trend of a certain section of Indian
+opinion. There is, moreover, a movement on the part of others for the
+establishment of Mohammedan and Hindu Universities, as a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span> reaction from
+the secularism of the Government institutions.</p>
+
+<p>It is not the purpose of this book to analyse such criticism but merely
+to show its relation to the problem of women’s education. To some
+thinkers the most fundamental flaw in the whole system has seemed the
+development of one-half of the community far beyond that of the other.
+In spite of recent progress the literate percentage is 10.50 for men,
+and only 10.4 for women;<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> the removal of this discrepancy might mean
+the raising of the whole of social life and go far towards the solution
+of other problems. Hence in every district there are ardent advocates
+of female education. “A realization of the necessity for an educated
+and emancipated womanhood is now no longer confined to those sections
+of the community which are directly influenced by Christianity, but
+is laying hold of Eastern nations as a whole.”<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> Hardly a Congress
+or debating society exists which does not pass resolutions thereon,
+hardly an Indian journal which does not emphasize the importance of the
+feminine factor. “Upon the condition of women depends the happiness and
+prosperity of the homes. Upon their fitness will hinge the evolution
+of our character. The schools and universities may make us highly
+intellectual, but as for character<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span> we must look to the home and the
+home alone. Let us frankly say to the Indian girl: ‘Here, child of God,
+take this key to the portals of knowledge: it belongs to you by right
+of birth. Enter then fearlessly and behold the beauty and the joys it
+reveals.’”<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> There is nothing more striking than the emphasis which
+is laid in these articles on the sanction found in the Vedic classics
+for the education of women and on the modern movement as a renaissance,
+and not an overthrow of ancient Aryan ideas. The Mohammedan case is
+a more difficult one to prove, but there are writers, such as Ameer
+Ali, strongly influenced by the Christian ideas of the West, who
+attempt it in spite of the Koran.<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> There is the even bolder spirit
+of those who hold that “though all the sacred <i>mantras</i><a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> were
+against it,” the education of her women is the only solution of India’s
+problem. The slow infiltration of the Christian ideal of woman has
+had its effect and the influence of missionary educational work has
+gained an increased momentum by the change in the Indian attitude.
+True, the conservative influence is still there with much of the old
+strength, as will be indicated in succeeding chapters, not only amongst
+the orthodox but amongst the more advanced. An Indian Reform Journal
+can still<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span> publish an advertisement of an undergraduate who desires
+a wife of eleven years, educated in Hindi and domestic matters. Such
+are the strange anomalies and contradictions of a country which defies
+generalizations. There is, however, abundant evidence to show that
+we have arrived at a highly critical period, in which the whole may
+be sacrificed to a part, in which, through lack of considering the
+question in all its bearings, the mistakes from which the education of
+men in India has not been wholly free may be repeated and intensified
+in the case of the women, and in which the opportunity of developing a
+national system in line with modern educational science may be lost.</p>
+
+<p>The present volume is an attempt to sift this evidence in the different
+localities visited, and to give, in so far as is possible to a writer
+who has no expert knowledge of Indian problems, an accurate description
+of the conditions of girls’ education, and of the three contributing
+factors, the Government, the missionary, and spontaneous Indian
+effort. Where other localities have been treated the intention has
+been to show that the same factors and, to a certain extent, the same
+problems prevail. The survey is in no sense exhaustive; the State of
+Bhopal, which doubtless presents many interesting features, is not
+included. The great districts of South India and the Madras Presidency,
+where women’s education is well developed, have unfortunately had
+to be omitted, and any generalization made must be taken with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span> this
+reserve. The geographical division has been adopted, not because
+the same problems do not to a certain extent repeat themselves but
+because of the varying environment in which they are cast through
+diverse religious and social influences. A brief historical survey
+is included to indicate the general situation as well as certain
+outstanding features which are present throughout the whole country. No
+constructive theory is offered, but the need of such in relation to the
+moving life of the East and the impact of Christianity upon it is made
+apparent.</p>
+
+<p>The moral and religious problem lies at the basis of all education and
+is at the present moment that most acutely felt in India. A system
+perfected in every technical detail and embracing the whole country
+would prove a disintegrating and disastrous force if it lacked the
+religious basis for the training of character. Yet its provision
+through the highest revelation of religion is fraught with immense
+difficulty in a country of diverse and conflicting faiths. A secular
+policy for the education of boys has already produced its fruits,
+and may serve as a warning in the new feminine problem. In a final
+chapter this question is touched upon in its relation to the ultimate
+Christianization of Indian thought and life.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="II">II</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>HISTORICAL SURVEY</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquote">
+<p>“We have now before us in that vast congeries of people we call India,
+a long slow march in uneven stages through all the centuries from the
+fifth to the twentieth.”</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="dropcap-paragraph">T<span class="upper-case">he</span> history of the education of women in India must keep in view the
+three conflicting ideals of womanhood which have dominated Indian
+society at different epochs. These are the Vedic, the Moslem, and
+the Christian or Western. While our main concern is with the last, a
+brief glance into the early ages is necessary for a full comprehension
+of the conflicting currents found in the modern epoch. In the early
+Vedic times women apparently enjoyed an equal status with men. There
+was no child-marriage, no seclusion in the zenana, no <i>sati</i>, no
+prohibition of the re-marriage of widows. Ladies of culture composed
+hymns and performed sacrifices as men did. Some even remained
+unmarried and had their share of the paternal property. There are
+many passages in the Brāhmanas which show the high esteem in which
+women were held. Gārgā Vāchaknavi, a learned lady, is mentioned as
+taking active part in a great assembly of learned men summoned by
+Janaka, King of the Videhas, to decide which of them would prove the
+wisest.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span>
+There is a celebrated conversation between Yajnavalkya and his
+learned wife Maitreyi on the possible comprehension of the infinite
+by the finite.<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> “One poem, the Bhagwan Manu, prescribes a positive
+punishment for parents who keep away from school their boys after five
+and their girls after ten years of their respective ages.”<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> It would
+appear, in fact, that girls had some share in whatever education was
+available.</p>
+
+<p>From about the fifth century <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> in successive Hindu codes
+we find limiting laws, many of which were embodied about <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>
+200 in the Code of Manu. Their stringency is only weakened by a
+general recommendation that men “who seek their own welfare should
+always honour women on holidays and festivals with gifts of ornaments,
+clothes, and dainty food.” The possibility of education was closed by
+the exclusion of girls from the initiatory caste rites, which served as
+a prelude to the education of boys.</p>
+
+<p>“The nuptial ceremony is stated to be the Vedic sacrament for women and
+to be equal to the initiation, serving the husband equivalent to the
+residence in the house of the teacher, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span> the household duties the
+same as the daily worship of the sacred fire.”<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p>“For women no sacramental rite is performed with sacred texts, thus the
+law is settled; women who are destitute of strength and destitute of
+the knowledge of Vedic texts are as impure as falsehood itself, that is
+a fixed rule.”<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+
+<p>Fixed rules and settled laws do not always remain so where women are
+concerned, and there is considerable evidence that the women of the
+upper classes could often read and write, and, though the perusal of
+the sacred literature was denied, they certainly read and memorized
+the great popular epics, the Rāmāyana and the Mahābharāta, which
+embody many Indian traditions and ideals. In the Ajanta caves, which
+cover a period from the second to the seventh century <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>,
+women are represented as engaged in study with books of palm leaves.
+Elsewhere they are referred to as musicians and artists. In the
+dramas of Kālidāsa about the fifth century the inevitable jest at the
+expense of learned women is current coin. The comic character says
+he must always laugh when he hears a woman read Sanskrit or a man
+sing a song.<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> Amongst the Rajputs, where status was determined by
+courage not literacy, the women held a high position. In the early days
+of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span> nineteenth century the records of these early periods were
+carefully searched by Indian enthusiasts to produce evidence of former
+literary achievements as an argument for the introduction of Western
+education. A lecture by Pyari Chand Mittra, a Government schoolmaster,
+offers an interesting list headed by the famous Lilavati, after whom a
+mathematical treatise of the ninth century is named. Either she was the
+authoress thereof,<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> or it was specially composed for her perusal.
+“Besides Lilavati there were many females of literary and scientific
+attainments. The Tamils boast of having possessed four female
+philosophers: viz. Avyar and her three sisters. Avyar was the daughter
+of one Bhaguvan, a Brahman, and outshone all her brothers and sisters
+in learning. ‘She was contemporary with Kumbur, the author of the
+Tamil Rāmāyana, and she employed her eloquent pen on various subjects,
+such as astronomy, medicine, and geography; her works of the latter
+description are much admired. Avyar remained a virgin all her life, and
+died much admired for her talents in poetry, arts, and sciences.’ I am
+given to understand by an intelligent Hindu gentleman, that he knew of
+one Hātta Vidyalancar, a female scholar at Benares, who was versed in
+Smriti<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> and Nyaya. We also hear of the literary proficiency of the
+wives of Kālidāsa and Kornut, Raja of Khona, the latter was conversant
+with astronomy and is well known by the sayings she has left<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span> behind;
+of Gargu, the wife of Yagnya Valkya, who is said to have possessed a
+good knowledge of Yog<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> Shastra.”<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p>
+
+<p>With the Moslem conquests came the <i>parda</i> system with its
+withering influence. Devised by Mohammed, according to modern Moslem
+historians, for the protection of women in wild and lawless times, it
+has inculcated distrust of their character and capacities. In spite
+of the fact that many Indian women to-day look upon the <i>parda</i>
+as a sign of prestige and of their value in their husbands’ eyes, the
+thoughtful observer must reckon it, in its ultimate social influence,
+as a symbol of distrust. “A man both night and day must keep his wife
+so much in subjection that she by no means be mistress of her own
+actions; if the wife have her own free-will, notwithstanding she be
+sprung of a superior caste, she will yet behave amiss” runs a later
+Hindu code, coupling this statement with minute regulations as to
+doors and windows. Isolated Indian women, both Hindu, and Moslem are
+prominent in later times, but they by no means represent the common
+life. Their chronicle is written because in some way or other they
+have been exceptional. In the thirteenth century it is said of Razia
+Begum, the only woman ruler in her own right of Moslem India, that the
+severest scrutiny of her actions could reveal no fault save that she
+was a woman.<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span></p>
+
+<p>The Calcutta School Society ascertained in 1818 that no provision
+of any kind existed for the education of women, and an attempted
+estimate of their general literacy places the figure at one in a
+hundred thousand. The old ideal had so utterly vanished, that it
+needed the touch of Western civilization to revive even the conception
+of its former existence. This existence, shadowy and faint though it
+may appear in our eyes, is an enormous asset to the new movement in
+a country where everything Aryan and Vedic counts for much in the
+endeavour to create a national consciousness.</p>
+
+<p>The modern epoch is thus in part a Renaissance, in part the
+introduction once more of the ideal of another faith. It will occupy
+our attention in detail and falls naturally into three periods. The
+first dates from 1819, when the Baptist Mission in Calcutta started its
+first school for girls<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> till 1854, during which time the influence
+was almost entirely that of the women missionaries; the second, from
+the famous Educational Despatch of 1854 till 1884, is characterized by
+the Government policy of “grants-in-aid” to voluntary associations,
+by the first tentative beginnings of direct Government effort, and by
+the expansion of Secondary education under missionary auspices; in the
+modern period dating from the presentation of the report of Sir William
+Hunter’s Commission in 1884, the Government share in girls’ education
+is much<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span> more direct, the spontaneous Indian element enters more
+strongly, and for the first time the question of a differentiation in
+the curriculum arises.</p>
+
+<p>The first period is essentially the day of small things. The Danish
+missionaries of the eighteenth century had included girls in their
+schools but there is little record of their doings, and the schools
+organized by Miss Cook in Calcutta (1821) and Mrs Wilson in Bombay
+(1829) were in every sense pioneer work. Elsewhere is to be found
+the full story of opposition, of fluctuating desire, of tactful
+consideration and of careful enlistment of enlightened Hindu men, who
+had been touched by Dr Duff’s educational work, as advocates of the
+cause. The same discrepancy between theory and practice which marks
+the advocacy of some of the Indian social reformers of to-day existed
+then, and the movement was by no means an extensive one. By 1840, Miss
+Cook (now Mrs Wilson) records about 500 girls at school in Bengal of
+whom half were in her own school. Dr Duff in outlining a missionary and
+educational policy for India, points to the need of a great development
+of the education of men before that of women could possibly follow.
+“The education” of the latter “on any great national scale must, from
+the very nature of their position, which those only who have been in
+India can at all adequately comprehend, follow in the wake of the
+enlightened education” of the former.<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> Events have justified<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span> this
+prediction and in many senses it is true that the present state of
+women’s education in India corresponds to that of the men in 1854.
+The education given by the women missionaries consisted of such mere
+rudiments as were possible under the conditions and for the short
+period during which their pupils were available. Simple instruction
+in the Scriptures was also given. Madras and other centres followed
+slowly on the same lines. The work was in part linked with the ordinary
+mission work of the Churches and in part carried on through separate
+women’s societies founded for the purpose in Germany and in Scotland.
+At first the Government attitude was distinctly negative, except for
+the cordial personal assistance given by Lady Hastings to Miss Cook,
+and the more nominal support of her successor Lady Amherst. In 1849,
+however, Lord Dalhousie informed the Bengal Council of Education that
+henceforth its functions were to include female education, and the
+Bethune School which had been privately founded by a legal member of
+Council, the Hon. Drinkwater Bethune, was brought under the control of
+the Government. In the Bombay Presidency things developed more rapidly
+and the Parsi influence asserted itself in independent effort. The
+first municipal schools for girls were probably started in 1850 at
+Ahmedabad. In 1852 a second stage of missionary education was reached
+by the establishment in Calcutta of a Normal School for the training
+of Christian female<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span> teachers under the auspices of the society known
+later as the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission. The special method
+adapted to Indian conditions was not discovered till 1854, when the
+system of zenana-visiting, combined with educational instruction, was
+inaugurated in Calcutta by the Scottish Mission with the help of a
+clever Eurasian lady, Miss Toogood.</p>
+
+<p>By the great educational charter of 1854, the Government adopted the
+policy of fostering and encouraging private effort by a system of
+grants-in-aid to all institutions which could comply with certain
+stipulations as to buildings, number of teachers, text-books and type
+of instruction given. Religious instruction might be given but did
+not come within the purview of the Government officials. Departments
+of Public Instruction were formed, Inspectors appointed, and the well
+known scheme of examinations inaugurated. It is stated in the Despatch
+that female education shall be given “frank and cordial support.” “The
+importance of female education in India cannot be over-rated, and we
+have observed with pleasure the evidence which is now afforded of an
+increased desire on the part of many of the natives of India to give
+a good education to their daughters. By these means a far greater
+proportional impulse is imparted to the educational and moral tone of
+the people than by the education of men.” In the main the Government
+adhered to this principle, yet considered it prudent to withhold its
+hand from direct interference<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span> with so delicate a matter. Whereas,
+in order to improve the school system as a whole, Government erected
+boys’ schools in many places, to serve as models in management and
+efficiency, very few girls’ schools were founded. The Circular order of
+1868, issued under Lord Lawrence, states that “unless female schools
+are really and materially supported by voluntary aid, they had better
+not be established at all.” In pursuance of this policy the Bengal
+Administration Report for 1881 notes only two Government Primary
+schools for girls, 719 aided, and 107 unaided voluntary schools. The
+women’s missionary agencies in Calcutta were drawing a monthly grant
+of two thousand rupees for educational work. An Inspectress<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> was
+at this time in the service of the local education authority for
+the inspection of <i>parda</i> schools. Her note that “every day
+brings signs that the demand for female education in Bengal is slowly
+advancing and extending” marks the rising tide. Two exceptions may be
+noted to this policy; the exceptional activity in the district of the
+North Western Provinces (as they were then called) round Agra, and
+the movement of the Central Government under the influence of Miss
+Carpenter.</p>
+
+<p>The Agra experiment was, however, the response of Government to
+spontaneous Indian effort, and as the work of the Hindu pioneer who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span>
+was its originator is little known, the following account may be
+quoted.<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p>
+
+<p>“Even in our Asiatic Provinces, before the breaking out of the
+troubles, a desire had sprung up among the natives to extend the
+blessings of education to women. Gopal Singh, a Hindu gentleman,
+holding under Government the post of district Inspector of native
+schools, had succeeded, through his own exertions, in establishing
+upwards of two hundred seminaries for young ladies in the Province of
+Agra which were attended by 3800 girls of the best families. By many of
+our countrymen in India, this is regarded rather as a social revolution
+than as an educational movement. As a rule, the natives look with
+suspicion on everything which comes from a foreigner, for which reason
+the great efforts made by the English have not produced corresponding
+results. ‘The establishment of a little school,’ observes the Pandit,
+‘which my own daughters and those of my immediate friends and relations
+attended at first like a charm, dispelled in a great measure the
+prejudices of my neighbours, and induced many to send their girls also.
+This example and my constant persuasion and reasoning have at last
+succeeded in inducing many respectable inhabitants of other villages to
+yield.’ And so the movement bids fair to become national. The pupils
+are nearly all Hindus belonging to the more respectable classes. The
+teachers are all men.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span></p>
+
+<p>“‘Want of female teachers,’ says Gopal Singh, ‘was one great obstacle
+in the way; but the guardians of the girls composing the respective
+schools pointed out men of an approved character, in whom they have
+full confidence, and I have appointed such persons only as teachers;
+the result is very satisfactory.’”<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> The Government official note
+on the experiment is that the lack of the humanizing influence of
+trained school mistresses, and the impossibility of supervising the
+elderly Pandits were the real causes of the failure of the schools and
+not the Mutiny, which hindered the general development of education
+in the province but little. Accordingly the attempt was renewed in
+1858 by one of the masters of the Agra College, a Jat<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> of good
+family, in co-operation with Government. He succeeded in securing
+“school mistresses of high-caste and relatives of rich and influential
+zemindars,”<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> and by 1863, when he was appointed special Inspector
+of female schools, their number had increased to 144. The curriculum
+seems to have been somewhat different from that of the boys’ schools,
+and the Pandit notes with satisfaction: “Girls are possessed of better
+memories and less selfishness than boys.” The success and extent of
+the movement seems however to have been due to the personal influence
+of this one man, and with the passing of his generation the schools<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span>
+degenerated in type. The rapid extension of this work under Government
+into other districts necessitated the employment once more of men
+teachers. Four female Normal schools were established which appear to
+have been such only in name. Two British Inspectresses were appointed
+whose reports indicate the same problems as those of a more modern
+date. “The villagers are not opposed to the schools but they value them
+chiefly as a means of support for Brahmans and relatives.”<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> They
+could not believe that the Government were in earnest on the subject,
+when the girls’ school was accommodated in a place not more attractive
+than a cow-shed and the boys’ in a handsome building. In 1876, a
+drastic reduction of 212 schools took place and the question of female
+education dropped into abeyance for a period. The official comment
+thereon was that the State had incurred much expense in founding and
+maintaining these schools and that the results had been painfully
+disappointing. Historically, the experiment indicates the danger
+of extending girls’ schools beyond the desire of the community and
+beyond the possibility of constant supervision on the part of British
+Inspectresses. The solution of the ever-present problem of a supply
+of teachers was only a temporary one, and the failure of the Normal
+schools was attributed largely to the lack of a British superintendent.</p>
+
+<p>The influence exerted for the education of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span> women in India by Mary
+Carpenter, is a curious episode in a life whose main work in England
+was to lead the way to a national system of moral rescue and preventive
+discipline for juvenile criminals. During the last decade of her
+life (1867-1877), she visited India four times, and by her personal
+influence and enthusiasm she greatly affected the Government attitude
+and turned the rising conviction of the Indian Theistic movements into
+the right channels. Her position at home secured her a direct hearing
+in Government circles and the rapidity with which she adapted her
+pre-conceived notion of taking some Indian girls home for training
+to the wiser one of female Normal schools in India, proved once more
+her extraordinary power of vision in social problems. Herself of an
+intensely religious temperament, the revolt from the crudity of much of
+the orthodox religious teaching of the time led her sympathies largely
+in the direction of Unitarianism, and believing, like Mountstewart
+Elphinstone and many other Christian Indian statesmen of the period,
+that secular education for India was ultimately the more religious
+policy, she threw her whole influence into the establishment of schools
+which would not in any way interfere with the religious beliefs of the
+people. Yet her attitude to the mission schools was warmly sympathetic
+and she notes her indebtedness to the accumulated experience there.<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a>
+Some further<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span> provision, however, seemed necessary in the case of
+girls, as the boys of the country had larger opportunities and the
+social system was in danger of one-sided development.<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> Her whole
+energy went towards the foundation of female Normal schools and in 1867
+she secured a grant from the Central Government of £1500 per annum
+for five years for the establishment of these schools in Bombay and
+Ahmedabad on condition that an equal amount was provided by the native
+community. This stipulation was in accord with the previous policy that
+Government action should not in so delicate a matter be in advance of
+native opinion. Mr Dadabhai Nauraji, in a letter to the Secretary of
+State for India, following on a memorial from Indians in London, gives
+a general survey of the income derived from the native endowments for
+female education in different parts of India at this time.</p>
+
+<table><tbody>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl_wsp">Bombay</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">Rupees</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp">40,000</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl_wsp">Punjāb</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp" colspan="2">4,321</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl_wsp">Madras</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp" colspan="2">234</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl_wsp">Bengal</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp" colspan="2">132</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl_wsp">North Western Provinces</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp" colspan="2">..</td>
+</tr>
+
+</tbody></table>
+
+
+<p>It will thus be seen that a certain response existed even if only
+amongst a few advanced sections of the population. Further direct
+contributions were not immediately forthcoming, but after various
+memorials a Government grant of £1200 for five years to each of the
+capitals of the three<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span> Presidencies was ultimately given without this
+special stipulation. Miss Carpenter’s scheme for the Normal schools
+laid special emphasis on the need of experienced English supervision
+and instruction as the only means whereby the proper training could
+be secured and the dignity of the teaching profession for women
+raised. The failure of the so-called Normal schools in the North
+Western Provinces and the success of the mission training schools in
+Calcutta proves the wisdom of this policy. The new schools passed
+through various vicissitudes, but ultimately, Miss Carpenter had the
+pleasure of seeing substantial fruit of her labours at Ahmedabad, Poona
+and Madras. Much of the interest she had aroused amongst the Indian
+community was doubtless sporadic, and many of the schools started
+were short-lived, but in the main her influence on the development
+of women’s education in India has counted as a dominant factor in
+the Government policy, in the establishment of the National Indian
+Association and in the permanence of certain institutions.</p>
+
+<p>The activity of Christian missions during this period seems
+extraordinary, when the difficulties which hampered Government
+efforts are considered. Moreover, all their educational work was
+handicapped, so far as numbers were concerned, by the frank and open
+avowal of the desire to win their pupils ultimately for Christianity.
+The missionaries had, however, at their command the one essential
+asset—Western women who were willing to give themselves heart<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span> and
+soul to the work. Eight new women’s societies, both British and
+American, entered India between 1860 and 1870, and educational work
+both in zenanas and in schools was their most effective means of
+contact with the people. Their pupils in the Primary stages were
+drawn both from the non-Christian population and from the orphans and
+converts in connection with the missions. As it was possible to retain
+the Christian girls, and even some of the others for longer than the
+usual period, owing to the exclusion of men teachers from the mission
+schools, a Secondary system on identical lines with that for boys began
+to be slowly built up.</p>
+
+<p>The Inspectress in the North Western Provinces notes that almost
+the only really prosperous Middle girls’ schools are those in large
+stations superintended by ladies of the missionary societies.<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a>
+Miss Carpenter’s testimony to the schools in Madras and Calcutta is
+in similar terms. Where village schools were attempted they seem to
+have suffered from lack of constant supervision. In 1870, the Isabella
+Thoburn School, Lucknow, was founded, and in 1880, the Sarah Tucker
+School, in Palamcottah. In 1881, the Free Church Mission School in
+Calcutta had the satisfaction of passing a successful candidate for
+the First Arts examination. This girl, and a pupil from the Bethune
+School who passed in the same year, were the first in all India<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> to
+accomplish this feat.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span></p>
+
+<p>The third period, from 1884 to the present date, is marked by a
+definite change in the attitude of Government. The Educational
+Commission of 1882 under Sir William Hunter revealed many abuses which
+had grown up in connection with the system in vogue for boys, and also
+showed how little had really been done for girls. The recommendation
+is that girls’ schools should now receive “special encouragement and
+liberality.” The further recommendation of the Educational Commission
+of 1900 is that girls’ schools should receive liberal grants and that
+the fees should be less rigidly enforced. The standards of instruction
+in the Primary schools should be different and have special reference
+to the requirements of home life and to the occupations open to women.
+This policy, emphatically reiterated in the Despatch of 1904, has
+worked out differently in the different provinces, as is indicated
+elsewhere. Its main features in the last two decades may be said to be
+the appointment from home of experienced educators as Inspectresses of
+Schools in the Indian Educational Service, the establishment of model
+schools for girls like those formerly created for boys, in districts
+where the aided schools had not reached the required standard or
+did not satisfy the wants of the neighbourhood, and a considerably
+increased financial outlay both in grants and direct educational work.
+In 1907 the total expenditure amounted to over forty-four lakhs.
+There is no desire in any way to supersede the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span> aided schools, on the
+contrary, it is recognized that the more their work is extended, so
+long as it is really efficient, the better for a country which like
+many others groans under its taxation, and where also the limit of
+desire for female education is still easily reached. To efficiency and
+adequate supply, the Government directs its attention. The proportion
+of the schools directly managed by the Public Authority to private or
+aided schools may be seen in the accompanying table, being slightly
+over 20.41 per cent. of the whole.</p>
+
+<p>Of the aided schools there is no separate official classification
+to show what proportion are managed by Indian committees, and what
+by missionary agencies.<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> Where possible this has been indicated
+from local information in the chapters on the separate provinces. The
+Indian spontaneous element has become however much stronger during this
+modern period, not only in Bombay, where it has grown steadily since
+1847, but also in connection with the various Samājes in the Punjāb,
+United Provinces and Bengal. The orthodox Hindu element is seen in the
+system of the Mahakali Pathshalas<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> started in Bengal in 1893, while
+probably the most remarkable feature in the Indian movement is the
+establishment of girls’ schools under committees of Indian gentlemen representing different
+faiths. This indigenous movement is due in part to a desire to provide
+a good education without direct interference with the religion of the
+pupils, and in part to a reaction from the extreme secularism and the
+Westernizing influences of the Government schools.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Management of Girls’ Schools</span><a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></h4>
+
+<table class="spb1">
+<thead>
+<tr>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2" rowspan="2"></th>
+<th class="tdc bl bb bt2" colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Under Public Management.</span></th>
+<th class="tdc bl2 bb bt2" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Under Private<br>Management.</span></th>
+<th class="tdc bl br bt2" rowspan="2">Total</th>
+</tr>
+
+<tr class="bb">
+<th class="tdc bl">Government.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl">Municipal<br>Board.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl">Native<br>States.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl2">Aided.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl">Unaided.</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">Training Schools</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">12</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">2</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">44</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">4</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">63</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">High</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">7</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">—</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">—</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">98</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">7</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">112</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">Middle English</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">3</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">2</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">179</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">6</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">191</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">Middle Vernacular</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">56</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">10</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">185</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">11</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">—</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">262</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl bb">Primaries</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">365</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">1,274</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">250</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2 bb">7,041</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">1,053</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br bb">9,983</td>
+</tr>
+
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl bb2">Total</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb2">443</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb2">1,287</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb2">438</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2 bb2">7,373</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb2">1,070</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br bb2">10,611</td>
+</tr>
+
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Girls under Instruction classified according to Race or
+Creed</span><a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></h4>
+
+<table class="spb1">
+<tbody>
+
+<tr class="bold">
+<td class="tdl bl bt2"></td>
+<td class="tdc bl bt2">Euro<br>pean.</td>
+<td class="tdc bl bt2">Native<br>Christ<br>ians.</td>
+<td class="tdc bl bt2">Hindus.</td>
+<td class="tdc bl bt2">Moham-<br>medans.</td>
+<td class="tdc bl bt2">Parsis.</td>
+<td class="tdc bl bt2">Buddh<br>ists.</td>
+<td class="tdc bl bt2">Others.</td>
+<td class="tdc bl br bt2">Total.</td>
+</tr>
+
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl hang"><span class="smcap bt">Secondary Schools</span><br>(High and Middle<br> English)</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt">11,502</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt">10,725</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt">4,316</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt">140</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt">1,402</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt">757</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt">552</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br bt">29,394</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl hang"><span class="smcap">Middle Schools</span><br>(Vernacular)</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">11</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">6,896</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">17,561</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1,104</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">5</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">6,246</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">20</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">31,843</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl hang"><span class="smcap">Primary Schools</span><br>(For Boys)</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">564</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">22,776</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">133,341</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">27,832</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">820</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">31,379</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">2,431</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">219,143</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl"><span class="ml1">(For Girls only)</span></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1,547</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">16,063</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">214,092</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">46,876</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">3,626</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">10,382</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1,519</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">294,105</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl bt2 bb hang"><span class="smcap">Training Schools</span></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt2 bb">173</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt2 bb">844</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt2 bb">292</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt2 bb">7</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt2 bb">—</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt2 bb">32</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt2 bb">9</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br bt2 bb">1,420</td>
+</tr>
+
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span></p>
+
+<p>Missionary work in education during the modern period is marked by
+continued expansion. The former success of mission agencies in taking a
+proportion of their pupils beyond the elementary stages is redoubled.
+Of the forty three High Schools for Indian girls, only five in 1907
+were under Government management. “The bulk of female Secondary
+education is provided by missionaries.”<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> A glance at the religious
+classification table will show that out of some 17,000 Indian girls in
+the High and Middle Schools more than 10,000 are Indian Christians,
+while a large proportion of non-Christian pupils are also studying in
+mission schools and colleges. The Christian Primary schools in the
+villages have also greatly improved in type through the introduction in
+some places of modern educational methods under the careful and regular
+supervision of trained English managers.</p>
+
+<p>As we survey the situation as a whole, certain problems stand out as
+common to all India and as indicating how critical is the present
+period in relation to the ultimate development of her women. These
+are the extension of Primary<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span> education, the retaining of pupils in
+the higher stages, the nationalizing of the curriculum, the supply of
+teachers, and finally the place of the religious element in education.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the recent rapid increase and the steady progress of the
+last twenty years, the percentage of girls of school age attending
+school is only 4.6,<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> and though the next Quinquennial Returns will
+probably show a marked increase, the desire for education has still in
+many places to be created. The proportion of girls in the Secondary
+stages is not shown by the number of those studying in High and Middle
+English schools,<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> as many of these are in the Primary classes.
+Only 1208 girls were actually in the High School departments in 1907.
+In that year 178 girls passed the Matriculation examination.<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a>
+This small proportion indicates, apart from the social and religious
+customs which cause it, a lack of balance in the whole system. Are the
+circumstances under which higher education is given not such as commend
+themselves to the Indian mind? Or is the course of studies pursued not
+of sufficiently practical and educational value to prove attractive
+to Indian women? Is there any foundation for the popular belief that
+the physique of Indian girls is not strong enough for a prolonged
+school course? These questions underlie much of the discussion in the
+following chapters.</p>
+
+<p class="spb1"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_fp052" style="max-width: 115.0625em;">
+ <img class="w100" src="images/i_fp052.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>[Government Examination of Girls, Calcutta]</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Two causes are apparently at work. In India as a whole 42% of the girl
+pupils are studying in boys’ schools. These naturally never proceed
+beyond the Primary stage, as co-education is not, except in the hill
+districts, in accordance with Indian ideas. There seems therefore a
+great need for increasing the number of Primary schools for girls only,
+whence the transition to the higher stages would be easy. In some
+districts there is practically an unlimited field for expansion in this
+way. Another cause may possibly be the difficulty of access to really
+first-class schools for non-Christian girls. The missionary societies
+which have done so much for the higher education of boys have, with
+certain exceptions, concentrated their attention on the provision of
+excellent boarding-schools for the girls of the Christian community
+rather than aiming at developing a parallel system for girls
+which would attract the non-Christian element, as it has on the men’s
+side. The new Middle and High schools which are springing up under
+Government and Indian auspices are an attempt to meet this need, but
+there is undoubtedly room for further development.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span></p>
+
+<p>The problem of the curriculum is a very subtle one. In the early days
+of the reform of girls’ education in Great Britain, about 1862,<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a>
+the greatest need seemed to be the adoption of an adequate test of
+knowledge, and that test one already recognized, so that there might
+seem to be no lower requirement to suit the supposed lower capacity
+of the feminine mind. The same principle worked in the early days of
+girls’ education in India and preparation for Matriculation<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> seemed
+the only means by which the standard could be raised. Whereas in Great
+Britain the leading girls’ High schools have developed a flexibility
+and variety of curriculum wherein many a “womanly woman” has found
+her training, even if she did not prefer to seek her education in one
+of the numerous excellent private schools, the girls’ curriculum for
+Indian girls has been stereotyped on masculine lines. If we assume
+that education should prepare for future life, it seems clearly wrong
+that the preparation for spheres so totally different as those of
+Indian men and women should be identical. A highly trained missionary
+educator sums up the problem of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span> Secondary school as follows:—“In
+spite of the fact that less than 1% go on to college, the whole plan
+of school education is made to lead up to Matriculation and instead
+of completing a school course, the aim is to prepare for a college
+course that is never entered upon.” The Inspectress in Bombay writes
+in this connection:—“Such a course is harmful, and girls leave
+these schools with weakened physique and very little in the way of
+real culture to compensate for it.” An Inspectress from Madras also
+writes:—“The examination shadow is to be seen in every room from
+the third form upwards, and it is only with the greatest difficulty
+that sufficient time can be snatched for the teaching of a little
+recitation, drawing and drill, in view of the annual inspection.” In
+the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay a departmental examination is
+offered as alternative to Matriculation for girls, and in this such
+subjects as botany, hygiene, drawing, dress-making, cooking, appear
+as substitutes for algebra and geometry, but the schools prefer to
+send up their girls for Matriculation. The further question arises
+not only of the differentiation of the girls’ curriculum from that of
+the boys’ but also from that of Western girls. How is Indian female
+education to be brought into close touch with Indian environment? The
+spontaneous Indian movement is in part an attempt to meet this problem,
+while on the other hand it inclines to view as a racial affront any
+suggestion to adapt the curriculum to the special needs of girls.
+The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span> Government Inspectresses are closely considering the matter and
+are eager to welcome any constructive policy which will lessen the
+danger of creating the “female Babu.” Several missionaries are working
+hard against the denationalizing tendencies which in many cases were
+introduced before the reformed educational methods prevailed in the
+West. A conference of English educators and Indian missionaries was
+recently held in London to discuss Indian curricula and the relation
+of the educational problems of the East and West. It is true that the
+opinion of Indian missionaries is not yet unanimous on the need of
+any alteration, and as the bulk of Secondary education is in their
+hands their co-operation is essential. There is however good hope of
+a sound constructive theory being ultimately produced if women of
+sufficient courage, originality and ability can be found to plough for
+a while a lonely furrow. The curricula for the Primary schools is a
+different question. Some educators hold it to be the saner policy to
+accept the fact that the majority of the girls will only be at school
+for four years, and to adapt the whole course to this limitation. A
+correspondent of the Education Commission of the World Missionary
+Conference 1910, writes:—“Under such circumstances, therefore, the aim
+should be directed towards a sound elementary education in reading,
+writing and arithmetic, a knowledge of domestic economy and hygiene,
+and the formation of a strong moral character. The aim, that is, must
+be determined<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span> by the opportunities offered for education. It is better
+to reach a lower aim than to try for a higher aim and fail altogether.
+I believe the mistake that is made in regard to the education of Hindu
+girls is in attempting to do the impossible. There are many subjects
+which it is extremely desirable to teach, but the limited time during
+which the girls are teachable makes it imperative to concentrate on
+what is attainable. We should aim, therefore, at demonstrating to
+the people that the girls who have been to school become superior
+housewives and mothers; that what they learn is of real value to them
+in the home; and above all, that their moral character is improved and
+strengthened.”<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> The Primary curriculum has already been remodelled
+to a certain extent. In Bengal, Eastern Bengal, and the United
+Provinces separate schemes have been issued. In the two former the
+courses follow the method of the Kindergarten in the lower classes, and
+include much nature study, also hygiene, domestic economy and sewing.
+In the United Provinces and Bombay the reading-books in use for girls
+are different. These reading-books are often the only printed matter
+which a village girl may ever possess, and they are intended to impart
+a large amount of useful information. A reformed curriculum in the
+hands of untrained teachers becomes, however, a dead letter, perhaps
+hardly less injurious than the mere literacy of former<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span> days, and thus
+the interdependence of the various educational problems is once again
+illustrated. Is it advisable to increase the number of Primary schools,
+and to adapt their curriculum without an adequate supply of trained
+teachers?</p>
+
+<p>The problem of the teacher can be traced since the first beginnings in
+1820, recurring with the same baffling insistency. The modern situation
+shows little advance, except that the absolute necessity of having
+all teachers to some extent trained is gradually being recognized,
+and grants are influenced by the degree in which this ideal is kept
+in view. The sources of supply for teachers in Indian schools of all
+grades are women from English-speaking countries, Anglo-Indians or
+“country born” English girls from the Hill schools, members of the
+Brāhma and Ārya Samāj, Indian Christians, Parsis, married women of
+some education from the Hindu non-Brahman community and lastly “women
+who have learnt to read and write at home.” This last class is still
+astonishingly prevalent. Teachers from other sources are sometimes
+procured but, except in the case of married women, they are few
+in number. There are also a good many elderly pandits teaching in
+village schools. The trouble is that the demand enormously exceeds the
+supply. Here is a dilemma familiar to missions. A village school has
+no teacher; there is at hand a mission pupil, who has finished her
+Vernacular Middle Examination, but has not been trained; too often it
+ends in the appointment of the girl<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span> to the school, as the committee
+knows that the interval before she marries will be only too brief. This
+illustration applies throughout the mission field. The difficulties,
+moreover, attending proper chaperonage of village mistresses are
+enormous. The employment of widows, where such are forthcoming, is
+subject to the same difficulty, but ultimately they may with proper
+training and care become a main source of supply. The hopes which early
+theorists have built upon the widows of India are to a certain extent
+already justified and may still be confidently cherished. As regards
+the opportunities for training, a special circular, issued by the
+Central Government, in 1901, has provided a needed stimulus to both
+official and private effort. It is difficult to distinguish absolutely
+between Secondary and Primary training,<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> as some institutions have
+a few students doing more advanced work than the others. On the whole
+there is a distinct lack of provision for the separate Secondary
+training of women teachers; very few women graduates have taken it and
+the creation of the opportunity might create the demand. The students
+in training are mostly Anglo-Indian. The provision for Primary training
+is more adequate, though there is still in some instances a lack of
+that co-operation between missionary societies which would lead to more
+efficient work. The details of management and religious classification
+of pupils are given on pages 48 and 49. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span> great difficulty in all
+the Primary training work is the lack of preliminary knowledge; in some
+of the institutes for widows, indeed, this is a long forgotten minimum.
+The influence of the previous curriculum upon those who pass on to the
+proper Vernacular Course after the Middle Examination is also felt. An
+experienced teacher comments:—“The shadow of prescribed examination
+which hangs over the school course before training tends to leave the
+girls quite unacquainted with the newer subjects, and they are not
+able to acquire these during their training course with sufficient
+thoroughness to teach them satisfactorily afterwards.”</p>
+
+<p>The inter-relation of these problems needs to be borne in mind
+throughout. It seems in many ways as if the whole reform in women’s
+education in India must begin from above downwards, namely in the High
+School and College stages combined with Secondary training, till the
+impulse imparted thence is felt throughout every grade. This subject is
+specially treated in the chapter on the University Education of women.
+Reform further can only come through closer co-operation, the need and
+opportunity for this will be apparent in the course of our study of
+conditions in the different provinces.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="III">III</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>BURMA</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquote">
+
+<p>“Thou son of <i>dewas</i>; to hear and see much in order to acquire
+knowledge; to study all science that leads not to sin; to make use of
+proper language; to study the Law in order to acquire a knowledge of
+propriety of behaviour; these are blessed things, <i>Dewa</i>, mark
+them well.”</p>
+
+<p>“Thou son of <i>dewas</i>; to be patient and endure suffering; to
+rejoice in edifying discourse; to visit the holy men when occasion
+serves; to converse on religious subjects; these are blessed things,
+<i>Dewa</i>, mark them well.”</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+The <i>Mingala-thut</i>. Buddhist Beatitudes.<br>
+(Burma—Sir George Scott).<br>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="dropcap-paragraph">I<span class="upper-case">n</span> Burma the ancient ideal of Indian womanhood may still be seen in
+a somewhat purified form. The Buddhist faith which gives a touch
+of gentleness to every relation of life, has accentuated its best
+features and swept away many of the laws which hindered its development
+elsewhere. There is thus very little in the position of women in Burma
+at which even the most pronounced feminist could cavil. The woman
+is, if anything, the predominant partner and yet few realize that
+she rules. Gay, blythe and débonnaire, the sunniest spot in a sunny
+scene,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span> her rainbow-tinted tamein relieved by a short white jacket, a
+coloured scarf across her shoulder, and fresh flowers clustering in
+her dark lustrous hair, the Burmese woman is ready any day for any
+problem of life you may choose to propound. She is the bargainer,
+trader and financier of the family, and as such her legal and monetary
+position after marriage is well assured. Marriage is here an affair
+of the heart, and it is entered upon when young life flows strong in
+the later teens. A woman may not marry without her parents’ consent
+before the age of twenty, but then if marriage is her wish, why should
+the parents not consent? Why should anyone object to anything which
+promises to fulfil the heart’s desire of another. So runs a contented
+“laissez faire” policy. And life is not measured in terms of money by
+the Burmese. If education has a chance anywhere of being regarded not
+as a means of livelihood but as a leading forth of the mind to higher
+and nobler thoughts, it is here in Burma, in consequence of the mental
+characteristics of the people. Work beyond what is needed for the bare
+necessaries of life seems unnatural, and there is no perpetually rising
+standard of comfort, nor passion for accumulation to bind the Burmese
+to an unceasing wheel of toil. He pauses to be glad and to rejoice.
+The art of rejoicing is one of the chief arts of Burma, and there is
+perhaps no country in the world where it is carried to such a pitch of
+perfection. No generalization can be made about any people unless long
+years are spent in their midst, but the first impressions made by the
+Burmese on a stranger generally confirm the writers who characterize
+them as modern hedonists. There are books which show another side of
+the picture, and many sad facts (notably the looseness of the marriage
+tie<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a>) bear them out, but leaving these aside, and turning to our
+particular problem, we find that the girls’ schools of Burma are glad
+and happy places. There is an atmosphere of buoyancy and quiet zest in
+work which strikes the visitor at once, and this testimony is amply
+borne out by the teachers.</p>
+
+<p class="spb1"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span></p>
+<figure class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_fp062" style="max-width: 66.6875em;">
+ <img class="w100" src="images/i_fp062.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>[Girls at St Luke’s Mission, Toungoo, Burma]</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>It must, however, be remembered that not all girls in school in Burma
+are Burmese. A large proportion of them are drawn from the Karens, who
+occupy the tracts of hill country on the frontier of Lower Burma, in
+Tenasserim, and in the Delta of the Irawadi. The gradual civilization
+and raising of these tribes to the standard of the Burmese in general,
+is on all sides attributed to the excellent work of the missionaries,
+(the American Baptists and the Anglicans). Where Christianity comes its
+special social results follow. There is a Chinese community numbering
+over 40,000 and a strong Mohammedan section, not to speak of Hindu
+immigrants from South India, Tamils and Telugus, while the variety of
+the educational problem may be seen in the official enumeration of the
+other races under instruction: “Karens, Talaings, Chins, Shans, Danus
+and Inthas, Chinese, Indians, Palaungs and Taungthus.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span></p>
+
+<p class="p0">The interior of Burma is inhabited by about fifty-seven
+different tribes speaking forty different languages. Feminine education
+however is not as yet a matter of importance amongst the hill tribes;
+apart from the Anglo-Indian (Eurasian) schools, which lie beyond the
+province of this book, it affects mainly the Burmese, Karen, Chinese
+and Mohammedan communities.</p>
+
+<p>As regards general literacy, Burma ranks high in the provinces of the
+Empire; the proportion of girls at school to girls of school-going age
+was 9.6% in 1910,<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> as compared with 4% in 1907 in British India as
+a whole. This distinction is however mainly in the Primary stages, for
+the women graduates of Burma can so far be numbered on one’s fingers.
+It is also entirely confined to those areas which have come into touch
+with modern civilization. There are large tracts of hill country where
+the women are totally uneducated, for the Burmese and Karen women alone
+contribute to the high proportion. One would however naturally expect
+to find a well developed system of female education throughout the
+various stages, offering possibly an example to the other provinces,
+and it is surprising to find that this is not the case. On the contrary
+there is considerably less organization and no such<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span> definite policy
+in female education as in Eastern Bengal. The real reasons for the
+creditable proportion are the later age of marriage, the bright
+temperament and ability of the Burmese girl, the complete absence of
+<i>parda</i>, and the general social atmosphere, which permits girls
+to study unhindered in boys’ schools throughout all the stages. Thus
+there are more girls studying in boys’ schools than in separate ones,
+viz. 73% as compared with 42% over India as a whole. The system seems
+in many ways to work well. Of the three contributing factors, which are
+found in every province, the work of Government, the spontaneous Indian
+movement, and missionary effort, the last overwhelmingly predominates
+in Burma, especially in the higher stages.</p>
+
+<p>The policy of the Government, more especially as regards girls’
+schools, has been to encourage, guide, and, to a certain extent,
+finance private institutions while undertaking little direct work
+of its own. As will be seen from the accompanying table, only four
+institutions are directly under the Central Authority. A certain
+proportion of girls may also be found in the Government and Municipal
+Secondary schools for boys; the Primary schools for boys directly under
+public control only number fifteen and the proportion of girls in
+them is therefore a negligible quantity. No Inspectress or Assistant
+Inspectress has as yet been appointed, partly because funds are lacking
+and also because, apart from purely domestic subjects there does not,
+seem such a crying need for it as in other parts of India.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Management of Girls’ Schools in Burma</span><a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></h4>
+
+<table class="spb1">
+<thead>
+<tr>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2" rowspan="2"></th>
+<th class="tdc bl bb bt2" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Under Public<br> Management.</span></th>
+<th class="tdc bl2 bb br bt2" colspan="4"><span class="smcap">Under Private<br>Management.</span></th>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<th class="tdc bl">Govern<br>ment.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl">Munici<br>pal<br>Boards.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl2">Aided by<br>Govern<br>ment.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl">Un<br>aided.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl">Number of<br>Schools<br>on Roll.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl br">Number of<br>Girls in<br>Boys’ Schools.</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl bt">College</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2 bt">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br bt">12</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">High</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">9</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1,523</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">502</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl hang">Middle<br>English</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">16</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1,968</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">1,086</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl"><span class="ml1">Vernacular</span></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">4</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">48</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">3,312</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">9,456</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl bb">Primary</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2 bb">619</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">20,022</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br bb">40,534</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl bb"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">4</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2 bb">692</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">26,825</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br bb">51,590</td>
+</tr>
+
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><i>Note.</i>—Deducting the Anglo-Indian figures it
+leaves only 676 Indian girls taking High School Education.</p>
+
+<p class="p0 hang">There are also 86 Private Institutions of an elementary character with
+over four thousand pupils.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span></p>
+
+<p>The spontaneous Indian element may practically be identified with
+the Buddhist educational movement, except for one small Mohammedan
+school in Rangoon where tiny girls learn the Koran. To Buddhism and
+the Buddhist monks may be attributed the high standard of literacy
+in Burma as a whole. Practically every Burmese boy knows how to read
+and write, and he has learnt it at the monastery.<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> In the nature
+of things girls are not admitted to these <i>Kyaungs</i>, but there
+are apparently some parallel schools for girls, conducted by nuns.
+“Besides the monastic public schools, there are private schools kept
+by laymen and occasionally also by women, in which girls as well as
+boys are taught.”<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> The private institutions which do not come under
+inspection are mainly of this character. One fruit of the recent
+Buddhist revival is the Empress Victoria Buddhist Girls’ School,
+which owes its existence and tone to the energies of Mrs Hla Oung.
+Her main idea is the combination of modern education with definite
+instruction in Buddhism and in this the school differs from all the
+other indigenous girls’ schools, where little beyond bare literacy
+can be acquired. Excellent education up to “Anglo-Vernacular Standard
+VII” can be obtained here under competent mistresses or masters. An
+Anglo-Vernacular school has also<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span> recently been opened through private
+generosity for the girls of the Chinese Colony in Rangoon. There is
+naturally no spontaneous and independent effort for girls’ education
+among the hill tribes, though in many cases they are ready to meet the
+missionary more than half-way.</p>
+
+<p>The missionary influence in the education of girls in Burma is thus a
+most important one, and includes every stage from the Kindergarten to
+Normal training. The chief agencies at work are the American Baptist
+Mission, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and the
+Methodist Episcopal Church of America. The Roman Catholic educational
+schemes exist largely for the Anglo-Indians and the Tamil immigrants
+from South India.</p>
+
+<p class="spb1"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span></p>
+<figure class="figcenter illowp43" id="i_fp068" style="max-width: 58.875em;">
+ <img class="w100" src="images/i_fp068.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>[Ghurka Girl Boarder at S.P.G. Girls’ School, Mandalay]</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>The American Baptist Mission dates from the time of Judson (1810),
+and has now in connection with it over 70,000 native Christians
+speaking eight different languages. The educational scheme for their
+Christian girls is very thorough, and leads up through a system of
+small village schools to their Burmese boarding-school in Kemmandine,
+a suburb of Rangoon, and to an excellent mixed Karen school, also in
+Rangoon. There is a separate Normal school, and one or two especially
+clever girls are to be found in the Matriculation class of the Baptist
+Boys’ High School preparing to go to the Mission College. A large
+proportion of the non-Christian girls are drawn into these schools by
+the efficiency of the education offered. The centre of the S.P.G.
+work is St Mary’s School, Rangoon, which dates back to 1865, and is
+a first-class institution in every way. It is satisfactory to note
+that several of the staff are former pupils who have returned to teach
+here, after training in the S.P.G. Normal School. Some of the staff are
+Anglo-Indian, but a good proportion are Burmese Christians. Two English
+ladies are in charge. There are about one hundred boarders, mostly
+Christian, but including some Buddhists, and nearly an equal number of
+non-Christian day scholars. The school works under the Government Code,
+and earns an excellent grant. There are three other good S.P.G. schools
+for Burmese or Karen girls which lead up to St Mary’s. Those at Toungoo
+and Mandalay have a considerable number of boarders. A few of these
+are drawn from the immigrant population—as Kansi, the little Ghurka
+girl in the accompanying illustration. Her father is a Christian, and
+contributes regularly to her maintenance. The policy of the S.P.G.
+Mission seems, so far, rather to concentrate on a few good schools
+than to develop much village educational work. The Methodist Episcopal
+schools, like those of the S.P.G., are partly for the Anglo-Indian
+community, and partly for the indigenous population. In Rangoon they
+have two good High schools, one of each type, and other schools in the
+country. The educational work done by other societies in Burma is not
+extensive; but, where every unit counts, it has its own contribution to
+make. There are large tracts of hill country round Burma
+which are still waiting for missionary advance, and where the women are
+totally uneducated.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span></p>
+
+<p class="p0">The pioneer work to be done would be of the type
+usual amongst primitive peoples, and might produce the same magnificent
+results as amongst the Karens.</p>
+
+<p>Passing from the organizing agencies to the actual pupils, the
+religious classification as seen in the accompanying table is of
+interest.</p>
+
+<p>The Anglo-Indian pupils pass through the various stages of their
+education in the High School, hence their absence in the statistics
+of the Primary schools. The proportion of Mohammedan girls in the
+High schools is striking, and is possibly due to the fact of mixed
+parentage; Buddhist freedom to a certain extent influences Mohammedan
+customs in Burma. By the new regulations only 15% of the places in
+the “European” schools are available for Burmese or Indian girls, and
+these vacancies are eagerly sought after. The curriculum pursued in the
+various schools is laid down in the Government Code, and there are no
+schools of any importance which stand apart and develop an experimental
+curriculum of their own, as occasionally happens in other provinces.
+Burma has, as yet, no University of her own, and the curriculum of
+the schools with the corresponding departmental examinations is to a
+certain extent determined in relation to the Calcutta Matriculation.
+Schools are classified as “High” in which after a good vernacular
+foundation, the pupils are taken up to Matriculation,
+English being used as a medium of instruction in the higher forms;
+“Middle Anglo-Vernacular,” in which English is taught orally from
+the Primary stages and as a written language from the fourth class,
+instruction is given only up to the test of the seventh standard, and
+in the latter stages English is used as a medium; “Middle Vernacular,”
+in which pupils are taken up to the seventh standard, but no English
+instruction whatever is given; and “Primary,” where vernacular
+education is only carried to the fourth standard.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Classification by Race or Creed of Burmese School Girls</span><a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></h4>
+
+<table class="spb1">
+<thead>
+<tr>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb"></th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">Euro<br>pean.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">Native<br>Christ<br>ians.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">Hindus.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">Moham-<br>medans.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">Buddh<br>ists.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">Par<br>sis.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl br bt2 bb">Others.</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+
+<tbody>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">High School</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1,349</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">14</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">9</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">23</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">31</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">25</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">72</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl hang">Middle<br>Anglo-Vernacular</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">470</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">453</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">6</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">28</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1,001</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">2</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">8</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl"><span class="ml1">Vernacular</span></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">4</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">543</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">38</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">114</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">2,938</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">1</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">Primary</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">128</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1,121</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">77</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">208</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">18,487</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">7</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl bt2 bb"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt2 bb">1,951</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt2 bb">2,131</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt2 bb">130</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt2 bb">373</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt2 bb">22,451</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt2 bb">27</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br bt2 bb">88</td>
+</tr>
+
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span></p>
+
+<p>The curriculum is in many respects very similar to that found in
+schools at home, and is open to the usual criticism that its influence
+is denationalizing. A recent order limits the teaching of English in
+the first three classes to simple conversation lessons, in order that
+more stress may be laid on correct vernacular. The advantages of the
+oral method in the hands of a skilled teacher are undoubted, but it
+is a question whether the Department have not been somewhat premature
+in this respect. The Kindergarten classes are excellently conducted
+in some schools, and every effort is made to keep them as Burmese as
+possible in character. In drawing, a complete series of copies based on
+Burmese design and ranging from the most simple to the most elaborate,
+has been prepared and is in extensive use. It is when the stage of
+optional and alternative subjects is reached that the denationalizing
+element enters more strongly. In one High<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span> school visited, only about
+25% of the girls were taking Burmese, in some forms only one pupil did
+so, while many of them take Latin, and a preponderating proportion
+choose English history as being an easy examination subject. The number
+of Anglo-Indian girls partly explains this choice. Indian history is
+a compulsory subject throughout, and the Government Code offers ample
+scope for vernacular and classical Oriental study. It is the choice
+of the individual pupil or parents which is at fault. Sewing is not a
+subject which carries a Government grant, and excepting at a few of
+the European schools, it is at a low ebb. The Principal of the S.P.G.
+High school acted as Inspectress for the Department in this subject
+during 1910 in some twenty-six schools, and through her efforts the
+standard has been to some extent raised, but there is a crying need
+for a properly appointed Inspectress, who will develop this subject as
+well as a sound system of instruction in hygiene and domestic economy
+adapted to Burmese conditions. The tendency is for the girls to drop
+off in the higher forms at about sixteen years of age, so that very few
+really go up for the Matriculation examination, and these mainly with
+intent to teach. Others pass after Standard VII. straight to the Normal
+school.</p>
+
+<p>In outer circles a strong destructive criticism is directed against
+the anglicizing tendency of education in Burma, but amongst the
+missionaries actually engaged in it there is not the same<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span> realization
+of a possible need for change as is found amongst certain sections of
+missionary educators in other parts of India. The reason for this may
+partly lie in the fact that the Western education of girls—indeed
+education at all beyond the mere rudiments—is of later date in Burma
+than elsewhere, and that consequently its full effect cannot yet be
+traced. Moreover, among the Burmese there is not the same “nationalist”
+spirit as exists in India proper, and this directly influences the
+educational problem. It must be remembered, too, that there is not the
+same gulf between the woman’s life and the man’s as in other parts
+of India, and that the system used for boys may in many respects be
+excellent for girls. But whether we have here in its early stages a
+problem which is destined to become more acute, is a subtle question
+and one worthy of close inquiry. At any rate, no constructive theory
+has as yet been put forward by any mission school. The general public,
+however, criticize, and taking that criticism for what it is worth,
+there is a general indictment on the ground of the education given
+being mere “cram,” and not really a training of mind and character.
+A Burmese Deputy Commissioner writes: “If women have become more
+educated, many have also become more frivolous, spending their time in
+reading songs, <i>zats</i>,<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span> and useless trash, instead of doing
+more useful work.”<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> A special accusation is also directed against
+the general atmosphere of the school, which is too reminiscent of
+English to be the natural one for a foreign country.</p>
+
+<p>Both these criticisms are apparently concerned more with the problem
+of the teacher than with that of the curriculum. The Government Code
+is elastic, the trouble is the lack of emphasis laid on Oriental
+subjects. A British or American missionary may often enter at once into
+school life in Burma without any opportunity of knowing the people
+or the language, and be thus unable to give the Burmese tone, which
+in theory she may or may not value. I observed the special case of a
+young American at the head of a large Anglo-Vernacular Middle school
+who was obliged to interview her new pupils through an interpreter, and
+had no means of supervising the instruction given in the vernacular
+throughout her school. The educational problem translates itself here
+into the mission problem of under-staffing. It may doubtless be argued
+that the denationalizing influence in the mission schools is that of
+a religion presented in its Western aspects but it is interesting to
+note that the same atmosphere is felt in the Empress Victoria Buddhist
+Girls’ School,<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> which is constantly under the personal influence
+of Mrs Hla Oung, a leading Buddhist. The definite statement, “We wish
+to be English in everything except our religion,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span> affords a striking
+contrast to the care with which some missionaries seek to preserve all
+that is good and right in national tradition and custom.</p>
+
+<p>Passing from the dominant influence to the staff, through which the
+Head-mistress must transmit her ideals, what opportunities of training
+have these teachers had? As regards the Normal schools the whole work
+is practically in the hands of the missionaries. There are four Normal
+schools for girls all under mission management. These included in
+1910 eighty-eight pupils, of whom sixty-nine were native Christians.
+There are also a few girls in the Government Normal schools for men,
+notably two Mohammedan girls in the Mandalay school. The criticism in
+the Government Report is that the literary work demanded of the female
+students is too severe, especially if they do not aim at teaching
+in any institution higher than a Primary school. Some alteration in
+the curriculum is suggested. Moreover, many teachers cannot afford
+to defer the opportunity of an immediate salary, and do not pass
+through the Normal school. Most of those in charge of the mission
+schools, however, insist upon Normal training for their teachers.
+The type of teacher produced is not, according to general opinion, a
+very high one; she is intellectually weary, and looks upon her career
+mainly from a pecuniary point of view. There are, of course, marked
+exceptions. Teachers’ Associations do not exist, and it is questionable
+whether these<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span> would be advisable owing to the heat and strain of
+the necessary hours of teaching. The material, therefore, with which
+the Head-mistress has to shape her school is not of the best quality,
+and it is all the more necessary that she should have leisure from
+routine for personal contact with both pupils and staff. This is just
+what she does not get. A very large proportion of her time is often
+taken up by work on Government schedules, and in personally teaching
+the higher English classes. In mission schools, which frequently have
+non-Christian teachers on their staff, she may also have to teach the
+Scripture lessons throughout. So far, we look in vain for Burmese
+women who have passed up to the University to train as leaders. Of the
+twelve women Arts students in Rangoon, only one is Burmese. She is a
+Christian. Even the Anglo-Indian community, from which many of the
+teachers are drawn, rests content with the qualification of First Arts
+(a two years’ University course), and no graduates have, as yet, to the
+writer’s knowledge, taken Secondary training. The ideal for women’s
+education in Burma is the production of some fully qualified Burmese
+Head-mistresses, who will be able to impress their individuality on
+the whole system, and thus make it contribute to the beauty of their
+national characteristics.</p>
+
+<p>It will thus be seen that the day of foreign and missionary educators
+in Burma has in one sense only begun; they are needed for pioneer work
+amongst the untouched hill districts; for the even<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span> more difficult task
+of guiding the course of higher education into the right channels; and
+for the work of training those who will prove in the future its best
+interpreters to their own people.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="IV">IV</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>EASTERN BENGAL AND ASSAM</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquote">
+<p>“A woman’s place in the National life will now best be filled by the
+realization of herself; she must grow to her full stature, taking
+as her due her share of God’s light and air, of the gifts of the
+Earth-Mother.”</p>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">C. Sorabji.</span><br></p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="dropcap-paragraph">T<span class="upper-case">o</span> pass from the sunny smiling country of the Burmese to Dacca, the
+capital of Eastern Bengal and Assam,<a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> is to enter a scene of strange
+contrast, and one marked by monotone and inertia. The brilliant Eastern
+sun shines down, but its rays are caught by no golden roofs and domes;
+sombre grey stone meets the eye, with here and there traces of the
+carving and colouring left by the alerter men of centuries ago; there
+are no smiling happy groups of women busy with the day’s work, their
+gay garments bright against the background of tropical green, but
+only here and there ghostly figures clad in <i>burqas</i>,<a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> or
+some scantily draped “sweeper”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span> women, little heeding, and as little
+heeded. A strange town it is, with a strange mixture of civilizations,
+and yet possessing withal a certain charm of latent capability. Relics
+of a Hindu past are there, almost lost beneath the Moslem dominance
+of the thirteenth century, which brought with it some of the glory
+of architecture and the learning of Upper India, but seemed to take
+on the colourlessness of the land to which it came, winning chiefly
+the lower classes; now the new Western influence has come, and has
+given to the Bengali, by means of education, a unity which repudiates
+its source, thus creating a young India awake and alert. The diverse
+characteristics of the capital are in a sense typical of the diversity
+of the whole province and of the problems of its administration and
+development. The new province created by the Partition in 1905 includes
+the territories formerly administered by the Chief Commissioner of
+Assam, to which have been added certain districts lying on the Eastern
+side of the bay of Bengal, the river regions of the Padua and the
+Jumna, and the Chittagong division which borders on the Burmese hill
+district. It thus includes large city populations, such as Dacca with
+over 90,000 inhabitants, and great river districts such as Sylhet, and
+the Padua Meghna Delta, with its intersecting channels, which in the
+rainy season multiply by the hundred till the country is a network of
+waterways, and in which every brown boy is as much at home as he is
+on land—a country of villages and of rich abundant harvests, where
+the monsoon fails not, and famine is unknown. Then there are the hill
+districts—the Khasi and Garo Hills, the native states of Manipur
+and Tippera, and the country bordering on Burma, where a strong and
+vigorous people, marked by a hardy independence, are only gradually
+being touched by modern civilization. While the educational problem is
+mainly a rural one—in 1901 only 2% were enumerated in the sixty one
+towns—the urban minority, with its demand for higher education, cannot
+be ignored.</p>
+
+<p class="spb1"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_fp080" style="max-width: 115.625em;">
+ <img class="w100" src="images/i_fp080.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>[A Hill School, Eastern Bengal]</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Female education in Eastern Bengal has certain aspects which make
+it differ from that in other provinces, and render it a peculiarly
+interesting study. Whereas elsewhere we shall trace the development
+of the three different influences—the spontaneous Indian movement,
+missionary efforts, and the work of Government, the last, in varying
+degrees, a unifying and co-ordinating agency—here we have one
+well-organized Government Female Education Committee, on which all
+these interests are represented, and by which a unified policy is in
+process of being worked out. This Committee was appointed after the
+Partition in 1907, to work under the Director of Public Instruction,
+and consists of those officials directly concerned, of non-officials of
+various creeds, of representatives of several missionary agencies, and
+of a few Indian and British ladies selected mainly for their interest
+in such matters. It is in no sense a popular body, and it has no
+executive function; but it has done some extremely useful work.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span></p>
+
+<p class="p0">Its policy has been to
+survey the field, taking into account the diverse and complicated
+nature of the task to be accomplished, to utilize so far as possible
+all existing agencies, and to plan a thorough and scientific scheme
+embracing all classes. The development of this scheme must be one
+of slow and patient labour. No great social scheme which is to have
+permanent results can be enforced in a revolutionary or sudden way, and
+least of all where prejudice has to be overcome, where public opinion
+must be influenced, and where possibly the passing of generations and
+the influence of heredity are needed for its fruition. In a sense the
+very backwardness of the province is its opportunity. The possibility
+before it of laying foundations on sound educational principles, of
+using the experience gained by other provinces in the adaptation
+of certain types of institutions to local conditions, of surveying
+the whole field without haste, and of making a systematic effort to
+raise all classes and all sections of the population, augurs well
+for the future standing of the province, and may produce a better
+type of education than that which has developed more quickly and more
+sporadically elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>A sketch of the present situation must naturally take as its centre
+the work of this Committee, the result of its survey of the classes
+affected, its utilization of existing agencies, its constructive work,
+and the practicable character of its aims.</p>
+
+<p>What, then, of the actual girls to be educated?<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span> The classes affected
+are many and diverse, education and rank often varying in inverse
+proportion; the educational and the social problems are here again
+so closely interwoven that the holding of parda parties has a very
+definite relation to the statistics of school attendance. The Indian
+Christians, of whom there are over 66,000, mostly living in the
+Khasi and Jaintia Hills are naturally keenly eager for education,
+and contribute considerably to the supply of teachers. About the
+non-Christians it is impossible to generalize.<a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> From the young
+Begum<a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> directly descended from one of the Moslem invaders to the
+child of some peasant woman, who grudges her from the work of the field
+to the seemingly profitless village school, is a far cry, and the gamut
+of possibilities lies between. Here is a high-born Moslem girl, whose
+male relatives hold University degrees and Government appointments,
+and who will allow a certain advance to their women-folk, but no more.
+For instance, an English teacher may be admitted for a few hours a
+day, or if the family be wealthy and of sufficient rank, an English
+governess may be secured to devote her whole time to the pupils. Here
+is another still so tied by conservatism that she may not see English
+ladies or learn of modern thought. Her male relatives may give her
+the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span> smattering of Koranic lore which is necessary for religion. The
+Mohammedan women of the upper class can nearly all read Urdu, and are
+clever with their needles. Here is a girl of the Brāhma-Samāj, supposed
+to be free, and yet one might almost say shy of her freedom, with every
+opportunity to take the higher education which would fit her for social
+influence, she yet ceases her studies when only some three standards
+beyond her Hindu sister. Another girl with the same up-bringing has
+sufficient strength and determination to persevere through the whole
+course and finish with Normal training or University honours. There
+is a strong demand for education up to a certain stage also among the
+Brahmans, Kayasths,<a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> and Baidyas,<a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> a demand which is, however,
+limited to the few years before the <i>parda</i> is strictly drawn, an
+event which happens between the ages of eight and eleven. Then there
+are the lower class Mohammedans, who are anxious only for Koranic
+education, the Namasudras,<a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> whose intellect is at so low a level
+that a whole term may be spent in acquiring a single letter of the
+alphabet, and the bill tribes where <i>parda</i> is non-existent, and
+where in certain cases the women are more literate than the men. The
+whole enumeration shows how very diverse<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span> and complex are the classes
+for whom education must be planned.</p>
+
+<p>Passing to the agencies at work, there have been in the more advanced
+portions of the province, apart from Government and the municipalities,
+spontaneous efforts to educate girls. Some of the present village
+schools are of this indigenous type, and are kept possibly by an
+elderly Hindu pandit and his wife, where little girls are collected
+for a few hours daily—not stated hours—and drone over Bengali books
+of an archaic type, in an ill-ventilated room. The result of this
+education may be the ability to recite certain shlokas<a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> and to check
+a marketing account, or merely the prestige in the marriage market of
+having been to school. Where it is possible to improve schools of this
+type or standard, they fall into the general scheme, but as a rule
+they are “passed by on the other side.” The Mahakali Patshala,<a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a>
+started in 1907 at Mymensingh, represents again spontaneous effort
+of a more advanced type, and is an attempt to give a modern and
+strictly religious education on Hindu lines. This institution is much
+more advanced than the parent Patshala, described on page 113. The
+Mohammedan community have been more backward in organizing schools; a
+circular sent out by a Sub-Committee on behalf of the Government to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span>
+various Mohammedan associations produced very few replies, including
+the following: “But it is not proper time for starting Mohammedan
+female education, as the people are not willing to have their girls
+educated.” There is, however, a certain number of Muktabs or Koranic
+schools, where girls are taught what is necessary for religion, and in
+some cases a little secular knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>The most important missionary agencies in the province are the Baptists
+from Australia, New Zealand, America, and England, and the Welsh
+Presbyterians, all of whom are carrying on good educational work.
+The Sisters of the Oxford Mission have also entered the field more
+recently. Taken as a whole the missionary contribution is, however,
+much smaller than in other provinces. The best vernacular school for
+girls in Dacca is that which has a hostel attached of the English
+Baptist Mission, and the training of teachers at Nowgong in the hill
+districts is proving specially useful to Government. This can be
+better considered later in relation to the hill districts as a whole.
+The mission schools are a welcome addition to the educational scheme,
+and it is satisfactory to note the cordial relations and co-operation
+between their organizers and the Government officials. As regards their
+extension, if new schools were contemplated in a town or district where
+a good accessible school already existed, grants would probably not
+be given, but as the field is practically unlimited, the question is
+merely academic.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span></p>
+
+<p>Thus the constructive policy of the Government Committee<a id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> embraces
+these existing agencies and all schools entirely under public control,
+whether municipal or directly under Government. The Committee aims
+at the ideal of a Primary school in every village, in more populous
+centres the raising of a certain number of these to schools of a
+rather better type, the establishment of a Government school (Middle
+or Anglo-Vernacular) in the headquarters of every division, the warm
+encouragement of all private Middle schools, and the development of
+some definite system of <i>parda</i> instruction which could reach the
+higher and stricter classes. The system is completed by three existent
+High schools. Taking these different stages in order we must first
+consider the Primary schools.</p>
+
+<p>There were in 1909, 4501 Primary schools in the whole Province, an
+increase of about 800 on the preceding year. Assam and the Surma
+Valley are scantily provided. The establishment of a sound system of
+Primary schools is naturally the chief aim, but its attainment depends
+on the development of a thoroughly efficient staff of teachers. The
+word “primary” covers a multitude of sins, and is very varied in its
+application. Here, for instance, is a school of the aided type in a
+village of over 6000 inhabitants. The little girls are crushed together
+on ill-constructed benches in an ill-ventilated room, agonizing in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span>
+different degrees of shyness under the thrilling ordeal of a visitor.
+All of them are Hindus, for the Mohammedans do not go to school in this
+village. Apparently there is scarcely any system of classification
+except for the broad distinction of “little” and “less.” All are under
+eleven years of age and, according to the village custom, have walked
+to school in charge of the school servant. The school is supposed to
+teach up to Standard III, but every girl who leaves able to read and
+write, and not much injured in health from sitting daily for five hours
+in a cramped position, may consider herself lucky. The attempts of
+itinerant Sub-Inspectors at teaching the venerable pandit how to teach,
+have fallen on unscathed shoulders, yet there is a certain pathos in
+the owl-like glance with which he fixes the two Sub-Inspectors, who
+answer all the visitor’s questions without the least reference to him.
+For the pandit knows that his day is done—a new school is in process
+of erection, and an energetic Sub-Divisional Officer is on the outlook
+for a trained schoolmistress. With the passing of the pandit will go
+much of the quaintness of the Indian school, which sentimentally may
+be regretted, but which must yield place to the modern demand for
+efficiency. It is refreshing to turn to a school of the new order, an
+urban one. The day is wet, so only twenty-five out of forty pupils
+are present, Hindus chiefly, of the Kayasth caste. The three lowest
+classes are happily seated on matting with a tiny desk in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span> front; the
+older ones are still swinging their feet on too high a bench—but what
+good is there in having Inspectresses if there is nothing to improve?
+A tidy time-table on the wall shows the rotation of lessons. There are
+shells for arithmetic, maps and object-lesson sheets, there is space
+for drill or breathing exercises at the end of every hour, there are
+neat specimens of sewing (not perennial ones which have survived many
+an inspection) and above all, there is a happy smiling mistress, whose
+personality inspires new ideals and new thoughts. A bright little
+maiden of eleven in a blue and gold sari, who gaily translates an Urdu
+conversation into Bengali, has designs on a scholarship for the Eden
+High School, and perhaps some day she, too, may be an “Ustani”<a id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a>
+as wondrous wise as her mistress. This is the bright side of things,
+but it shows the possibilities which lie under dry statistics. The
+recent report of 1910 on Primary schools in the town of Dacca shows
+an increase of about 200 girls in one year. Of the sixteen schools,
+twelve are now provided with mistresses and the general progress is
+satisfactory, although there are still many difficulties to overcome,
+especially if the proportional increase in the number of pupils
+exceeds, as is probable, that of the trained teachers available, and
+proper space is lacking. The problem in Dacca is typical of the urban
+problem throughout. Primary education in the hill districts is of a
+different type.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span></p>
+
+<p>The Middle Schools, partly English and partly only vernacular, are some
+twenty in number, varying in type from a long established school such
+as the Alexandra Girls’ School at Mymensingh, with ten teachers, and a
+Head-mistress from the Isabella Thoburn College,<a id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> to one which has
+only six scholars beyond the Primary stage and one mistress, but which
+must be raised in standard and type for the sake of the district. The
+generosity of the native landowners is to be noted in connection with
+these schools; in two cases a whole new building and site have been
+acquired in this way.</p>
+
+<p class="spb1"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_fp090" style="max-width: 113.8125em;">
+ <img class="w100" src="images/i_fp090.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>[A High School Class, Eastern Bengal]</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>All roads lead to Mecca, and all pursuit of higher education in Eastern
+Bengal tends to the Eden Girls’ High School, Dacca, where, under the
+supervision of Miss Lena Sorabji, the portals of Calcutta University
+are successfully reached. This school is the Model High School for the
+province, the two others at Chittagong and Mymensingh are not as yet
+so efficiently staffed or equipped, though that at Chittagong holds
+its own at the Matriculation examination. There are some two hundred
+girls in the Eden High School, mostly Hindu, with a fair proportion of
+Brāhma-Samāj and Mohammedan girls, including also a few Christians. The
+curriculum is that of a first-class English High school in its relation
+to the Matriculation subjects. In the lower classes the scientific
+principles of education are in full vogue, story and group method,
+with an excellent Kindergarten apparatus. The teachers are mostly
+Indian with three Anglo-Indians, and there is also a very efficient
+music mistress. Moral instruction is given, and there is throughout an
+excellent tone. It is possible to attend the school and keep strict
+<i>parda</i>, a young Begum has recently been assigned to it by the
+Court of Wards in order to complete her education. A very important
+feature of the school is the Training department, in which teachers
+are trained for the Bengali-speaking parts of the province. (Assamese
+teachers are trained at Nowgong and the Hill Districts in Shillong.)
+Training is given free on condition of teaching in a Government school
+for two years thereafter. There is both an English and a Vernacular
+course, and the effect of the latter can be seen in such schools
+as the Primary school sketched above. There are three students at
+present in the English department, and twenty-two in the Vernacular.
+Any girls passing the Matriculation examination from here are certain
+of Government scholarships, or “stipends” as they are called, to the
+University of Calcutta. The only drawback at present is the lack of
+space, but plans are already definitely formed, and a site secured for
+new buildings, which will ultimately include a College department.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span></p>
+
+<p>But when all is said, it is only an infinitesimal fraction of the
+female community which is touched by the Middle and High schools. The
+fourth sphere of the Committee’s work, the organizing
+of a definite system of <i>parda</i> instruction, is therefore in some
+ways the most important. Many important and far-reaching influences
+are at work behind the veil, and it is here, too, that the influence
+of the Education Committee must be felt. A comparison of the numbers
+attending Primary schools (84,798) with those attending High and Middle
+schools (1846), shows how limited is the school period for the average
+girl. The <i>parda</i> instruction to a certain extent supplements the
+education of those children who are withdrawn for marriage at about
+ten years of age. On the other hand, as the number of girls of school
+age at school is only 3%, a certain amount of this work is amongst
+the absolutely illiterate older women, though the minimum age of ten
+prevents overlapping with the Primary schools. A further aim is to
+create a more friendly atmosphere in the zenanas towards the whole
+question of education. In some cases it is an immediately fruitful
+work, in others a sowing of seed for the future. There are now some
+600 girls and women under instruction of this type in seven different
+towns, the classes in Dacca being most fully developed. Here there are
+four governesses at work, each with six centres to teach. Two of them
+are Mohammedans, one Brāhma-Samāj, and one Christian, the last under
+missionary superintendence. The education given is of the simplest
+type, including, however, in some cases drawing, painting, history, and
+geography. Indeed when the circumstances are taken into<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span> consideration
+it could hardly be otherwise; the classes are held in the houses of
+progressive men, rich or poor, and consist as a rule solely of the
+women of the household and their immediate neighbours, the numbers
+varying from six to about twenty. The ages of the pupils vary from
+eight to fifty, all are at different stages, all are irregular in
+attendance, many are accompanied by babies, and the class generally
+ends in individual instruction. Yet progress is being made, and it is
+good to see the group of daintily dressed women awaiting the arrival
+of the teacher who forms their link with the outer world. A very great
+deal depends on her personality and skill in overcoming prejudice. One
+of the teachers is a Mohammedan lady of good position, the wife of a
+pleader; she drives in strict <i>parda</i> to and from her work, and
+has naturally inspired other strict Mohammedans with confidence in the
+scheme. Recently an English governess has begun work in Dacca under the
+Committee, but in her case there is a binding fee of five rupees for
+every family who employs her. The system is one which is peculiarly
+adapted to Eastern Bengal with its strict <i>parda</i> customs, and
+though expensive to Government,<a id="FNanchor_73" href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> is in the meantime more than
+worth while in its indirect influence in breaking down prejudice and
+supplementing the whole system of instruction.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span></p>
+
+<p>Education in the Hill Districts reveals a somewhat different problem.
+There is no <i>parda</i>, co-education is frequent, and suits the
+customs of the people. A Lushai writer dealing with this says: “The
+men and women are all on the same footing, except in some cases,
+where the women are master.” In the hill tracts of Assam, some 2551
+girls are studying in boys’ schools and 701 in separate girls’
+schools, practically all of the latter and a large proportion of the
+former are worked by the missions, which are doing excellent service
+to education. The schools are much appreciated, and the Government
+grant of 4022 rupees to the mission schools is almost equalled by the
+contributions of the people themselves. Special arrangements are being
+made by Government with the American Baptist Mission at Nowgong for
+the training of Government teachers in the Mission Training School.
+In some parts education is absolutely at a standstill; for example,
+in the Mikir hills, “female education is supposed to have perished
+fifteen years ago with the death of its only representative, a young
+girl of Nowgong!” In Chittagong Hill District the opposition is that of
+a wild uncivilized people. A boarding-school is the only possibility,
+but that seems too terrible! The parents are half-civilized, and will
+send a child for one month and withdraw her the next; the children,
+moreover, have their own way. “If the parents say their girl shall go
+to school, and she says ‘I will not,’ she does not go.” There are at
+present seven precious pupils<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span> in the Mission Girls’ school at Chandra
+Ghona. In Tippera there is much opposition. Twenty-five girls are,
+however, reported in three mission schools in the latter district. An
+interesting account of indigenous schools comes from a lady missionary
+working in one of the hill districts: “There are some small Primary
+independent village schools taught by Hindu men or women voluntarily.
+Some of these receive Government aid, and some do not. The parents of
+the scholars contribute a little towards the teacher’s support, and
+supply the school-house. It is generally believed that the visits of
+a missionary to such schools lend prestige to them, and the children
+are encouraged to attend by the small rewards given by the missionary
+for attendance and Scripture knowledge. Hence such scholars invariably
+welcome regular visits.” The main problems are those of co-education,
+the training of teachers, and the multiplicity of dialects. Steps are
+also being taken to develop weaving and local industries in many parts
+for the less advanced tribes.</p>
+
+<p>Such in brief outline is the Government policy for female education.
+How far is it a living reality? “The moment imagination has gone out of
+your Asiatic policy, your Empire will divide and decay.”<a id="FNanchor_74" href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> How far is
+there imagination in the educational policy? How far is it magnetic,
+flexible, and inspiring? A policy, of necessity, is reflected by the
+persons who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span> administer it, the inspectorate and teaching staffs, the
+organizing Committee, and the general social attitude of the community.
+The task of the Inspectorate is no easy one, and the word calls up
+visions of many successive nights spent in bullock carts, in trains,
+and on horseback to reach the inaccessible parts of an inaccessible
+province, a multitude of detail, and little time to relate it
+consciously to the underlying principles. To the casual onlooker taking
+into account the general social conditions of Indian life, it hardly
+seems work which a woman should do, and yet it is work which must be
+done by women. Indian girls can only be well taught by women, and this
+necessitates a female Inspectorate at least for the upper grades.
+From 1908 to 1911 there was only one Inspectress in the province, and
+in 1909 two assistant Inspectresses were appointed; an additional
+appointment has, however, recently been made for the Chittagong and
+Surma Valley Districts. A further increase would greatly facilitate
+the development of the work, and would probably repay in efficiency
+the extra expense. There is a great deal written and said about the
+denationalizing influence of education, and the need for bringing our
+system into touch with Indian thought and Indian life. More especially
+in the present case, when a new policy is being shaped, there is need
+for flexibility in the system and an Inspectorate closely in touch with
+the inner side of Indian home life. What should an Indian girl know?
+What will fit her best to hold<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</span> aright her true place; what will render
+her happier and more intelligent, retaining her Sita-like devotion and
+her gentle bearing? The planning of a curriculum and teacher’s manual
+in relation to this aim is no easy task, and it remains to be seen
+whether the new manuals, the work of the first Inspectress, will have
+fulfilled these demands. Some women are born teachers, and some have
+teaching thrust upon them. In India the old ideal of teaching is that
+of a vocation; the bread of life is given freely by those who have to
+those who have not. Modern conditions have of necessity modified this
+ideal to a certain extent, but its spirit is still needed. The great
+scarcity of women teachers, and consequent certainty of employment,
+tends to lower the standard of character and efficiency. The teacher
+who will only do her own “kām,”<a id="FNanchor_75" href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> and not lend a helping hand to
+others, who is ever listening for the stroke of the clock, who is quick
+to take offence and ill to conciliate, is known in this province as
+elsewhere. The lack of a common religious basis as a ground of appeal
+is undoubtedly felt; the establishment of Teacher’s Associations in
+the urban centres, and, where possible, of the Young Women’s Christian
+Association Teachers Union, might be useful. It is to be regretted
+that very few of the teachers are not drawn from the families of upper
+class; the work done by one of the Mohammedan governesses in Dacca
+is an evidence of what can be accomplished in this way even without
+scientific<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</span> training. There are, however, some splendid Indian women
+teachers, contact with whom is an inspiration, and it is to be hoped
+that the influence of the training classes in the Eden High School at
+Nowgong and at Shillong may gradually raise the general tone. Here, as
+in Burma, is the great means of counteracting anglicizing influences;
+education is the communication of personality, and the ideal Indian
+school of the future must have Indian teachers. The instilling of
+the principles of educational science and of true culture in Indian
+teachers, until these are no longer slavishly reproduced but lived
+and worked out in relation to Indian environment, is the task of the
+Western educator.</p>
+
+<p>The success of any policy depends upon how closely it is in touch with
+the spirit of the community, and the wisdom of connecting a local
+committee with the management of every Middle and High school is
+unquestioned; these Committees are supposed to consist of equal numbers
+of men and women, and indeed the Government grant is often given only
+on condition of there being an efficient working Committee. There are
+also ladies’ committees in connection with the zenana classes in the
+urban centres. It has, however, been exceedingly difficult to secure
+the necessary ladies for this work, for the supply of educated Indian
+ladies is very limited, and English women, because of the shortness of
+their stay in any one district, are unwilling to undertake it. Some of
+the officials’ wives have, however, given<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span> splendid service in this
+way, and even if it is only a passing service it is more than worth
+while. The work of these committees in the breaking down of social
+prejudice and ensuring the confidence of the community is untold.
+There is, as has been already said, a definite connection between
+<i>parda</i> parties and school attendance. The <i>parda</i> party as a
+social institution in other provinces has come to stay. It is perhaps a
+pity that here it has had a certain shadow cast upon it of officialdom
+and organization. The spontaneous and individual effort is quickly felt
+and appreciated by Indian ladies. It must come also from a genuine and
+mutual desire for intercourse and not from any <i>sous-entendu</i>
+motive of pity or “bridge the gulf” idea. Indian ladies have their
+own contribution to make to the unifying of ideals not only between
+Indian and English, but between Indian and Indian. “The less said about
+<i>parda</i> parties and the more held,” is probably a wise dictum. The
+work on some of the educational sub-committees will, however, often
+give an English lady the direct contact with Indian life which is so
+much needed.</p>
+
+<p>The outlook for women’s education throughout the province is in many
+respects a hopeful one; enthusiasts are working at it, there is a
+steadily increasing flow of girls coming to the schools; a teaching
+staff is gradually being built up, suitable text-books and manuals are
+being produced. The generosity of a Government, hampered by finance
+in every way, to this scheme, is a stamp<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span> of warm approval. No great
+social undertaking, however, is fulfilled in haste, and least of all
+where sympathy and the silent influence of individual friendship are
+needed to pave the way for it.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="V">V</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>BENGAL</h3>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+ <div class="poetry">
+ <div class="stanza">
+<div class="verse indent0">“My Motherland, I sing</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Her splendid streams, her glorious trees,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The zephyr from the far-off Vindyan heights,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Her fields of waving corn,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The rapturous radiance of her moonlit nights,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The trees in flower that flame afar,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The smiling days that sweetly vocal are,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The happy, blessed Motherland.”</div>
+<div class="verse indent10">Translation by W. H. Lee, I.C.S.</div>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p class="dropcap-paragraph">O<span class="upper-case">ne</span> of the subtlest problems of sociology is to trace the relation
+of cause and effect in new conditions of life affecting a community.
+Here in Bengal is a certain group of people calling themselves “a new
+nation”; here is a new thought-centre by turns indefinite, immature,
+bombastic, tentative, yet possessing a certain unity and aspiring after
+certain definite ideals, and together with it, in part as cause, in
+part as effect, is the steady educational advance of certain sections
+of the community. There is little geographical unity, for the term
+“Bengal” has been of varying content, comprising in the early days all
+the East India Company’s possessions in Northern India; after 1836
+a more<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</span> definite and limited area, and finally<a id="FNanchor_76" href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> in 1905 reduced,
+broadly speaking, to Bihar, Chota Nagpore, Orissa and the section
+of Bengal proper which lies west of the Ganges and the Hooghly.
+Ethnically, a mixture of Dravidian, Mongolian and Aryan elements, even
+linguistic unity, is lacking, Bengali, Hindi, Bihari and Oriya, with
+their corresponding dialects being the languages mainly in use. Yet, in
+spite of all, the Bengali claim of unity is there in virtue of their
+education, and in virtue of the “high proportion of literacy that
+exists in Bengal compared with most parts of India.” Linguistically
+again, Bengali, though only the native tongue of some 52%<a id="FNanchor_77" href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> of the
+population, has become a modern literary language, and as such is a
+strong factor for unity and progress. It is true that those conscious
+of this unity who express themselves variously in congresses, in
+journalism, in sedition, or in loyal Government service are doubtless
+a minority, but they are an increasing element, and one which may
+assert itself more in the future. The political side of this movement
+is beyond the scope of this book, its existence cannot, however, be
+ignored as it is one of the causes of the tide which is slowly setting
+in favour of the education of women.</p>
+
+<p>All the same obstacles and difficulties which we have studied in
+Eastern Bengal, and some even more hard to surmount, are to be found
+here. Seventy-eight per cent. of the population<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</span> are Hindus and the
+consequent custom of marriage below the age of ten years cuts short
+the possible period of school attendance for girls. One woman in every
+five is a widow, and yet custom and prejudice prevent this numerous
+class from entering the teaching profession, as is the case with many
+spinsters at home. Ninety-four per cent. of the population live in
+scattered villages, and this increases the financial difficulty of
+providing sufficient accessible schools for girls whose parents are
+unwilling and often unable to pay anything. A strong prejudice against
+the whole idea of the education of girls still exists, and though
+systematic efforts are made to overcome this, they often lead to no
+result, as is testified in the report of a Mohammedan gentleman of
+good position engaged by Government to popularize education among his
+co-religionists in Bihar. It often seems as if all effort to overcome
+this prejudice were unavailing. Yet in the face of all this there is
+a strong body of Indian opinion which emphasizes in speech and in the
+press the need and advisability of female education. The Brāhma-Samāj,
+one of the reform Indian sects much tinged by Christian thought, gives
+every opportunity of education to its women, and has thus an influence
+out of all proportion to its numbers<a id="FNanchor_78" href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> in the province. By the
+extremely orthodox Hindu it is looked upon with the same suspicion
+as Christianity, and yet its tenets of liberty and equality<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</span> for
+womanhood have a direct bearing on the general <i>parda</i> conditions,
+especially in the cities, so that, while the overwhelming proportion of
+girls over twelve years of age in school is Christian or Brāhma-Samāj,
+the influence of a new movement is beginning to make itself felt. An
+occasional Moslem girl, to whom a Government “stipend” has been awarded
+for her encouragement, is to be seen in the higher classes, or a young
+Hindu widow, who has been allowed to return to school to fit herself
+for a useful life.</p>
+
+<p>Historically this movement in the Indian community is the result of the
+work of Christian missions, which have been consistently the leaders
+both in producing a high educational standard amongst the Christian
+women and in affording facilities to any others who would come to their
+schools. The Maharani of Baroda gives a fitting tribute in her recent
+book<a id="FNanchor_79" href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> to Miss Cook and Lady Amherst as the two pioneers of women’s
+education in all India. Some share of this should also be given to Mrs
+Marshman, under whose instigation a society for the Education of Native
+Females was founded in Calcutta in 1819. In the same year the first
+modern girls’ school in all India was opened under its auspices. By
+1821 thirty-two pupils were in attendance. Though the Baptists were the
+first to actually start instruction, a parallel movement had been made
+by a united committee of British and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span> Hindu men. This Calcutta School
+Society was founded in 1818 to advance the education of both boys and
+girls, and on its invitation Miss Cook left England to open a school
+for Hindu girls in Calcutta. The courage of the Hindu members of the
+committee, however, failed them when it came to the actual starting of
+the school. “Although they had spoken well while yet the matter was at
+a distance and in the region of theory, they recoiled from the obloquy
+of so rude an assault on time-honoured custom. The Babus had been
+brought up to the talking-point, but not to the acting-point.”<a id="FNanchor_80_1" href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> India
+thus lost the honour of a direct share in the first Western education
+of her women. Miss Cook was fortunately able to transfer her services
+to the Church Missionary Society, and opened her first school in 1822.
+The dramatic circumstances of this are worth quoting in full:<a id="FNanchor_80_2" href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a>—</p>
+
+<p>“Whilst engaged in studying the Bengali language, and scarcely daring
+to hope that an immediate opening for entering upon the work, to
+which she had devoted herself, would be found, Miss Cook paid a visit
+to one of the native schools for boys, in order to observe their
+pronunciation; and this circumstance, trifling as it may appear, led to
+the opening of her first school in Thunthuniya. Unaccustomed to see a
+European lady in that part of the native town, a crowd collected round
+the door of the school. Amongst them was an interesting looking girl,
+whom the school<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span> pandit drove away. Miss Cook desired the child to be
+called, and by an interpreter asked her if she wished to learn to read.
+She was told in reply that this child had for three months past been
+daily begging to learn to read with the boys, and that if Miss Cook
+(who had made known her purpose of devoting herself to the instruction
+of native girls) would attend next day, twenty girls should be
+collected. Accompanied by a female friend conversant with the language,
+she repeated her visit on the morrow and found fifteen girls, several
+of whom had their mothers with them. Their natural inquisitiveness
+prompted them to inquire what could be Miss Cook’s motive for coming
+amongst them. They were told that she had heard in England that the
+women of their country were kept in total ignorance, that they were
+not taught to read or write, that the men only were allowed to attain
+any degree of knowledge, and it was also generally understood that the
+chief obstacle to their improvement was that no females would undertake
+to teach them; she had therefore felt compassion for them, and had
+left her country, her parents, and friends to help them. The mothers
+with one voice cried out, smiting themselves with their right hands,
+‘Oh what a pearl of a woman is this!’ It was added, ‘she has given
+up every earthly expectation, to come here, and seeks not the riches
+of the world, but desires only to promote our best interests.’ ‘Our
+children are yours, we give them to you.’ ‘What will be the use of
+learning to our girls, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</span> what good will it do to them?’ They were
+told:—‘It will make them more useful in their families, and increase
+their knowledge, and it was hoped that it would also tend to give them
+respect and produce harmony in their families.’—‘True,’ said one of
+them, ‘our husbands now look upon us as little better than brutes.’
+Another asked, ‘What benefit will you derive from this work?’ She was
+told that the only return wished for was to promote their best interest
+and happiness. Then said the woman, ‘I suppose this is a holy work, and
+well pleasing to God.’ As they were not able to understand much, it was
+only said in return that God was always well pleased that His servants
+should do good to their fellow creatures. The women then spoke to each
+other in terms of the highest approbation of what had passed.”</p>
+
+<p>In the course of 1822 eight schools were established, attended more or
+less regularly by 214 girls. The Marchioness of Hastings also created a
+deep impression by personally visiting many of the back alleys of the
+city, and during the last two years of her stay in India her enthusiasm
+did much to allay prejudice. In 1824 the Ladies’ Society for Female
+Native Education was formed through the efforts of Miss Cook (now Mrs
+Wilson), and a handsome central school was erected, to which Indian
+gentlemen, notably Raja Buddinath Roy, contributed largely. Lady
+Amherst was the first President of the new society. Dr Duff, commenting
+on the situation some twenty years later, marks the wisdom of the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span>
+middle course between the “impossible” and the “all things possible”
+party, the courage of those who were willing to begin with “here and
+there a few.” While he held that the education of the men of India
+must precede the education of the women, on any great scale, he looked
+forward to the time when “there would be a wide and spontaneous demand
+for female education by thousands and ten thousands. Then indeed would
+dawn upon India the golden age of education.”<a id="FNanchor_81" href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>It is a far cry from those days to the Calcutta of to-day with its
+seven High schools, five of which have college departments, its
+Training College, its Female Inspectorate, and a Government eager to
+do anything to promote what it regards as a main social factor in the
+development of the country. The “rising tide” may be best studied in
+comparative percentages.<a id="FNanchor_82_1" href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> As in Eastern Bengal, three forces are
+working here for the
+education of women, the Government, spontaneous Indian effort, and the
+missionary societies, and a brief analysis of these with their varying
+types and functions may serve to throw light on the general situation
+with its problems and possibilities.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Management of Schools for Indian Girls in Bengal, 1909-1910</span></h4>
+
+<table class="spb1">
+<thead>
+<tr>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2" rowspan="2"></th>
+<th class="tdc bl bb bt2" colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Under Public<br> Management.</span></th>
+<th class="tdc bl2 bb br bt2" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Under Private<br> Management.</span></th>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<th class="tdc bl bb">Govern<br>ment.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bb">District or<br>Municipal<br>Board.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bb">Native<br>States.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl2 bb">Aided.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl br bb">Unaided.</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl bt">High Schools</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">7</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">3</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl hang">Middle<br>English</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">12</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">1</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl"><span class="ml1">Vernacular</span></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">17</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">2</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">Primary</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">86</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">25</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">2,508</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">429</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">Training</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">14</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">..</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl bt bb">Total</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt bb">88</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt bb">1</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt bb">25</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2 bt bb">2,558</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br bt bb">435</td>
+</tr>
+
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p class="p0 center"><i>Bengal Public Instruction Report</i>—Statistics pages 4 and 32.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span></p>
+
+<p>The Government system is a somewhat different one from that employed
+in the newer province of Eastern Bengal and Assam, and may be taken as
+the normal one in the various provinces of India. The work is directly
+under the Director of Public Instruction, and forms a separate section
+of the ordinary Educational Department. There are two Inspectresses,
+who are members of the Indian Educational Service, but a large
+proportion of the inspection in the country districts is of necessity
+done by the ordinary Inspectors. Eastern Bengal has here the advantage
+of newer and more plastic organization. The Government policy is rather
+to aid voluntary schools than to launch out on schemes of its own;
+its influence is mostly felt as a unifying agency by means of Code,
+standard of examination and inspection, and as presenting occasionally
+model types to which the voluntary schools may or may not think it
+wise to conform. Thus less than one in twenty-eight of all girls’
+institutions are entirely under public management, as may be seen in
+the accompanying table. A slight divergence from this policy may,
+however, be noted in the increase of Primary schools directly under<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span>
+Government control from one in 1907 to eighty-six in 1910.<a id="FNanchor_83" href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Bethune Girls’ College and High School, Calcutta, founded in
+1849, may be taken as a type of a model Government institution.<a id="FNanchor_84" href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a>
+Situated near Hadua Talau in the heart of the native city, like all
+city schools it suffers from lack of space. There is a fine pillared
+verandah through which one enters into an open court. Into this court
+open all the class-rooms. A characteristic feature is a very fine and
+spacious library well-stocked with the classics of East and West.
+At the time of my visit several girls were sitting at work in it. A
+marked difference between Indian girls’ High schools and those at
+home is that many of the former in the <i>parda</i> districts aim at
+having a College Department, which is affiliated to the University
+and in which girls are prepared up to the B.A. stage. The merits of
+this system will be discussed elsewhere.<a id="FNanchor_85" href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> In the Bethune College
+Department there are about thirty-five students, and in the school
+proper some one hundred and fifty, ranging in age from tiny girls
+of five or six to the Matriculation candidates of sixteen years and
+upwards. The lower classes are extremely crowded, and there is the
+falling off in the upper school which is so characteristic of India.
+This presents one of the most difficult problems in the education of
+Indian women. The aim being to fit the pupils for life, and to train
+them to think,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span> how can it possibly be accomplished in the three short
+years which in the majority of cases is all the time available? In
+the High school proper the assumption is that the girls will stay on,
+and the Bethune curriculum is shaped accordingly. There is a good
+Kindergarten, and all the modern plant to make an efficient school;
+the great drawback, as usual, is the lack of trained teachers, only
+one of the whole staff having full qualifications. Indian music is
+well taught as an extra subject, and it was a pretty sight to see some
+half-dozen girls accompanying the harmonium with violin, <i>escar</i>,
+and <i>zitta</i>. The school owes its success to two factors, first the
+personality of its former Head-mistress, Miss Bose, the first woman
+graduate of the University of Calcutta, and secondly to the eagerness
+with which the Brāhma-Samāj welcomed this move on the part of the
+Government. The girls in the higher classes are practically all from
+the Brāhma-Samāj, so much so that perhaps this influence is almost too
+predominant. A little Moslem girl who had received a special Government
+“stipend” on account of her religion, had recently turned Brāhmo,
+but the Head-mistress assured us that the change was due entirely to
+home influences. There is a good hostel in the school compound, for
+which there are always more applications than available vacancies, and
+arrangements are being made for the more complete separation of the
+school from the College department.</p>
+
+<p>The function of the Inspectress is important,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span> and it is to be
+regretted that the word has come to suggest destructive rather than
+constructive criticism. “Training” is a more accurate description of
+the work, and in a country where a large proportion of the teachers
+are untrained, it well repays the money spent thereon. A visit often
+means three days spent in a village helping the teacher to a more
+scientific system. Suggestions as to improvements in the Code ought
+to come from the Inspectress, and she has every opportunity for
+studying the conditions of the people and the suitability of the type
+of education offered. To consider the relative value of European and
+Indian Inspectresses is at the present moment of purely theoretical
+interest. However great the advantage of the Indian in intimate
+knowledge of the environment and of the mental characteristics of
+the people, it is difficult as yet to procure any with the necessary
+scientific qualifications and gift of organization. The difficulties of
+travel are also accentuated for the Indian woman. The contribution of
+Indian thought should be in the meantime rather in the building up of
+individual schools, with ultimate constructive influence on the system
+as a whole.</p>
+
+<p>The indigenous and spontaneous effort of the Indian community towards
+the education of their women is of two types, that of the Brāhma-Samāj
+and reform societies, and that of the orthodox sections. The former
+is very much in line with the general system: the Code is used, and
+where<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span> alternative subjects are possible there is more emphasis laid on
+Sanskrit than in mission schools, but as a whole it is not strikingly
+“National.” The Brāhma Girls’ High School in Calcutta receives a
+monthly grant of five hundred Rupees and is a first-class institution.
+Their Middle schools are mostly English in contrast to the vernacular
+mission schools. There are also a few Hindu Primary schools, which
+follow the Government Code. It is to the orthodox communities that we
+must turn to find the distinctively Indian note, the retention of which
+in any really educative scheme presents so baffling a problem. Here in
+the “Mahakali Pathshala” is a genuine Indian attempt at self-expression
+in educational ideals. This school was founded in 1893, in Calcutta,
+by “Her Holiness Mataji Maharani Tapaswini,” one of those strange
+women saints who flit across the pages of Indian history, freed by
+their mystical insight and rare wisdom from the shackles of ordinary
+Indian womanhood. Hither the dainty little Hindu maiden of the upper
+castes is brought in a closed gari with her hands full of marigolds
+and other blossoms, to learn that school is but a larger home where
+the mysteries and ritual of worship will become clear to her, where
+she too will lisp the monotonous chant to the glory of the gods, and
+sink her baby soul in meditation. True, there is a printed curriculum
+on the wall, which says that Sanskrit, Bengali, Moral Text-Books and
+Arithmetic are to be studied in six classes, but what matter! The
+effort which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span> these subjects entail is ever and anon relieved by
+worship, and by the cooking which is part of worship. Then there is the
+picture of Saraswati Devi,<a id="FNanchor_86" href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> on whom “as the Wonder of all Wisdom
+one meditateth in the third watch of the night,” and three hundred
+babies ranging from three to eight years of age will daily sway their
+little bodies before her in the morning <i>puja</i>.<a id="FNanchor_87" href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> What musical
+drill is in the Kindergarten so is <i>puja</i> to the Patshala pupils.
+There is a special prize for the best performer of <i>puja</i>—a
+sari and a silver pin for every little <i>Kumari</i><a id="FNanchor_88" href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> who has
+honoured the school with her presence. The teachers are mostly elderly
+pandits, to whom the visit of the Inspectress indicates the desire
+of Government not to improve them, but to copy their most excellent
+methods in the Government schools! Regarded from a Western point of
+view the education is nil; the children can hardly read and write
+their own language, geography and arithmetic are practically absent,
+and there is no attempt to develop the mental faculties; from the
+point of view of the orthodox Hindu, however, it is probably ideal;
+the girls have “the ancient and sacred lore of their country infused
+into them and their lives are modelled after the ideal Hindu female
+characters of old.” Herein lies the real value to the student of
+education: there is no gulf between<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</span> school and home, and the child’s
+own environment and its hereditary instincts are utilized as a basis,
+but the trouble is that no superstructure is built thereon. Elsewhere
+we have superstructure but no basis. The school has no grant, no fees
+are paid, and the support is entirely obtained from subscriptions from
+the Hindu community. Extensively the influence of these schools is not
+great. There are nominally twenty-three branch schools in Bengal and
+Eastern Bengal, but a branch notified in the report is not always found
+to be in existence. That there is life in the movement is seen by the
+fact that the present Head, the Srimati Mataji, undertook a tour in the
+Mofussil and districts to organize branches. “She was everywhere well
+received, and there was evident sense of relief and sympathy of the
+public in the cause of female education under the Mahakali system.”<a id="FNanchor_89" href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a>
+To behold orthodox Hinduism sending a woman on tour in the interests
+of education is indeed to realise the Renaissance of the East! But
+“relief” from what? Is it from the non-religious character of the
+Government system?</p>
+
+<p>The third and most potent factor in the educational situation is the
+missionary one. As this was the first in the field one would expect
+their work to be more highly developed, and it must also be remembered
+that the Brāhma-Samāj is an indirect fruit of the leavening of
+Christian education. The doctrine of equal opportunity for man<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</span> and
+woman is seen at work in the comparative religious statistics of girls
+at school.</p>
+
+<table><tbody>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">Primary</td>
+<td class="tdr">5,360</td>
+<td class="tdc">Indian Christians to</td>
+<td class="tdr">126,897</td>
+<td class="tdl">Non-Christians.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">Middle</td>
+<td class="tdr">1,382</td>
+<td class="tdc">Indian Christians to</td>
+<td class="tdr">1,430</td>
+<td class="tdl">Non-Christians.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">High</td>
+<td class="tdr">448</td>
+<td class="tdc">Indian Christians to</td>
+<td class="tdr">667</td>
+<td class="tdl">Non-Christians.</td>
+</tr>
+
+</tbody></table>
+
+<p>As the returns of the Bengal census<a id="FNanchor_90" href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> show only 319,384 Christians
+in a total population of 52,668,269, these figures referring to their
+daughters’ education are striking. The aim of Christian education is
+twofold, the building up of the Christian community so that ultimately
+the Indian Church may be a strong social factor, and the education
+of non-Christians with a view to influencing them either directly or
+indirectly in favour of Christianity. These two aims are combined in
+most mission-work except in the case of most of the girls’ Boarding
+schools where a non-Christian girl is naturally the exception. Of the
+eleven High schools for Indian girls in the Province, six are under
+mission management and two varying types may be noticed.</p>
+
+<p>The Diocesan High school—a Government-aided institution for girls
+under the management of the Clewer Sisters, has the reputation of being
+the best girls’ school in Calcutta. The reason for this is easy to
+discover in the personality of its Principal, Sister Mary Victoria,
+whose aristocratic idealism (if the words may be combined) determines
+the tone of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span> the whole school. In India the personal element counts for
+everything, and without it, the best of institutions and Government
+plans are unavailing. Sister Mary Victoria and her English staff are
+constantly with the girls and when the school was first started they
+took their meals with the boarders until a tradition of manners was
+established. The school is well staffed with trained teachers both
+English and Indian, the former predominating. An English lady also
+who is interested in the school comes regularly to teach brushwork.
+There is an excellent College Department. The Government curriculum is
+followed, and in addition systematic religious instruction is given
+to all pupils. The ideal of this school is not, however, success in
+examinations only and their shadow does not lie heavily. As a small
+pupil remarked to the writer: “There are lots of girls in our school
+who don’t love examinations, but who do love school.” The pupils are
+drawn from various ranks and creeds; the boarders are mostly Christian,
+and the majority of the day scholars Hindu and Brāhma. The leading
+Indian families in Calcutta send their girls here, and to the Loretto
+Convent,<a id="FNanchor_91" href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> rather than to the Bethune School because of the personal
+contact with English ladies. The daily religious lesson is not felt
+as a deterrent in any way. It is curious to watch these girls drive
+up to the school in handsome carriages and to realize that they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span> are
+only paying two shillings and eight pence a month for a really first
+class education. Many of the richer parents give donations as well,
+but the fee is kept low for the sake of the poorer. These fees and the
+Government grant practically cover the working expenses of the school
+apart from the support of the English staff. There are no separate
+schools for the wealthier classes worked on a system of full payment,
+partly because poverty is not so much a cause of separation in India as
+in Britain and partly because there is not a sufficient number of girls
+ready for higher education who could and would pay fees that would
+cover expenses. Taken as a whole the fees in mission schools are higher
+than in Government institutions.</p>
+
+<p>Of a somewhat different and more usual type is the United Free Church
+High school, it exists almost entirely for the girls of this and other
+missions who enter it as boarders from the country; the school is thus
+predominantly Christian and has little contact with Indian life. Of 122
+scholars about 90 are boarders, and accommodation is being built for
+more. The day scholars are mostly in the lower classes. The education
+given is exceedingly thorough, and if the whole curriculum ending with
+a teachers’ diploma is taken it ensures a girl a good post either
+in Government or mission service. There is no College Department,
+but a special feature since 1889 is the excellent Normal course from
+which most satisfactory results have been obtained. Miss Whyte may be
+rightly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span> considered the pioneer of efficient training for teachers in
+Bengal. The Government curriculum is followed, and in addition the
+customary Biblical instruction is given. The school suffers from two
+drawbacks customary to all of its type, the lack of space and the
+“Westernization” of the pupils. Situated in one of the most crowded
+parts of the city, the buildings resemble a huge bee-hive packed with
+class rooms and dormitories and redeemed only by the glorious flat roof
+so characteristic of life in Calcutta. Below is a pathetically small
+playground where the boarders walk or read or play, in so far as the
+latter is natural to Indian girls. A splendid effort has been made by
+the staff to bring the girls into contact with nature and the historic
+monuments of India in order to counteract the cramping influence of the
+surroundings. One year a large party of teachers and former and present
+pupils visited Agra and Delhi, the wonder and glory of which opened
+a new field of thought and imagination to the Bengali girls. Another
+year the whole school was transferred for a short time to Deoghur. The
+material obtained on these expeditions served as a basis for nature
+study throughout the term. The students and elder girls are also
+taken once a year for a short mission tour, which serves not only to
+enlarge their horizon, but also emphasizes the primary purpose of the
+school. In spite, however, of the energy and originality of the staff
+in organizing these expeditions, the atmosphere of the school remains
+very much that of an ordinary secondary school in Scotland and has no
+distinctively Indian note. “Atmosphere” and curriculum are mutually
+dependent and their relationship is a problem that does not affect
+mission schools only. As a whole the mission High schools are doing a
+splendid work and their growing influence in the community is to be
+noted in the fact that occasionally Brāhma-Samāj and even Hindu girls
+are found amongst their boarders.</p>
+
+<p class="spb1"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_fp120_2" style="max-width: 114.3125em;">
+ <img class="w100" src="images/i_fp120.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>[Four Scholarship Girls. United Free Church Mission
+School for Hindus, Calcutta]</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>The Middle schools, teaching up to Standard V., have adopted the
+sound policy of excluding English, the object being to give a sound
+vernacular training to such children as will never have the chance of
+getting High school education. “It is these schools which supply the
+bulk of pupils to our training schools for mistresses, and as such
+their importance in our system of female education in this country
+is very great.”<a id="FNanchor_92" href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> The strong point of the mission schools, both
+Middle and Primary, is that they are under the direct and constant
+supervision of European workers. In one mission visited, all the Indian
+teachers were Christians and had had Normal training, and the schools
+were constantly visited by a lady holding the highest educational
+certificates. This is not the case everywhere, but it is the ideal
+aimed at. A mission Primary school is a pleasant place full of promise
+and of future possibilities. Shadow and sunshine are mingled, but
+on the whole the sunshine predominates.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span></p>
+
+<p class="p0">Take for example one in the vicinity of Calcutta—an
+old one-storied dwelling-house off a village lane, which skill has
+converted into a passable four-roomed school, with a sandy patch of
+ground used for drill and occasional geography lessons. There are about
+120 children from five to eight years of age, the infant department is
+evidently looked upon as a sort of crêche by the village, for there are
+eighty babies sitting in solemn rows on the matting, but as soon as a
+girl becomes useful or marriageable she is withdrawn. Presiding over
+this happy family are three white-saried Christian girls, only one of
+whom has been trained as a teacher. The girl with the eighty pupils
+has only been as far as Standard III. herself; she is however making
+a loyal effort; the babies pass their wooden boards with very tidy
+hieroglyphics for inspection, but the impossibility of it all makes one
+wonder if a Government grant is wisely given. The Head-mistress lends
+a kindly eye, but her attention is centred on Standard III. with its
+five select girls; this is the last year of Christian influences and
+these girls are being taught something not in the Government Code. They
+are bright and intelligent and the short Scripture lesson is enlivened
+by plenty of question and answer. Once a fortnight or once a week the
+school will be visited by an English lady, who will plan, supervise
+and if needful, give a model lesson. She has eight schools of this
+type under her personal superintendence, and her visits are the pivot
+on which they turn. A good Government grant is given;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span> the Code for
+vernacular Primary schools is followed, and as there is no competition
+the work is warmly welcomed by the Hindu community. The mission Primary
+schools hold their own in the educational system; of thirty-eight money
+prizes given by Government to Calcutta girls’ Primary schools, all but
+three were won by mission pupils. The special characteristics of the
+missionary contribution to the educational problem, as a whole, are the
+presence of fully qualified European workers, who enter the educational
+sphere at salaries which no Government servant would accept, and the
+development of Normal work on scientific principles.</p>
+
+<p>This review of the three agencies at work leads to the general
+consideration of some of the main problems which underlie the types
+and organization described, and which affect the educational outlook;
+the supply of teachers, the character of Secondary education, the
+development of Primary education and the co-ordination of the whole.
+The most crucial is undoubtedly that concerning the teacher.</p>
+
+<p>The school career of the Bengali girl is limited at present in the
+large majority of cases to only four or five years, and there is thus
+no time for the teacher to waste. If education is to commend itself
+at all to the real India (as distinct from “Babudom”) it must be of
+the very best type. The Government realize this and are putting forth
+every effort to procure trained teachers, but whence are the students
+to be obtained, and who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span> is to train them? The unquestioned future for
+every Hindu and Moslem girl is matrimony and it is therefore only from
+amongst those who have been widowed in childhood that teachers can
+be drawn. But in spite of all that has been written and said on this
+subject the necessary education is still denied to them, by religion,
+custom, and prejudice. In the Hindu Female Training School in Calcutta,
+started by Government to surmount some of the initial prejudice in
+regard to the training of “<i>parda-nashin</i>” women, there are only
+seven pupils. They are all widows of above sixteen years and though
+they are not admitted unless, when children, they have been through
+the fourth standard, their brains have remained fallow for six years
+and the problem of their training is a difficult one. In the only
+other Government institution for non-Christians there are at present
+thirteen Moslems and nine Hindus, and many of them have to be taught
+reading and writing as well as the art of teaching. It will thus be
+seen that though the ultimate solution of the dearth of teachers may
+be found in the utilization of the young widows, public opinion will
+have to undergo a considerable change before it is possible.<a id="FNanchor_93" href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a>
+From the Brāhma-Samāj community more is to be expected, and though
+the Brāhma-Samāj Training Class in Calcutta is not at present in a
+flourishing condition, they certainly contribute a fair proportion
+of teachers. It is, however, from the Christian community that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</span> the
+teachers are chiefly drawn, and efforts are being made to secure their
+efficient training. Of the sixteen Training Institutions in Bengal
+thirteen are under mission management, and of 192 Indian pupils, 175
+are Christian. A wholesome sign of the growing spirit of unity is the
+amalgamation of the training classes of four missions in Calcutta into
+one Christian Normal Training College with an excellent staff and a
+good modern equipment. So far it is only for mistresses who are to
+teach in the vernacular. Even with the large contribution of Christian
+teachers, the demand immensely exceeds the supply. Even before her
+examination there is hardly one of the candidates who has not secured
+a good post. They are in demand in the first instance for mission
+schools, in Brāhma-Samāj and non-sectarian institutions, and in Hindu
+and Model Primary schools. “The fact that they are Christians in a
+large number of cases is not considered a bar to their employment.”<a id="FNanchor_94" href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a>
+The inference for missionary societies is obvious—that to supply
+all the girls’ schools of Bengal with teachers of strong Christian
+character would contribute much to the coming of the Kingdom of God.
+As regards the type of training given, the drawback is the fact that,
+like the Code, it is too Western. A solution may probably be found if
+the British educators are allowed to supplement their home-training by
+further studies on the spot, before undertaking work—a slower<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</span> process
+but a surer one. Secondary training is yet to be developed both by
+missions and by Government. One Indian teacher has taken her degree of
+Bachelor of Teaching from a Mission school, but this is an isolated
+instance.</p>
+
+<p>The relation of the statistics of Higher education to Primary is
+striking; only 11% of the girls at school are beyond the stage of
+just being able to read and write, while only 319 girls in the whole
+province are beyond the Middle stage. An immediate question is, How
+to retain the girls in the higher classes. Social and religious
+considerations weigh heavily here, as in the problem of the supply
+of teachers, but another influence may be, as elsewhere, the nature
+of the curriculum. This question has underlain much of the previous
+discussion, and is wide and far-reaching in its scope. Indian education
+must have its own “Paradise”; the acme of Western civilization ought
+not to be reproduced in India, if diversity and not uniformity is
+the higher law. There is something lacking if the Mahakali committee
+speak of a “feeling of relief” in an escape from Government education,
+and some compromise is surely possible between their system and that
+of the Anglicized Boarding School. Destructive criticism is easy and
+there is plenty of it in Indian educational circles. On the one hand,
+the mission authorities say that they are bound by the hard and fast
+rules of the Code which conditions their grant, on the other, there is
+a great deal more liberality and elasticity in the Government policy
+than is commonly imagined, and a really well thought-out curriculum on
+new lines would probably not mean the forfeiture of a grant. It is true
+that schools which vary from the type recognized at home are not aided
+by Government, but the Indian situation is different and it is probably
+for the good of the whole system that they should be under Government
+supervision and receive the impetus which comes from sharing in the
+educational scheme. Here is the opportunity for private enterprise and
+initiative; with co-operation on the part of the missionary societies
+in Calcutta it would surely be possible to remove one of their girls’
+High schools to the country and to give a practical demonstration of
+what modern education on Indian lines might mean. This would be no
+easy task and could only be accomplished by a staff who had intimately
+studied the conditions of Indian life and thought. This would be the
+most effectual “constructive criticism.”</p>
+
+<p class="spb1"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_fp126" style="max-width: 115.3125em;">
+ <img class="w100" src="images/i_fp126.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>[Standards I. to IV. United Free Church Mission School
+for Hindus, Calcutta]</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>The extension of Primary education is a crucial problem throughout
+India; here in Bengal 95% of girls of school age are absolutely outside
+the educational pale. The wonder is, considering the inveterate
+indifference of the majority of parents and guardians to female
+education, even when it is freely given, that any progress is made at
+all. On the one hand there is the question whether it is advisable to
+encourage it too warmly, when the available supply of trained teachers
+is so disproportioned to the need; on the other, the multiplication of
+schools and the acceptance of female education by
+public opinion would create a condition more favourable to the ready
+supply of teachers.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span>
+The new Code for Primary schools introduced in
+1910, which is in accord with modern educational principles, may prove
+more attractive than the former. Finance is an important matter. Many
+villages are too poor to maintain separate <i>pathshalas</i> for their
+daughters; there are at present 69,000 girls in boys’ Primary schools
+as against 75,000 in Primary schools for girls only. The result is
+that in these villages the stricter castes do not send their girls to
+school and even the others are withdrawn after the infant stage. In the
+Secondary schools in the cities many girls who can well afford to pay
+are enjoying a first-class education for two shillings and eightpence a
+month at the expense of Government and missionary societies. This looks
+as if a re-adjustment of funds might increase the Primary statistics.
+Here again is an unlimited sphere for private enterprise; the mission
+school for girls only, staffed by Indian women teachers under European
+supervision is welcome and sure of success. The system of Zenana
+teaching both by missionaries and Government teachers is, as in Eastern
+Bengal, of great use in breaking down prejudice, and though apparently
+slow and costly work, it is invaluable.</p>
+
+<p>It might possibly prove to be for the good of the whole system if some
+small central Board or consultative committee were formed to promote<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</span>
+co-operation in the development of future plans between the Government
+and the various private enterprises.</p>
+
+<p>The future of female education in Bengal is partly a question of
+administration, partly that of a greater number of European educators
+in sympathy with the genius of the country, partly that of a reformed
+curriculum, but more fundamentally it is a question of religious
+evolution.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="VI">VI</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>INTERESTING INSTITUTIONS IN THE UNITED PROVINCES AND PANJĀB</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>“The world exists in order to grow souls under the eyes of a patient,
+tireless, yearning Teacher.”</p>
+
+<p class="right">From <i>Hindustan Review</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<p class="dropcap-paragraph">I<span class="upper-case">t</span> is not proposed to give in this chapter a detailed account of
+general organization and of the forces at work. There is a definite
+similarity in the system of administration throughout all India,
+though it varies in its adaptation to indigenous institutions: one
+policy underlies missionary efforts, though they differ remarkably in
+the personal factor; the new Indian spirit is everywhere more or less
+articulate. But it is worth while to lay emphasis on certain phases of
+the problem of female education in the United Provinces, and on certain
+institutions in the Panjāb which are typical of the complexity of the
+situation, or present unique characteristics.</p>
+
+<p>In the Quinquennial Survey the United Provinces occupy an
+unsatisfactory position at the bottom of the list of comparative
+percentages, showing only 1.2 per cent. of girls of school-going age
+at school. This percentage has, however, risen<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</span> in 1910 to 1.33, and
+the total number of institutions has increased from 1,067 to 1,266—a
+creditable advance in the face of the difficulties to be encountered.
+The “impatient idealist” must beware, however, of extravagant hopes
+of transformation in a country where progress must of necessity be
+slow and of an evolutionary nature. Under more stringent inspection
+and regulation, the rapid advance in the early part of the decade
+has proved to a certain extent fictitious, and due to an over-hasty
+desire on the part of the educational authorities to move with the
+times. Local committees had apparently started schools for which there
+was no demand and for which they were unable to procure teachers.
+One Inspectress reports that in some cases, on a surprise visit, no
+teacher was found at all; in others, though the teachers were present,
+no work was being done.<a id="FNanchor_95" href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> Artificial efforts to hasten the pace were
+attended only by a spurious success; for example, a capitation grant
+of four annas a month was given in 1906 for every girl attending a
+boys’ school, with a resulting increase of 4000 in the statistics of
+attendance; but a careful inspection and subsequent removal of the
+grant proved that the girls had simply been procured to sit in the
+schoolroom without receiving any attention, and that they left in a
+year or two as ignorant as when they entered it. Quite possibly some
+of the annas had found their way into the pockets of the parents who
+had been so obliging as to lend<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</span> their girls. The latest statistics
+show a drop of 3000 in the total number of female scholars, but this
+is entirely among the girls attending boys’ schools, and is due to the
+more efficient administration. The slight increase in the Secondary
+schools and in the girls’ Primary schools is a sign of genuine
+progress and may be welcomed as such. The policy of the Government
+is one of slow advance after careful investigation and enlistment of
+local co-operation. About the year 1907, every District Officer was
+instructed to form a special committee to watch over the interests of
+girls’ education in his district, and some of these committees have
+done excellent work, while others have been baffled by the difficulties
+to be faced and by lack of funds. Others, again, as indicated
+above, have tended to make haste too quickly. The fact that Indian
+non-Christian men of good social position have been found willing to
+serve on these committees is an indication of general advance and of
+growing sympathy with every effort for enlightenment and reform.<a id="FNanchor_96" href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a></p>
+
+<p>As regards Inspectresses, the United Provinces are better staffed at
+present than any other province excepting possibly Madras, and yet
+the overwork is no less, for the districts are very large, and in
+many cases the schools are quite inaccessible to the woman traveller.
+But in a country where <i>parda</i> is strict, and where registers
+may only represent fictitious girls, and where moreover the work of
+the Inspectress is much needed for the stimulus and sympathy she can
+give, the system well repays the necessary expense, and will probably
+admit of yet further expansion. An effort is also being made to
+secure voluntary co-operation on the part of both English and Indian
+ladies who are willing and able to help. One Indian lady has given a
+great deal of her time to the inspection of the Government Primary
+schools in her district; another lady, a missionary with exceptional
+qualifications, is secretary of a local educational committee.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</span></p>
+<h4><span class="smcap">Table of Schools for Indian Girls in the United Provinces.</span><a id="FNanchor_97" href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a></h4>
+
+<table class="spb1">
+<thead>
+<tr>
+<th class="tdc bl bb bt2" colspan="4"><span class="smcap">Under Public Management.</span></th>
+<th class="tdc bl2 bb br bt2" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Under Private<br> Management.</span></th>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<th class="tdc bl bb" colspan="2">Government.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bb">Local or<br>Municipal<br>Branch.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bb">Native<br>States.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl2 bb">Aided.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl br bb">Unaided.</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">High Schools</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">6</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">3</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl hang">Middle<br>English</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">18</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">4</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl"><span class="ml1">Vernacular</span></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">7</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">..</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">Primary</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">57</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">355</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">499</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">17</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">Training Schools</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">1</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2 bb">7</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb br">3</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl bb"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">58</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">356</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2 bb">537</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br bb">24</td>
+</tr>
+
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</span></p>
+
+<p>The problem of finding teachers is even more acute here than elsewhere.
+It seems hardly credible that a teacher could be found in regular
+employment who was unable to write words of three letters to dictation,
+yet such is a recorded fact. Her ignorance had been concealed by
+a memorized knowledge of the Koran. Of sixty-two Primary schools
+sanctioned by Government in 1909 it has only been possible to open
+twenty-one because of the entire lack of teachers with even the minimum
+of qualification.</p>
+
+<p>There are two lines of spontaneous Indian effort: the Ārya Samāj,
+whose schools conform to the Government Code and regulations, and
+neo-Hinduism,<a id="FNanchor_98" href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> which has produced Mrs Besant’s school for Indian
+girls at Benares. The Ārya Samāj have a good training school for
+teachers at Dehra Dun, students from which may be found teaching in
+their schools in other parts of India. A High school department has
+recently been added to it, and every effort is being put forth to make
+it a strong educational centre. The school at Benares is in connexion
+with the Hindu Central College, and poses as a definite revolt from
+the anglicizing tendency of Government and mission schools. It
+receives no grant, and as yet has not even applied for inspection. The
+Government is considered to “favour Christian and mission schools,” and
+therefore, though there is the same lack of funds here as elsewhere,
+the promoters will have none of it or its money! Freedom to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</span> shape
+their own curriculum is also a dominant motive. To enter the school
+and see over a hundred beautifully dressed Indian girls, almost all
+of the Brahman caste, sitting in groups of six or seven, on bright
+carpets, the class-rooms well separated in the spacious airy building,
+was certainly to feel that here one might find a solution of the
+curriculum problem and a constructive theory of Indian education. “A
+training in conduct and religion is what Indians, as a rule, value
+most for their women—the work for those going beyond the rudiments is
+too bookish in character.”<a id="FNanchor_99" href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> Here the teachers are free to saturate
+the instruction throughout with the ethical elements of a religion
+acceptable to the parents, to edit their own text-books, to emphasize
+the study of the vernaculars and Indian classics without the strain
+of examinations. The pupils stay longer than in other schools: many
+“married” girls of fifteen and sixteen years are in the upper forms.
+One particularly bright child of fourteen told us she was to be there
+for four years while her husband studied in England. Thus there is
+time really to influence the character and mind of the girls. Yet, on
+analysis, from the purely educational point of view the school was
+distinctly disappointing. As regards the staff, the Head-mistress, an
+English lady, claimed no knowledge of the vernacular, and though her
+intercourse with the girls seemed most cordial and sympathetic, it
+was necessarily limited, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</span> still more limited was her knowledge of
+their studies. An American with the degree of B.Sc., a Brahman, wife
+of one of the College professors, who had been educated in a convent,
+three mission-taught girls, and sundry other teachers of a nondescript
+character, completed the number. English was taught throughout, from
+class III. upwards, and used as a medium of instruction in classes VI.
+and VII., but the degree of fluency of the girls therein seemed hardly
+to justify this method. Many of the ordinary text-books were in use,
+and except for the moral catechisms and some stress laid on Indian art
+and Hinduism in the drawing lessons, the difference of the curriculum
+seemed more theoretical than actual. The theories are, however,
+suggestive, and when traced to the basal thought that education must
+be founded on the hereditary instinct and natural environment of the
+child they are not in reality revolutionary but compatible with the
+constructive system and ideals of the Christian religion.</p>
+
+<p class="spb1"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_fp136" style="max-width: 108.8125em;">
+ <img class="w100" src="images/i_fp136.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>[The Isabella Thoburn College, Lucknow]</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>The Crosthwaite High School at Allahabad shows possibilities of a
+different nature. It was started privately in Lucknow city some
+eighteen years ago by a committee of Indian gentlemen and Government
+officials, and was afterwards removed for the sake of a larger site
+and fresher air. A long, low, roomy building, with deep verandahs,
+forms the central school, with two hostels attached to it, in one of
+which twenty Moslem girls were residing, in the other six Hindus. A
+considerable number of day pupils, without restriction as to creed,
+are drawn from Allahabad. Tuition and conveyance for day pupils are
+given free, but the charge for boarders meets the cost. The Government
+Code is followed throughout, and the knowledge of English, tested by
+recitation and questioning on subject-matter, seemed of a thorough
+quality. The school illustrated in miniature most of the usual
+problems. It was marvellous that Moslem girls of really good family
+should have been allowed to come to a boarding-school, some from far
+distant States, and there was a certain pathos in the sight of them
+being taught by any kind of woman who had “learnt to read and write
+at home,” and who in some cases might almost have been their ayah.
+This description applies only to the lower forms, but in these classes
+girls are at the most formative age, and many would not stay for the
+whole course. One teacher of this type was actually engaged in nursing
+her baby while giving an arithmetic lesson, and one wondered which of
+the two suffered more—the lesson or the baby! The Head-mistress was
+a young Indian Christian graduate from the Isabella Thoburn College,
+full of energy and enthusiasm for what seemed so difficult a task. She
+herself had to take three lessons a day, which left little leisure for
+the superintendence of the lower school with its double vernacular
+(Hindi and Urdu) standards throughout. A similar position in a school
+at home would have been occupied by a much older woman with many
+years’ experience of life.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</span>A question as to the religious teaching
+given elicited the following reply: “The Mohammedan teacher has her own
+girls; I teach the few Christians, and the Hindus look after their own
+bathings!” There is no question here of Indianizing the curriculum.</p>
+
+<p>In turning to the specifically Christian institutions, it has again to
+be noted that the missionaries have been the pioneers of education,
+that an overwhelming proportion of the aided schools are under their
+management, and that a creditable proportion of Christian girls in the
+High stages (552 out of 759 Indian girls) is maintained. No account of
+women’s education in India would be complete without a full description
+of the Isabella Thoburn College, or, as it is called throughout the
+Northern provinces, the “Lal Bagh” (Rose Garden). From a tiny beginning
+in 1870 as a bazaar school in Lucknow, with half a dozen Christian
+girls, it has grown by successive stages to a splendidly equipped
+collegiate institution, the portals of which may be entered by a
+child as a tiny “rosebud” for the Kindergarten, and from whence the
+full-blown B.A. may emerge some sixteen years later. The College and
+its latest additions stand as a memorial to two strong personalities,
+Isabella Thoburn, the founder, and Lilavati Singh, whose early death
+in 1909, when Vice-Principal of the College, removed one of the Indian
+leaders of women’s education. The ideals after which they strove and
+the spirit of passionate sacrifice for others which dominated their
+lives<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</span> form a strong tradition in the school. The American sense of
+community life which enters so markedly into their schools and colleges
+has been transferred with wise adaptation to the Indian environment;
+and the former pupils of the “Lal Bagh,” scattered throughout India,
+are still under the glamour of their school days and are working
+out its inspiration. Self-government in all that regards the common
+interest is the rule of the College and Normal departments, and the
+same principle is being slowly established in the High school in the
+hope of developing the sense of responsibility so greatly needed in
+the Indian character. The girls are practically all Christian, but
+occasionally a non-Christian girl is found taking advantage of the
+splendid education which she could obtain nowhere else. The Zenana
+school, opened in 1909, is attended by some Hindu and Mohammedan girls
+desirous of a simple course with domestic science, and it is expected
+that this department will gradually increase. There is also a special
+hostel for Hindu or Mohammedan girls which has not yet been much
+utilized. The staff consists of seven or eight American graduates and
+about fifteen Indian teachers, some of whom are graduates also. There
+are no untrained teachers. This proportion in a school of some 200
+pupils, and a College and Normal department of about 40, is refreshing
+after other institutions, but it in no way satisfies the standard of
+efficiency aimed at by the directors. The Normal department is of
+special<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</span> importance, as teachers are supplied from it to all parts of
+Northern India. No student is admitted to the senior course who has not
+passed the Matriculation or equivalent examination, and the Government
+Report testifies to the thoroughness of the training given. A lower
+qualification is accepted for the Kindergarten course. The Government
+Code is followed throughout, and there is thus no question of an
+experimental curriculum on Indian lines. The College is under a Board
+of Directors which includes two prominent Indian gentlemen, and is in
+connexion with the American Methodist Mission.</p>
+
+<p>The Church Missionary Society has an excellent boarding-school for
+Christian girls at Benares with about 100 pupils. The central schools
+for the Christian community form a very important part of the work
+of any mission, and it is entirely due to them that the creditable
+percentage of Christian girls in the Secondary stages is maintained.
+Where a Normal department can be added, their influence on the
+non-Christian community and on the general educational situation
+is very marked. Unfortunately some mission committees have still a
+tendency to appoint a pupil to a post too soon, and the numbers are
+not as large as they might be. The Benares class has at present nine
+students who entered it with Middle Anglo-Vernacular qualifications;
+its special feature, in addition to the ordinary subjects, is an
+experimental attempt to give some conception of the Hindu environment
+of religious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</span> thought to the students. The Indian Christian of the
+second or third generation tends to be totally isolated in idea and
+thought from other Indians, and this tendency is often accentuated
+in mission schools. It is therefore exceedingly important that those
+who are to influence Hindu life as teachers in mission or Government
+schools should, in the course of their training, form some clear and
+correct conception of the religious environment of their future pupils.
+Experimental work of this type should prove most useful in any future
+developments of Normal training which missionary societies may be
+contemplating.</p>
+
+<p>There is throughout a pleasant spirit of co-operation between the
+various educational missionaries, and between them and the Government
+authorities. There is a Missionary Educational Union for the Province
+which the Inspectresses attend officially. An annual Teachers’
+Conference is held in February, and it is probable that in the future
+co-operation may pass from theory to actual fact in the development of
+further work. A striking lack in the missionary contribution is the
+absence of any school of really first-class character for non-Christian
+girls, such as exist in Bombay and Calcutta. The educational work
+for boys has been fully developed, but the parallel opportunity for
+girls which the changing times have created has yet to be seized. It
+may be argued that the Isabella Thoburn school has arrangements for
+non-Christian girls, but even in these changing times there are few
+non-Christians<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</span> who would be willing to risk their daughters in a
+boarding-school among such an overwhelming number of Christian girls,
+whereas first-class schools starting fresh with no tradition would be
+sufficiently in touch with the new movement to attract pupils by their
+sheer efficiency. In this direction and in the training of teachers the
+standard must be set by the missionary authorities if their reputation
+as pioneers is to be maintained.</p>
+
+<p>The situation in the Panjāb differs again only in degree. While there
+has been no ebb in the increasing tide of pupils—an increase of 1328
+in 1909, and of 3732 in 1910, making a present total of over 42,000
+girls under instruction—the problem of administration and inspection
+in a strictly <i>parda</i> country is as difficult as elsewhere, and
+there are stories of the inefficiency of the teachers which surpass
+even those told of other provinces. The municipalities vary greatly in
+their enthusiasm for the education of girls—Amritsar, for instance,
+being well supplied with thirty-five girls’ schools, whereas Lahore
+has only one of this type. The missions have as elsewhere the system
+of boarding-schools for Christian girls, and carry on extensive work,
+chiefly of a Primary nature, among non-Christians of all races and
+creeds. Occasionally a non-Christian girl is found in a Christian
+boarding-school. Some of these schools are specially commended by the
+Inspectress for their teaching in domestic economy and sewing. “The
+Sialkot boarding-school divides the children into families of twelve
+girls who each do their own cooking, washing, and housework, even
+the little ones helping.”<a id="FNanchor_100" href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a>
+St. Stephen’s Girls’ School (S. P. G.) has a special
+lace department where any girl who wishes to learn
+English may earn the money to pay the requisite fee. The lace produced
+is of a marketable quality, and not of the type which passes from
+bazaar to bazaar in Great Britain. The work of the Kinnaird Girls’ High
+School, Lahore, is similar to that of the Bombay school<a id="FNanchor_101" href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> under the
+auspices of the same society (Z. B. M. M.). It is intended mainly for
+Indian Christian girls, but contains a certain proportion of others.
+The average age of leaving is about sixteen. Its training class is of
+special interest. Women students in the Panjāb are allowed to take the
+Junior Anglo-Vernacular training after matriculation, though, in the
+case of men the same examination is open only to graduates. In spite of
+this the girls generally stand fairly high in the lists, one of them
+recently taking the second place. The class, however, averages only
+some five students, though the school has over 160 girls. There is
+another excellent High school for Indian non-Christian girls in Lahore
+under the superintendence of an Indian Christian lady.</p>
+
+<p class="spb1"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_fp142" style="max-width: 93.75em;">
+ <img class="w100" src="images/i_fp142.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>[Church Missionary Society, Middle School,
+Amritsar.—Hoop Drill]</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<br>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</span></p>
+
+<p>Here, too, slowly but surely, the voice of Young India is making itself
+heard in a new desire and a new effort. Lawyers, doctors, Government
+servants, are seeking for their wives and daughters
+an education which, if not equal to their own, will a least be a
+sufficient compromise between the old status and the new ideas to which
+they give utterance from public platforms and in the press. The reform
+sects, notably the Ārya Samāj, are ready with a definite educational
+policy of their own. They have a special orphanage at Ferozepore, and
+a considerable number of schools; the Dev Samāj, a new rallying-point,
+has two or more schools; there is a Sikh boarding-school near Amritsar;
+and, “in opposition to these reforming Hindu societies, at least one
+orthodox Hindu girls’ school has been opened lately. Whether the
+activity of the reformers will force the orthodox Hindus to take
+an interest in girls’ education and to start a network of schools
+in opposition remains to be seen.”<a id="FNanchor_102" href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> The Maharani of Burdwar is
+noted for her efforts in this direction, and her schools, the Vedic
+Putri Pathshala and the Khatri Girls’ School at Lahore, both aim at
+having High departments. Absolutely unique in its aim, management, and
+curriculum is the Victoria May Girls’ High School, Lahore, now known as
+Queen Mary College. The idea of establishing a High school for Indian
+girls of good family was put forward by certain Indian ladies at the
+<i>parda</i> party held in honour of the visit of the then Princess of
+Wales in November 1905, and the possibility of putting this proposal
+into effect was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</span> attained by the munificence of certain leading Native
+States in the Panjāb. The school is under the management of five
+leading Indian gentlemen representing different creeds, and of two
+of the highest officials in the Province. Its curriculum is, so far
+as the writer’s experience extends, the only one in which a definite
+constructive theory has been put forth for the education of Indian
+girls on such lines as combine excellent modern education with training
+suitable to their future environment.<a id="FNanchor_103" href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> Its ideals are defined in
+the following extract from the prospectus. “The proposed education
+is to be first and foremost womanly, therefore pupils will not be
+prepared for Matriculation until alternative courses of study suitable
+for girls be framed by the Education Department. The Indian ideals of
+self-sacrificing motherhood and simplicity of life will be held sacred,
+and the education given, while conducted on the best modern methods,
+seeks in every way to guard the ideal of the Indian wife in her
+home. For this reason the curriculum includes lessons on the care of
+children’s health, simple remedies for ordinary illnesses, ‘first aid,’
+invalid cookery, and science as applied to the home, in the shape of
+the elementary laws of sanitation, ventilation, etc.” Great attention
+is paid to the vernaculars and to the beautiful<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</span> Oriental scripts.
+Advanced pupils may study Persian or Sanskrit. A speciality is made of
+colloquial English, but there is no study of it as advanced literature.
+Moral instruction is given from the beautiful stories and poems of
+all religions, no sacred book being excluded, and is as effective
+as can be in an institution necessarily limited in its religious
+life and instruction. A great effort is being made to attract pupils
+from the families whose sons attend the Chiefs’ College in Lahore;
+six or eight special suites of rooms are being reserved for rajahs’
+daughters and their necessary attendants, in new buildings attached to
+the Principal’s house, and such facilities may do much to break down
+the barrier which has hitherto separated these classes from modern
+education. This school may serve not only as an inspiration to its
+actual pupils, but may have a reflex influence on the whole scheme of
+education. For instance, a course of lectures has recently been started
+in connection with it to demonstrate to Indian ladies the real needs
+of local girls’ schools, and to induce them to act where possible as
+helpers and advisers. To turn what has hitherto proved an obstructive
+force into a definitely constructive one would surely be an excellent
+policy.</p>
+
+<p>The Land of the Five Rivers has ever been a land of romance and of
+stirring life, and the modern movement for the enlightenment of its
+woman-kind has still the same elements, and is full of the promise of
+the future.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="VII">VII</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>SIDELIGHTS ON SOME NATIVE STATES</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquote">
+<p>“Vulgarity is unknown in India. This alone is education and of the
+highest order. Reading and writing are minor to it.”</p>
+<p class="right">
+From the <i>Indian Ladies’ Magazine</i>.<br></p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="dropcap-paragraph">T<span class="upper-case">o</span> the student of Indian problems the Native States present in many
+cases a survival of former conditions which elsewhere have been swept
+away under the more direct influence of British rule; in others freedom
+from the criticism to which an alien rule is liable has allowed
+advanced rulers to experiment on the most modern lines. The term
+“Native State” is itself capable of very diverse interpretation.<a id="FNanchor_104" href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a>
+There are in all about seven hundred districts so-called, with a total
+population of over 62 million, and varying in size from the great
+southern State of Hyderabad, with an area of over 82,000 square miles,
+to parcels of land about the size of an average country estate in
+England. The British Government takes direct cognizance of some hundred
+of these in varying degrees of relationship. Some States are entirely
+responsible<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</span> for their own internal government with a British Resident
+tactfully fulfilling his difficult office; in others the control
+is more direct, under an officer appointed as administrator by the
+Government till such time as the State finances or internal order may
+justify once more the revival of relative independence under an heir
+of the dynastic family. There is thus every variety of ruler, from the
+rajah who holds the time-honoured doctrine of “L’état c’est moi,” and
+whose State recalls the prejudices, barbarities, and general practices
+of the Europe of the Middle Ages, to the virtuous chiefs who strive
+to rule on modern principles of order and justice for the welfare of
+their people. There are rajahs whose women-folk are the strictest of
+<i>parda-nashin</i> and others whose daughters may disport themselves
+in English society at home to their hearts’ content, a curious
+bye-product being the rani who is <i>parda-nashin</i> in her own State
+but not when she comes out into the world abroad.</p>
+
+<p>It is natural that only amongst the more progressive States is any
+opportunity found of studying the question of female education; in
+others even the first beginnings are totally absent. The present
+chapter is in no sense a complete survey, and only offers a few notes
+which may indicate the general trend. It is difficult in many cases to
+obtain exact information, as the British Government are wisely chary
+of giving too much. The official reports, as M. Chailley puts it, wrap
+up blame in velvet and distribute praise with a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</span> liberal hand, and a
+letter to a native diwan<a id="FNanchor_105" href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> will not always procure an educational
+report with the same promptitude as it would in British territory.
+There is also the never-to-be-forgotten fact that “All the world’s
+a stage,” and at times the temptation to play a part, to produce a
+semblance of things which speak of progress and yet lack reality, is
+too strong for the Oriental mind. Thus a school housed in a magnificent
+building with four hundred girls on its roll may prove to have less
+than two hundred in daily attendance, though each child is in receipt
+of a monthly “stipend” from the State for the honour of her attendance;
+and “God save the Queen” may be cheerily sung in honour of the beloved
+Empress of whose death all India has not yet heard!</p>
+
+<p>Some of the smaller Native States are closely linked educationally with
+the adjacent British province; the Inspectors visit them, and their
+statistics are included in the Provincial Report. Thus the Quinquennial
+Survey includes over 150,000 square miles of Native State territory,
+chiefly in the Bombay Presidency. In others, with which the Government
+of India maintains direct political relations, the educational policy
+depends entirely on the native ruler, and reflects his personality
+and enthusiasm. A very striking instance of this is Baroda, a small
+state with a population of about two million. A policy of stringent
+reform was inaugurated there about<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</span> 1875, during the minority of the
+present Gaekwar, and has had its effect on the position of women. Two
+acts, legalizing the re-marriage of widows and raising the marriage
+age to twelve, have marked the tide of progress during the last
+decade. The educational movement dates from 1871, and there is now a
+complete system for boys from free Primary education to scholarships
+in Japanese Universities. The scheme for girls is less ambitious, but
+there are Primary schools in every village, teaching the ordinary
+curriculum up to Standard IV., a fair proportion of Secondary schools
+in which cooking is also taught by the teacher or by a Brahman cook,
+and a central High school in the capital with a Training college
+attached. Any girl of promise can secure a scholarship to it after the
+fourth or fifth Standard, and after a five years’ course is certain
+of employment. The curriculum is very thorough, including astronomy,
+botany, mathematics, and the ordinary Normal course. There are at
+present about fifty students in the college, and a steadily increasing
+stream of applicants. My informant stated that there was no prejudice
+here against widows as teachers, and that even Brahman widows who were
+poorly off had entered the profession. The statistics are of special
+interest as showing the effect of compulsory education within a limited
+area. This experiment was introduced, for the first time in Indian
+history, in one district of Baroda in 1893, and was extended to the
+whole province in 1904. The age for girls is seven to ten,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</span> for boys
+from seven to twelve. The numbers in the girls’ case rose from 9% of
+school age at school in 1905 to 47% in 1910—an almost incredible rise
+in comparison with the slow movement in other parts of India. There is
+naturally a good deal to be said as to the wisdom of a policy which
+is so far in advance of the desire of the people. Some are said to be
+flying from Baroda into the adjacent British territory to escape what
+appears to them a meaningless tyranny.<a id="FNanchor_106" href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> The people are very poor
+and heavily taxed; they want the children to work, or to take charge
+of the other children while the women work in the fields. The richer
+parents, again, object to the girls leaving the house, as <i>parda</i>
+is fairly strict. There are pathetic tales of school mistresses who,
+in addition to their scholastic duties, must start an hour and a half
+before the appointed time to compel unwilling feet into the path of
+knowledge, and stories of children who manage to arrive half an hour
+before the closing time in order to kindly swell the statistics of
+attendance. Then there is the usual prejudice against the unpractical
+nature of the curriculum, and its slavish similarity to the boys’
+course. But after all discounting of statistics and allowance for
+the undercurrent of revolt, there is evidently a good deal of honest
+educational work being done in Baroda, with some measure of success.
+There is even some talk of creating a Central Women’s Department, where
+special needs might receive full consideration.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</span> One Inspectress, a
+Parsi lady, is at present working there, and assistants are shortly to
+be appointed.</p>
+
+<p>In the great Mohammedan State of Hyderabad progress is naturally
+slower. Though the greater proportion of the inhabitants are Hindus,
+the Moslem influence, proceeding from the Nizam’s Court, is the
+predominating one. The Wesleyan and American Baptist missions began
+pioneer work in the Primary education of girls about 1880, and have
+steadily developed it by tactful measures to higher stages. Effort on
+the part of the Government has been made only in recent years, and is
+not yet a very important factor, though the Nizam’s <i>parda</i> school
+at the capital is the beginning of better things. In 1905 there were
+only 4467 girls under instruction out of a population of over eleven
+million!<a id="FNanchor_107" href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a></p>
+
+<p>Mysore also owes its first movement towards female education to
+missionary influence. In 1840 the first mission school for girls was
+opened in Bangalore, and in 1868 the first Government school. As
+in other parts of India, girls are to be found in the <i>hobli</i>
+or local boys’ school, but the usual difficulties prevent this
+method from being really effective. A great impulse was given to the
+whole enterprise not only in Mysore but in all southern India by
+the establishment, in 1881, of the Maharani’s Girls’ School in the
+capital. The Maharani has also taken a close personal interest in its
+progress. This school, raised to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</span> dignity of a college, ranks
+as a first-class institution; its Head is a student from Newnham
+College, and the rest of the staff has proportional qualifications.
+The education is entirely free, but entrance at first was limited
+only to high-caste families, and its extension now to Christians and
+respectable girls of low caste is under various restrictions. As a
+result the college has done much to break the barrier which exists
+between high-caste women and education. The curriculum includes the
+Kindergarten stage and a department of domestic science. There are
+at present some 400 pupils, including many Brahman widows, who are
+being trained as teachers, and also some former pupils who return to
+complete their course, bringing their children with them. Besides
+this splendid effort in the capital, the Government has encouraged
+the formation of local committees for the development of education in
+the different districts. By 1904 there were 243 girls’ schools and
+colleges, with a creditable percentage of four girls in the hundred at
+school. The London Missionary Society and others have extensive work
+here, and contribute considerably towards these statistics. Probably
+the most striking feature in the educational situation in Mysore is the
+introduction, in 1908, of definite religious teaching in the Government
+schools. This subject is more fully treated in a subsequent chapter.</p>
+
+<p>Next to Baroda, the southern State of Travancore has the highest
+percentage of girls at school,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</span> namely, 23.3%. This is largely due to
+the fact that 31% of the population are Christians, and to the thorough
+work of the London Missionary Society; but the present Maharaj stands
+for educational reform, and an official effort is also made for the
+advancement of women. A somewhat similar impetus to that lent by the
+Maharani’s College was given to the education of girls in Travancore
+by the establishment there of the Maharajah’s College for girls under
+a fully qualified English Head-mistress, who has since been succeeded
+by an Indian lady. These two Indian institutions stand out beyond all
+others as examples of progressive native policy on wise lines.</p>
+
+<p>The great group of Rajput States in the heart of which the British
+Government holds under its direct control the key lands of
+Ajmer-Merwara, have a history of romance and chivalry which might
+well have augured a leading place for their women in the modern
+movement, and yet it is just this very chivalry which shields them
+from its touch. The Rajput princesses of the ancient days were no
+pale, languishing maidens. They sallied forth armed and on horseback
+to lead a forlorn hope, or closed the gates of the castle against
+a lord who returned without the spoil of victory from the field.
+When the doom of their tribe was at hand and the Moslem hosts surged
+round the sacred city of Chitore, they passed in solemn procession
+to one common nuptial fire, while their lords perished in the wild
+holocaust<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</span> of <i>johār</i>.<a id="FNanchor_108" href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> What wonder that, where the women
+were of this temper, their husbands and sons were able to defy all
+odds!<a id="FNanchor_109" href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> Children of the sun and of the moon with all the glory
+of a mythic ancestry, the Rajputs have held apart from the seeming
+decadence of literary culture. True, there is the story of Jey Singh
+of the one hundred and nine virtues, whose mathematical calculations
+in the seventeenth century rank with those of European scholars, but
+he stands alone and reveals by contrast the prevalent conditions. The
+character of the rulers has thus in modern times influenced educational
+progress amongst their people, though only a very small percentage
+of these are actually of Rajput descent. Alwar was the first State
+to move in 1842, and three years later Jaipur. It was not till some
+twenty years after that any official movement was made on behalf of
+women. The first girls’ school was opened at Bharatpur in 1866,<a id="FNanchor_110" href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a>
+but the progress has been very slow with little headway. In 1901 only
+two women out of every thousand could read. In 1905 there were, over
+the whole group of States, only fifty-three girls’ schools, including
+the mission schools, and some of these were in a very poor state of
+efficiency. In Jaipur, which may be taken<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</span> as the most advanced State
+educationally, the Government supports some eleven schools for girls.
+The principal one of these in the capital is supplied with splendid
+quarters. What money can do apart from personality has been done. The
+school, however, suffers most acutely from the prevailing difficulty
+of an inefficient staff. Some of the assistant teachers themselves are
+barely beyond the stage of being able to read and write, and thus the
+school as a whole lacks the attraction which is necessary to popularize
+education in a community where the hereditary tendency is against it.
+The marvel, however, is not that the school is not thoroughly modern,
+but that it is there at all; and if we remember the rapid strides which
+have been made in other parts of India from even smaller beginnings,
+it augurs well for the future of Jaipur. Mission-work in Native States
+depends greatly on the personal relations which the pioneers succeed
+in establishing with their rulers, and the United Free Church Mission
+has, since its first entrance in 1866 to the Native State of Rajputana,
+been exceedingly tactful in this matter. Its educational work for boys
+has been well developed and has helped very considerably in the general
+advance; on the women’s side a great deal of careful pioneer work has
+been done by means of small schools and zenana-visiting. There are at
+present sixteen of such schools with a total register of four hundred
+in six different States, also in Jaipur and elsewhere there is a
+considerable number of women under regular instruction in the zenanas.
+The efficiency of the schools varies according as they are more or less
+accessible to the regular visitation of an English lady worker. The
+work is entirely Primary as the <i>parda</i> custom is strict, and the
+children are withdrawn at about eight years of age.</p>
+
+<p class="spb1"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_fp156" style="max-width: 93.75em;">
+ <img class="w100" src="images/i_fp156.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>[The Alphabet Class, Nasirabad]</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>The British District of Ajmer-Merwara does not, strictly speaking, fall
+within the purview of this chapter, but as it is essentially the key to
+all Rajasthan, its conditions have a reflex influence on the States,
+and the relation of the educational problems is a very vital one.
+The Government, while upholding the necessity of women’s education,
+is greatly hampered in its efforts by financial considerations. The
+office of Inspectress, held since 1871 by a European lady educated in
+India, lapsed in 1892, and since then there has been no systematic
+effort to train teachers or effectually to supervise and co-ordinate
+the Government and independent schools. There are in all seven
+schools directly maintained by the Government, all of primitive type,
+quartered in rooms and courtyards rented in the bazaar, and of the
+140 pupils only twelve are in the second Standard. The Government
+Report frankly acknowledges the inefficiency of these schools and
+urges the re-appointment of an Inspectress. The energies of the United
+Free Church Mission have been largely devoted in the past decade to
+the education of their famine orphans and the girls of the Christian
+community. Their Girls’ Boarding-School in Nasirabad is a well-equipped
+institution, and Normal work is under consideration.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</span></p>
+
+<p class="p0">The tradition of Primary schools for non-Christians,
+since the first was founded in 1862, and of systematic zenana teaching,
+has been well maintained, and
+there are now about thirteen such with over four hundred pupils. There
+is, however, no really first-class education provided for the women of
+the non-Christian community, nor any attempt to meet the educational
+need of the changed times. The new spontaneous element is to be seen
+in the educational scheme of the Ārya Samāj, which has apparently a
+more religious aspect here than in other provinces. They have two
+schools for girls in Ajmer: one an orphanage with twenty-eight pupils
+under an honorary mistress; another, the Ārya Putri Pathshala, is an
+excellent vernacular Primary school with some provision for further
+instruction. The Head-mistress is a fully trained teacher brought from
+another province, and the school throughout showed evidence of order
+and system. There are over sixty girls on the roll, and it seemed in
+every way the most efficient institution for non-Christians in the
+district. The most striking testimony to the new spirit and the new
+desire for progress was found in a private school conducted in her
+own house by the widow of a former leader of the Ārya community. It
+is true that in Ajmer the saying is still current that there cannot
+be two pens in one house, meaning thereby that to educate a girl is
+either to compass her own death or that of her future husband; but here
+some thirty-five girls,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</span> drawn not entirely from the Ārya Samāj but
+also from the leading orthodox castes, came daily at their own expense
+to get such learning as might help to fit them for life in its newer
+aspects. The Head-mistress, who had studied with her former husband,
+was a highly cultured Indian lady with a beautiful and attractive grace
+of manner, full of enthusiasm for her work, but almost pathetically
+conscious of the failure of her school to attain the ideals she had set
+before her. “I know geography ought to be taught but I cannot procure a
+teacher.” “I have never even had an opportunity of learning English.”
+“All my teachers teach for nothing; it is voluntary work, and education
+should not be otherwise.” The school to a large extent reflected the
+personality of the Head. The attendance nearly equalled the number on
+the roll; far from reward being given, any children who did not come
+were fined for absence; several older girls were there, including
+some who were married, and whose husbands were away from home also
+studying. The school is strictly <i>parda</i>, for the Ārya community
+itself is only gradually advancing to freedom in this respect, and in
+any case the older pupils from the orthodox families would necessitate
+it. The education given is a thorough grounding in the Hindi and Urdu
+vernacular, with a limited amount of Sanskrit and careful instruction
+in needlework.</p>
+
+<p>The whole situation in Ajmer, taken as an index to the future
+development of the States of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</span> Rajasthan, points to the need for the
+establishment there of a first-class girls’ school with an English
+Head-mistress to set the standard for the whole district, and this is
+strongly advocated in the Government Report, without, however, any
+prospect of immediate action. The class from which its pupils would
+be drawn would be at first a limited one, but its presence would to a
+certain extent increase the demand which is slowly but surely coming
+from men who realize the new need, and who know an efficient school
+when they see it.</p>
+
+<p>This very inadequate survey of the conditions in some of the leading
+Native States will have served its purpose if the reader has gathered
+from it that the modern movement for the education of women is felt
+throughout the whole of our vast Indian Empire, varying in degree, but
+commending itself to the best Indian thought of every phase. It is not
+now a question of sporadic missionary effort or of a policy enforced by
+Government, but of a stream which is influencing the life of the people
+with an ever increasing momentum.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="VIII">VIII</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>BOMBAY</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquote">
+
+<p>“The true reformer has not to write on a clean slate. His work is more
+often to complete the half-written sentence.”</p>
+
+<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Ranade.</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="dropcap-paragraph">T<span class="upper-case">he</span> problem of women’s education in the Bombay Presidency is to a
+certain extent that of the whole of India in miniature. Nothing is
+better calculated to impress the mind with the variety of races and
+social conditions, the conflicting ideals and different stages of
+progress throughout the whole Indian Empire, than a study of these in
+a smaller area at close quarters. Under the rule of the Governor are
+some 20,000,000 souls,<a id="FNanchor_111" href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> 75% Hindus, 20% Moslem, 1% Jains, rather
+over 1% Christians, and some 81,000 Parsis, whose social influence is
+out of all proportion to their numerical importance; a territory of
+123,000 square miles, embracing the sun-beaten deserts of Sind, the
+fertile plains of Gujerat, the Deccan districts ever subject to the
+spectre of famine, the Carnatic regions with their glorious forests,
+and the low-lying tract below the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</span> Ghāts with its well-watered, broad
+reaches of alluvial soil—climates offering almost every variety of
+Indian possibilities except perhaps that of extreme cold. About a third
+of this territory belongs to Native States with a varying relation to
+the Presidency Government, and politically linked, though not strictly
+speaking attached, is the important State of Baroda with its 2,000,000
+inhabitants. Linguistically considered, the province has four main
+languages, Marathi, Gujerati, Kanarese, and Hindi, with numerous linked
+dialects, and English will by no means take you everywhere, as some
+Anglophiles fondly imagine. Like all the rest of India it is a land
+of villages, only 19% of the people living in towns of more than 5000
+inhabitants; a land of child-marriage, only 50% of the girl children
+under ten being unmarried, and a land therefore of young widows. These
+three facts involve a great difficulty in the distribution of schools,
+a brief curriculum, and a dearth of teachers. From a historical point
+of view the province presents stratum upon stratum; early records point
+to an Aryan settlement on the Indus amongst a people of Dravidian
+stock; Persian, Bactrian, and White Hun invasions have left their
+mark, but always the prevailing element is the Hindu—absorbing and
+Hinduizing the successive streams. The peaceful dominance of Asoka<a id="FNanchor_112" href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a>
+is felt, and the Buddhist establishments whose records are left<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</span> in the
+rock caves and temples must have been numerous and far-reaching. There
+are tales of chiefs who honoured alike Siva, Buddha, and Jaina. In the
+seventh century <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> trade brought the Parsis, a people of a
+book and a faith which still preserves them as a unity. In the eighth
+century came the first wave of the Moslem tide which was destined
+in later centuries to overrun the Deccan. In the fifteenth century
+came the Portuguese in search of “spices and Christians”; there are
+caves to-day where the ruins of Catholic altars lie side by side with
+Buddhist semi-reliefs, mingled with the ever-present Hindu forms and
+figures. The romance of the province, however, lies in the history
+of the Mahrattas, whose forts dominate the frowning eminences of the
+Ghāts, memorials of the gradual consolidation of the scattered Hindu
+chieftains, of prolonged struggle with Delhi, of internal strife, of
+defeat, of victory, until finally a new power from the West came to
+impose the dominance of the Pax Britannica upon the conflicting forces.
+The Presidency assumed something like its present form between 1803 and
+1827, and the history of Western education may be said to begin with
+Mountstuart Elphinstone (1819-1827), in whose Governorship the first
+schools were opened.</p>
+
+<p>The same factors which we found to be present elsewhere, working in
+favour of female education or against it, are felt in the Bombay
+Presidency. In some places, especially in the country districts,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</span> there
+is strong opposition to the establishment of any kind of schools at
+all, and most of all to girls’ schools. To the zemindar or villager the
+establishment of a school merely means that educational and revenue
+officers will come round worrying him to support it. The children are
+wanted for work in the fields, and where the margin of subsistence is
+so small it is no wonder that every mite of labour is needed. In sixty
+villages out of every hundred there is no school at all. The women are
+conservative; they have not been educated themselves: why should their
+daughters be educated? Above all it is not <i>dustūr</i> (custom),
+and with that the would-be recruiting agency strikes against a solid
+argument which it will take decades to remove. But to set against this,
+there is the fact that, speaking broadly, it is not a <i>parda</i>
+country. Except for the Moslems, who are in considerable minority, and
+a small proportion of the Hindus influenced by tradition and contact
+with Mohammedanism, especially in the district of Sind, the women of
+both high and low caste have a certain degree of freedom, and their
+general position is greatly influenced by the presence of the Parsi
+ladies, who mingle in society very much as do their sisters of the
+West. To see an Indian lady walking on the streets of Bombay is no
+strange sight, as it still is in Calcutta, in spite of the half-shy
+efforts of Christian and Brāhma-Samāj women. The indigenous Indian
+feeling in favour of education is stronger than in the district round
+Calcutta, and there is more of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</span> the orthodox element in it. Poona, the
+centre of the Deccan Brahmans and of cultured Hinduism, stands for a
+certain well-defined attitude towards education in which women share.
+The Prabhu Brahmans especially are noted for the many cultured women in
+their ranks; they do not marry young, and as a rule afford almost equal
+opportunity to boys and girls. The Prārthanā Samāj,<a id="FNanchor_113" href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> an unorthodox
+meeting-ground for the “multitudes in the valley of decision,” throws
+its emphasis on women’s education, and the general impression given is
+that, while all educated India has talked about this crucial problem,
+here much honest effort has been made to solve it. It is a very pure
+form of patriotism which leads a Hindu student to give up two hours
+daily of his college time to voluntary teaching in a girls’ High
+school, yet this is by no means rare in Bombay. The Parsi element and
+influence has also been a very potent one. The leading Parsi men in the
+early days spared neither money nor personal trouble, with the result
+that to-day out of 1465 girls receiving higher education, 1054 are
+drawn from the Parsi community, and their contribution to the supply of
+teachers is a very important one.</p>
+
+<p>But this leads us to a detailed study of the early history of the
+movement, and its present conditions in relation to the different
+communities.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</span> Owing to the influences described, it is not surprising
+that, at the last Quinquennial Survey, Bombay stood second only to
+Burma in its percentage of girls at school, and a glance at the
+gradually increasing number shows the steady upward progress.</p>
+
+<table><tbody>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl_wsp">1881</td>
+<td class="tdl_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdl_wsp">1.2</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">per cent.</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">of girls</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">of school age</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">at school.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl_wsp" colspan="2">1896</td>
+<td class="tdl_wsp">3.75</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl_wsp" colspan="2">1901</td>
+<td class="tdl_wsp">4.74</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+</tr>
+
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl_wsp" colspan="2">1907</td>
+<td class="tdl_wsp">5.9</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl_wsp" colspan="2">1910</td>
+<td class="tdl_wsp">7.2</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp">”</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody></table>
+
+<p>In earlier days it is impossible to get separate figures. Where girls
+shared in education it was incidentally in the boys’ schools, or
+separately in mission schools, and they owed nothing to any special
+effort on their behalf; even to-day 21% of the girls at school are
+studying in boys’ schools. The initial impulse came from Mrs Margaret
+Wilson and other workers of the Scottish Mission, who from 1824
+onwards gradually gathered together a few girls for instruction. The
+first step taken by Indians was due to the Students’ Literary and
+Scientific Society connected with the Elphinstone College in Bombay,
+when five leading Indian members volunteered in 1849 to open schools
+for girls in their own houses. One of these was Mr Dadabhai Nauraji,
+India’s “Grand Old Man,” who may be regarded as the pioneer of women’s
+education in the Presidency, if not in all India, and who still, in his
+eighty-sixth year, advocates their cause by his pen. A description of
+the celebrations in honour of his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</span> birthday organized recently by the
+“Gujerati Stri Mandal,” a women’s society founded in 1909 to further
+the educational and social progress of women, may give some idea of
+the distance which has been traversed since these early days. Some
+thousand women in their graceful Indian dresses, diaphanous draperies
+and brilliant jewels, gathered together in a hall which they themselves
+had garlanded and cross-garlanded with sweet-scented wreaths in his
+honour, while on the platform the Rani of Gondal presided, surrounded
+by all the leading Indian women in Bombay who were interested, either
+as organizers or teachers, in women’s education. A short, terse
+speech was made by Miss Cursetji, whose main interest and energy for
+the last twenty-five years have been devoted to the Alexandra Girls’
+High School, founded by her father in 1863; another by the Hindu
+Head-mistress of the High School under the auspices of the Scientific
+and Literary Society; another by a young Parsi B.A., Head-mistress of
+the first Hindu Girls’ High School; another, in the general interests
+of education, by a Saraswat Brahman lady, whose husband is Prime
+Minister in an adjacent Native State—and the one European member of
+the audience realized that India has initiative and purpose of her own,
+and women of whom she may well be proud. The progress in the different
+communities and the share which is borne by the Government and private
+efforts respectively can best be seen by the accompanying tables.
+Private effort divides<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</span> itself naturally, as elsewhere, into the work
+of Christian missions and of the Indian community, but a further
+sub-division is necessary in the latter in consequence of the special
+position of the Parsis.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</span></p>
+
+<h4>1909-1910<br>
+<span class="smcap">Table of Schools for Indian Girls in Bombay Presidency</span></h4>
+
+<table class="spb1">
+<thead>
+<tr>
+<th class="tdc bl bb bt2"></th>
+<th class="tdc bl bb bt2" colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Under Public Management.</span></th>
+<th class="tdc bl2 bb br bt2" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Under Private<br> Management.</span></th>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<th class="tdc bl bb">Type of School.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bb">Govern<br>ment.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bb">District or<br>Municipal<br>Board.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bb">Native<br>States.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl2 bb">Aided.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl br bb">Un<br>aided.</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">High Schools</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">2</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">9</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">2</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl hang">Middle<a id="FNanchor_114" href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a>—<br>English</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">2</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">30</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">4</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl"><span class="ml1">Vernacular</span></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">..</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">..</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">Primary<a id="FNanchor_115" href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">6</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">573</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">249</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2">257</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">19</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl bb">Training Schools</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">4</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">1</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">1</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2 bb">5</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb br">2</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl bb"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">12</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">575</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">252</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl2 bb">301</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br bb">27</td>
+</tr>
+
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="p0 hang">This Table has been formed by the subtraction of the Anglo-Indian
+schools from Statistical Table III., <i>Public Instruction Report,
+Bombay Presidency</i>, 1910.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</span></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Table showing Race or Creed</span><a id="FNanchor_116" href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a></h4>
+
+<table class="spb1">
+<thead>
+<tr>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">Type of School</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">Eura<br>sians.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">Native<br>Christians.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">Brah<br>mins.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">Non-<br>Brahmin<br>Hindus.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">Mos<br>lems.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">Parsis.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl br bt2 bb">Oth<br>ers.</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+
+<tbody>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">Primary</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">4</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">2,905</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">15,329</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">42,185</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">10,077</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">3,934</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">492</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl hang">Middle</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">636</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1,656</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">74</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">447</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">15</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">252</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">31</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">High</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1,492</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">151</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">107</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">77</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">42</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1,095</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">86</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">Training Colleges</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">16</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">83</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">97</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">115</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">21</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">2</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">11</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl bb bt2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb bt2">2,148</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb bt2">4,795</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb bt2">15,607</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb bt2">42,824</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb bt2">10,155</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb bt2">5,283</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br bb bt2">620</td>
+</tr>
+
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</span></p>
+
+<p>Of the Hindu effort first:—the Scientific and Literary Society, after
+its initial private efforts, proceeded with a definite educational
+policy in the founding of schools, and, though at present only one
+school in Bombay is directly under its auspices, its influence in
+combating prejudice is considerable. This school is exceedingly
+popular, as the girls are passed quickly into the higher stages, thus
+earning a certain matrimonial prestige, though it is unfortunately true
+that a girl from the Matriculation class on transference to a mission
+school had to be placed three classes lower to find her proper level.
+In consequence of the amateur staff of voluntary teachers who supply
+the upper forms, this school does not rank as one of the eleven High
+schools. This feature is interesting, as it shows the earnestness of
+purpose in the members of the Society, but from an educational point
+of view the system does not seem very effective. As a whole the school
+presents no specially Indian features, except that French is excluded
+and Sanskrit is compulsory as a Matriculation subject. Religion is
+taught by a special teacher, and there are daily prayers. One Hindu
+school in Poona ranks as a genuine High school, and one other in Bombay
+hopes shortly to be classed as such. This Chanda Ramji School owes its
+foundation to a legacy left for the building of a huge gilded idol.
+The idol was indeed built, but the times have
+advanced, and only some 10% of the funds were thus utilized. The school
+is excellently staffed with fourteen mistresses, four of whom are
+graduates, and with additional pandits for Sanskrit and mathematics
+for some two hundred girls; there is a splendid hall for drill and
+games, a well-stocked science museum, and practically every modern
+apparatus. Religion is taught from a book of Hindu Moral Maxims by a
+special teacher. The Gujerati Stri Mandal, mentioned above, has its own
+functions in endeavouring to secure the attendance at its afternoon
+classes of young married girls and others from the <i>parda</i>-keeping
+sections. Educationally, their influence is probably important rather
+in the direction of making the next generation accessible to proper
+education than in much actual attainment on the part of the present
+pupils. They also organize regular lectures on such subjects as “The
+Aim of Life,” “The Advantages of a Spiritual Temperament,” and “The
+Duties of Motherhood,” from which may be seen the close connexion
+in the mind of the Indian woman between religion and education.
+The Prārthanā Samāj, though they have a weekly women’s meeting for
+the discussion of ethical subjects, and a “Sunday School,” do not
+organize any separate secular education, and their girls are to be
+found wherever the best education seems obtainable. In Hyderabad there
+are five large girls’ Primary schools, managed by the Hindu
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</span> Reform
+Association, which the Government Report notes as doing useful work.
+It will thus be seen that the actual Hindu contribution to organized
+education is not an extensive one, nor has it, as in Bengal, any
+special characteristic; but it should be borne in mind that the Hindus
+take good advantage of the mission and Government schools, and are
+even found in some of the Parsi High schools. Though their percentage
+of girls in the High school stage is small in comparison with their
+overwhelming majority in the community, it is probably true that every
+orthodox girl venturing to continue her school career beyond the
+Primary classes, does so in spite of the opposition, if not of her own
+immediate family, at least of her grandmother and cousins.</p>
+
+<p>The Mohammedan factor is numerically a small one; the girls belonging
+to families of the better class are educated at home or in one of the
+mission “English-teaching”<a id="FNanchor_117" href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> schools, and it is interesting to note
+one Mohammedan lady of good social position guiding a school for poor
+Moslem girls in her own house. Two Mohammedan schools are also on the
+Government list of Primary schools, but the pupils are mostly in the
+lower Primary stage.</p>
+
+<p>The Parsi contribution is, as has already been indicated, a very
+considerable one, and in its extent, thoroughness, and modern
+character, it is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</span> quite what one might have expected of the “French
+of the East.” A few notes on their general position are needed to
+show their attitude towards education. The Parsis are one of the most
+adaptable races of the world, and in Bombay, where 46,000 of them
+reside, they have been the leaders in women’s education. Lady Frere
+speaks of a time in her remembrance when not a single Parsi lady
+could speak English, whereas to-day it is almost as much a common
+tongue among the wealthy families as Gujerati, which they adopted
+on their original immigration to India. In 1842 Lady Arthur opened
+Government House for the first time to Indian ladies, and the Parsis
+were naturally the first to respond. To-day all the larger social
+functions in Bombay are attended by Indian ladies, the large majority
+of whom are Parsi.<a id="FNanchor_118" href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> They are to be seen daily at the Princess Mary
+Gymkhana, a ladies’ club, playing Badminton and croquet, and discussing
+matters of interest with their friends, some wearing the orthodox
+<i>sari</i> and sacred shirt symbolic of their ancient faith, others
+in modern European dress. Socially they have been much affected by
+the hedonism of the West. Religiously their evolution has been rather
+negative than positive. Zoroastrianism as a cult had survived only in
+curious forms and ceremonies, and the sacred language of its books was
+unknown even to the priests; the educated Parsi inclined to agnosticism
+or theosophy while retaining his ceremonial adherence to a religion<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</span>
+which was the binding tie of his community. Under the influence of the
+modern Renaissance and general revival of the ethnic faiths, the sacred
+books have been translated; brief extracts published in dainty vellum
+volumes, together with the Lord’s Prayer and Christian hymns (with
+significant omissions), are used as manuals of devotion. When the Parsi
+girls’ schools were first started no religious instruction was given,
+but now a special Zoroastrian committee exists for preparing literature
+and sending an instructor to each. Quick to perceive the general
+bearing of British rule and modern education on their position as a
+wealthy minority in an alien land, the Parsi leaders adopted, in 1857,
+a definite educational policy for their women. They separated from the
+Scientific and Literary Society and formed one of their own, the Parsi
+School Association, to which they gave most liberally both in money and
+personal service. Other leading Parsis founded special schools, and
+it is difficult when looking down the Government list to know which
+to select for description. Two perhaps may be taken as typical, one
+of the three Association schools and the Alexandra Native Girls’ High
+School. The former owes its special characteristics to the Honorary
+Secretary of the Association, Khan Bahadur Chichgar, who visited the
+best schools in Europe in order to study the Herbartian principles
+of education in actual practice. He was the first to introduce this
+method in the Bombay Presidency, and has done<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</span> so without imitation
+of detail, and with the most wonderful adaptation to the environment
+of Parsi children. The school is kept continually supplied with the
+latest appliances and the newest books, and Mr Chichgar has for many
+years visited the school on Saturday afternoons to train the teachers
+in the use of them. The result is that, though the teachers may hold no
+Normal certificates, the school is alert and keen, from the youngest
+baby rejoicing in plaiting its neighbour’s hair, to the girls of the
+fifth form, whose curriculum is varied by ambulance work, cooking, and
+dress-cutting. On the occasion of the writer’s visit every child had
+some practical handwork of its own to exhibit; the action songs were
+definitely related to the subsequent lesson on weights and measures,
+while the mud modelling of the Bombay water-system done by one of
+the higher forms showed a thorough sense of neatness and proportion,
+with an intelligent knowledge of the principle involved. The shadow
+of an examination never falls upon this school; it aims at providing
+a thorough training for life for middle-class Parsi girls, and its
+success in doing so in entirely due to the unsparing devotion and
+labour given to it by its founder—a man engaged in ordinary business.</p>
+
+<p>The Alexandra Native Girls’ High School dates from the early days
+of pioneer work and of unsympathetic criticism. Some 20 pupils were
+registered for its first opening in 1863, and to-day there are about
+120, practically as many as the staff of the institution is meant to
+deal with. Its<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</span> aim is to give Parsi girls of respectable families the
+“blessings of an English education upon sound moral principles,” and
+though the blessing may be a doubtful one, the school is certainly
+thoroughly English in every way. Since 1890, Matriculation candidates
+have been sent up with a good record of success. There is no higher
+teaching of the vernaculars, and French is taken as the alternative
+Matriculation subject. The Head-mistress is from England and is fully
+qualified, but the rest of the staff are Parsis, only one of whom had
+Normal qualifications. The school is managed by a committee of leading
+Parsis, and though it is under Government inspection it receives no
+grant, as the income from fees and the endowment is sufficient. This
+school may be taken as fairly typical of a first-class Parsi High
+school. Moreover, education has advanced so far in the community that
+private enterprise is no longer an impossibility, and can even as in
+the case of the Girton High school, be made financially successful
+without the Government grant. The dividing line between business
+and philanthropy may at times be difficult to draw, but the spirit
+is much to be commended which keeps a school of this type alive and
+efficient, when in some cases the net profit to the proprietress is
+barely a living wage. Taken as a whole, the Parsis have provided most
+thoroughly for the education of their girls, both rich and poor. Of the
+eleven High schools under private management in the Presidency, seven
+are Parsi; of the Middle<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</span> schools four, and of the Primary schools,
+whether separate or forming departments of the High schools, fifteen.
+Of this provision ample advantage is taken, and the proportion of daily
+attendance to the numbers on the roll is amazing in comparison with
+Upper India.</p>
+
+<p>Wherein, then, does the system fail, or is it perfect? Criticism seems
+ungracious where so much energy and thought have been expended, but
+in the main there are two things which strike a visitor—the lack in
+the teachers of a sense of the dignity and responsibility of their
+profession, with the consequent effect of such a lack on the outlook
+of their pupils, and the deorientalizing curriculum. These problems
+are, however, common to the whole educational situation, and one could
+hardly expect even the Parsi community to be quite immune.</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to turn from the indigenous Indian element, which
+has naturally something in it very spectacular and attractive to
+the Western visitor, to the quiet record of the immense and steady
+contribution of Christian missions to education in the Bombay
+Presidency, and to realize that the main inspiration of the former
+came from the gradual and unconscious infiltration of the Christian
+ideal of womanhood. For more than twenty years the missionaries were
+the sole pioneers in the face of much opposition. The pupils were
+gained at first through the influence of Hindu and Parsi gentlemen
+interested in the Scottish mission. Progress was naturally slow,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</span> there
+was a lack of continuity in the British workers, and continuity is
+essential in a country where personality counts for so much; but by
+1827 three hundred girls, some of good caste, were attending school in
+the Konkan district, where the Scottish pioneers first started. After
+the transference of the mission Mrs Wilson had managed, by 1830, to
+organize six little schools in Bombay with 120 pupils, the story of
+the winning of each individual girl being almost a romance in itself.
+For some time the children were given weekly <i>paisa</i><a id="FNanchor_119" href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> as a
+reward, and would demand their wage like weary labourers, a practice
+still extant in some of the Native States, and a great contrast to
+the sum of 407 rupees now received as fees in one of the mission
+institutions which traces its origin to these very schools. The Parsis
+in one street asked the mission to instruct all the children therein,
+including sixteen girls. The Beni Israel also proved an accessible
+community, and thus gradually the number of girls increased. The
+second stage of missionary education was reached when boarding-schools
+were created for Indian Christian girls who could be retained for a
+reasonable time, and some of whom could be utilized as teachers. About
+1885 the first systematic attempt at Normal training is noticed, a
+line of work which is perhaps at present the most important missionary
+contribution to the whole scheme, and capable of further development.
+Mission schools, as might be expected, form an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</span> overwhelming majority
+in the list of aided schools. Of the 11 High schools they have 2, of
+the 34 Middle schools 14, and of the 276 Primary schools, practically
+all except those indicated above and a few others. Certain societies
+educate, as yet, mainly the children of their own communities;
+others, such as the American Board for Foreign Missions, the United
+Free Church of Scotland, and the Irish Presbyterian Mission, have a
+considerable number of schools, both in the cities and in the villages,
+for non-Christian children. The Zenana Bible and Medical Mission makes
+work of this kind a special feature.<a id="FNanchor_120" href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> The small proportion of High
+schools is partly accounted for by the fact that the Victoria High
+School at Poona, founded by Mrs Sorabji, and still carried on most
+effectively by her daughter as a Christian school, is classed as a
+boys’ school. It is attended by the children of many of the leading
+Parsi families, and is a curious example of successful co-education
+up to an advanced stage. Also both in Bombay and Poona there is a
+considerable number of good European schools in connection with Roman
+Catholic and Episcopal sister-hoods, to which 15% of Indian girls may
+be admitted on payment of double fees. These places are always eagerly
+sought. The Girgaum High School, under the auspices of the Z.B.M.M.,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</span>
+may be taken as typical of a first-class “English-teaching” mission
+High school. About 150 girls can be seen gathered together at morning
+prayer, two-thirds of whom are non-Christian (Parsis, Moslems, Beni
+Israel, and a few Hindus); some have come in their motor-cars, others
+from quite poor homes. The curriculum extends from three Kindergarten
+classes to the seventh English standard, in which the girls go up for
+Matriculation. English is used as a medium throughout, which makes the
+school popular with Indians who desire purely English education, but
+it is naturally very difficult for the pupils in the early stages, in
+spite of the Government regulation that the teacher must be able to
+translate into Marathi. There are four English mistresses and several
+well-qualified Anglo-Indians. A new department has recently been added
+for the training of English Kindergarten students for the Froebel
+examination, but this is not yet sufficiently staffed to ensure good
+success. Two-thirds of the income are derived from fees and one-third
+from the Government grant.</p>
+
+<p>The Ambroli School of the United Free Church Mission is Hindu
+throughout, and at present takes its pupils only as far as the fifth
+Anglo-Vernacular standard. All the instruction in the lower forms is
+in Marathi, and it is a stiff battle that Marathi babies have to fight
+with their letters. There are three scripts to learn—one printed,
+one cursive, and one abbreviated—and it is no wonder that, with this
+task to master, Indian parents tend to look on Kindergarten expedients
+for “time<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</span> wasting” as a diversion from the royal road to knowledge.
+The teachers here, with the exception of one Anglo-Indian for English
+in the upper forms, are all Indian, and some are non-Christians, but
+the school is continually visited by a fully trained Scottish lady,
+who divides her time between this and another school. Fees are paid
+regularly, and there is a good municipal grant. An interesting feature
+of the American Mission is the stress laid at their orphanage and
+boarding-school upon independence in character. Each pupil must do two
+hours’ industrial work, and may in addition work longer for payment,
+which is credited to her account for payment of fees. Thus some of
+the pupils in the Matriculation class were beyond the usual age, but
+had contributed considerably to their own maintenance. The industrial
+training of this mission is very highly developed, both in Bombay and
+at Ahmednagar. The Primary schools in the villages have the usual
+characteristics which we have studied elsewhere, and it has only to be
+noted that this work is capable of practically unlimited extension.</p>
+
+<p>No account of women’s education in the Presidency would be complete
+without reference to the work of Pandita Ramabai,<a id="FNanchor_121" href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> which stands
+outside all mission control, and is the unique contribution of an
+Indian woman to the future victory of the Christian ideal among her
+own people. Since the <i>Sharada Sadan</i> (the abode of wisdom) near
+Poona was started in 1892, thousands<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</span> of Indian widows have been given
+the opportunity of a self-supporting, self-respecting life, and a
+vision of what self-sacrifice may mean. The education given on strictly
+intellectual lines is naturally not carried to a High stage, but is
+thorough in type. The Pandita dreads the Westernization of her girls,
+and stands for all that is good in simple Indian life.</p>
+
+<p>Though mission education bulks so largely in the statistics of
+voluntary schools, and has been the pioneer, it must be realized
+that it does <i>not</i> hold the same position in this as in other
+provinces, nor influence the districts as a whole. A brief glance at
+the figures of Primary schools (Table, page 168) supported by other
+public bodies, both in British territory and in the Native States, will
+prove the contrary to those who imagine the mission factor still to be
+the dominant one.</p>
+
+<p>The Government function is here, as in the other provinces, largely
+a co-ordinating and directing one as regards the girls’ schools. The
+six important Government institutions—two High schools with Primary
+schools attached, at Poona and at Ahmedabad, and four Training
+schools—are a direct outcome of the effort to standardize and raise
+the general tone of education in the Presidency. They are linked by
+the system of “stipends” to all the Primary schools. The institution
+at Poona under an Indian lady, Miss Bhore, is excellently housed,
+and had at the time of my visit 200 girls in the High school, 200 in
+the vernacular practising school, and about 88<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</span> Normal students. The
+Inspectress regrets that there is not a Government High school in
+Bombay to raise the general standard. Apart from these institutions
+directly under the Central authority, a great deal has been done
+with public funds under the Municipalities and Local Boards. It has
+been impossible to ascertain exactly when these schools under public
+authority were first started, but the system must have grown up
+somewhere in the “eighties.” At first the girls of the lower castes
+went, as they still go in many villages, to the boys’ schools; in
+other places separate schools gradually sprang up wherever there
+were enlightened Indian members of the Municipalities to welcome the
+official suggestion. In 1901, the number of girls’ Primary schools in
+Bombay necessitated the appointment of an Indian Inspectress to work
+under the Municipality, and shortly afterwards an English Inspectress
+was appointed from home to the Indian Educational Service, in order
+to develop women’s education in certain portions of the Presidency.
+Her time was largely occupied in the inspection and examination of
+Training colleges and High schools (European and Anglo-Vernacular) and
+in dealing with questions of general educational policy as “expert
+adviser” to the Department. Since Miss Ashworth’s retirement, no
+English Inspectress has been appointed in the Indian Educational
+Service to this Presidency. The value of the municipal and local
+board schools, if viewed from the numerical<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</span> standpoint of increasing
+the women literates in the district, is unquestioned, but when all
+allowance has been made for exceptions, the real gain to the community
+when the schools are not well staffed and lack constant supervision is
+very questionable. Miss Corkery, the present Inspectress, emphasizes
+the need for constant inspection. “I believe that if the Municipalities
+employed a trained supervisor to visit each school daily the work would
+be carried on more methodically. From my twenty-five years’ experience
+of the Hindu female teacher I have come to the conclusion that she
+has no power of initiative and no administrative capacity. She will
+work hard and faithfully under supervision, but as soon as that is
+withdrawn her natural apathy asserts itself.”<a id="FNanchor_122" href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> When in addition
+to her own “natural apathy” the teacher has possibly had no Normal
+training herself, and suffers from untrained assistants, the spirit of
+the school is apt to flag. Adequate inspection of these schools would
+undoubtedly necessitate the appointment of women Deputy-Inspectors.
+The question of premises is also a very vital one. The Indian child is
+accustomed to be one of a crowd, to eat and sleep, to live and die as
+one of a crowd; but, in school, if it is to attain to individuality, it
+must learn the value of space. Yet in one of the best Bombay municipal
+schools which takes its brighter pupils up to the Anglo-Vernacular
+sixth Standard, I found some 300 girls crowded into the space<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</span> really
+needed for about half that number. Several crowded pens were to be
+seen round a bit of flat roof, too wet in the rains and too sunny at
+other times for drill, one of the pens so crammed with infants that it
+was almost impossible to step from one division to another, infants in
+different classes within touch of one another, and the whole pervaded
+with a pungent odour from the fruit market below—surely this is not
+for the good of the city or of the children. “In Ahmedabad the girls
+are compelled to sit amid insanitary and evil-smelling surroundings,
+to study the advantages of pure air.”<a id="FNanchor_123" href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> It would not be difficult
+to multiply instances. On the other hand some municipal schools are
+well housed and staffed, and the system must not be condemned when
+it is capable of improvement. The problem is partly a financial one,
+and partly once more the question of the supply of teachers and of
+the future Inspectresses. These children pay a few <i>paisa</i>, in
+fair proportion to the income of their parents, whereas in many High
+schools receiving a Government grant the fees might with advantage be
+raised.<a id="FNanchor_124" href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a></p>
+
+<p>When the situation in the Presidency is viewed as a whole the present
+need is seen to be not so much to secure more girls by artificial means
+or to induce more to stay to the higher stage, for there is a steady
+current in favour of education which is slowly acquiring momentum, but
+rather to raise the standard of teaching as a whole and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</span> so to adapt
+the curriculum that those children who do pass through the schools
+will, in intellectual attainment and character, commend the system and
+prove a force attractive to others.</p>
+
+<p>The problem of the teacher is one that is apparent throughout, alike
+in Indian, mission, and public authority schools. Taking the Primary
+teacher first, from what ranks is she usually drawn, and what are
+the attractions to the profession? In consequence of the shortness
+of supply the schoolmistress is very often found to be, in fact, an
+elderly man. This, however, is becoming less frequent. A glance at the
+table on page 168 shows that the majority of students in training are
+lower-caste Hindus, and that native Christians form about a fourth
+of the whole. Of the 1200 women actually engaged now in the teaching
+profession, I have been unable to obtain a religious classification,
+but presumably the proportion holds good. In the Ahmedabad Training
+College 15 of the students are wives or daughters of masters, 19 are
+wives of students, 15 are wives of other men, 42 are unmarried, and 36
+are widows. Taking this college as typical, and assuming the certainty
+of marriage on the part of the spinsters, it means that in many cases
+teachers will be available in couples for the village schools. Those
+whose husbands are not teachers are often difficult to locate, and in
+many cases may drop out of the work. It is questionable whether the
+employment of married women in the schools is advisable: on the one
+hand, it seems at present the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</span> only method to secure the necessary
+female teachers; on the other hand, the British Government is facing
+even at home the complications which the element of married women’s
+work introduces into the labour market. True, Indian life is different,
+for the babies come with their mothers to school, and a kind Government
+supplies the necessary cradles and ayah, but there are undoubted
+hardships. “The life of the village schoolmistress has not many
+compensations; in addition to the long hours at school she has arduous
+home duties to perform. In many cases she is the sole breadwinner for
+five or six, none of whom consider it incumbent on them to help her
+with the household work. Rising at five in the morning or earlier,
+she has to begin her daily time-table, which extends over seventeen
+hours. It is marvellous that she is able to work as cheerfully as she
+does.”<a id="FNanchor_125" href="#Footnote_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> The permanent hope is in the widow, and it is encouraging
+to see a better proportion of them here. The spinster is at best
+available in mission schools for a short period till her marriage. Many
+trained Christian girls teach for several years, often living under the
+superintendence of the missionary, and make most efficient teachers.
+The supply of such, however, is in no way equal to the demand. It is
+difficult for one not fully acquainted with the Indian standard of life
+to judge of the financial aspect, but the impression gathered from the
+Government Reports is that increased salaries might<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</span> attract a better
+class. There is a proverb that when begging fails it is well to learn
+to be a teacher. The salaries paid by mission agencies are, as a rule,
+slightly less than those paid by municipal authorities, just as the
+salaries of educational missionaries are less than the corresponding
+salaries at home. As regards training, a great effort is being made on
+all sides to secure that all the teachers either take a preliminary
+course or go up for the qualifying examination: at present the
+proportion is 44%. Any girl in a municipal school who shows any ability
+or desire can pass free of charge as a “stipendiary” to the Government
+Training Colleges with the stipulation that she shall teach thereafter
+with a salary for at least two years. Five mission schools have Normal
+divisions attached in which much the same conditions prevail. The city
+of Bombay has, however, no proper provision of opportunity. None of
+the Government Training Colleges are situated there, and, apart from
+Mr Chichgar’s work, which is limited to the Parsi School Association,
+there is only a Saturday morning training class under the auspices of
+a United Missionary Committee, which is not largely attended. Poona,
+on the other hand, has two if not three Training institutions, and
+the circumstances seem to point towards redistribution. A Hindu girl
+is much more likely to continue her education if it does not entail
+leaving her relatives. Miss Wilson, Head-mistress of the Girgaum High
+School, in a paper recently read at the Bombay Missionary Conference,
+emphasized the need of more funds to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</span> aid existing institutions, and
+of fixing a definite rate of salaries and a date after which none but
+trained teachers would be allowed in any school receiving a Government
+grant. The latter suggestion is possibly somewhat premature, as it
+might mean the closing of many schools or letting them lapse into
+the worse state of “unrecognized” institutions. The training of the
+Secondary teacher is a different problem. The impression current in
+Great Britain a decade ago that only people who knew nothing, or who
+could not teach, went to training colleges, seems still to prevail;
+moreover, there is no college where women teachers can receive a
+thorough Secondary training. The Inspectress’ reply to an official
+inquiry as to the possibility of raising the general standard indicates
+the need of a central Government Training College with a graded system
+in the aided schools, and special salary grants to all Secondary
+schools staffed by trained teachers.<a id="FNanchor_126" href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> There does not, however, seem
+any prospect of direct action, either on the part of Government or of
+missionary societies. There are few vacancies in the Government Normal
+College, and though one woman, a Goanese student, has recently been
+studying there, the course is not adapted to women students. A few of
+the teachers go up for the Secondary Examination without a qualifying
+course or after attendance at a series of lectures given at the convent
+in Bombay. There is also a great lack of enthusiasm for the profession<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</span>
+as such; teaching is felt to be more or less a trade finishing at
+certain definite hours and limited in its influence to these. A most
+attractive set of lectures on various educational problems arranged
+by the Principal of the Government Normal College, had an average
+attendance of some seven out of possible hundreds. In the case of the
+women this is perhaps largely due to the enervating influence of the
+climate and the consequent lassitude after a long day’s work, but there
+is undoubtedly a lack of some unifying and inspiring influence which
+would have a strong reflex effect on the tone of the schools.</p>
+
+<p>The variation of the curriculum has to a certain extent been solved
+in this Presidency as regards the Primary stage. Bombay was the first
+province to issue a different set of readers for girls, and those
+now in use, comprising the study of heroes and heroines from a moral
+point of view, simple natural phenomena, domestic economy, etc., seem
+admirably adapted to them. The Code prescribes the usual elements with
+a study of forms, colours, familiar objects, drill, games, native
+accounts, and geography beginning in the third form, and Indian history
+in the fourth. The difficulty begins after the fourth Vernacular stage,
+corresponding to the first Anglo-Vernacular. After that stage the
+shadow of the Matriculation begins to fall, and so heavily that in the
+departmental schedule of studies, the highest Standard (VII. A.-V.) is
+left blank. Formerly this august portal could be passed very quickly by
+a well-crammed child. I met one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</span> Parsi girl who entered the University
+at the age of thirteen. The age was raised by the Universities
+Commission to sixteen. A great controversy has recently raged round the
+place of the vernaculars in the University, and the question of the
+use of English as a medium of instruction in the school. In regard to
+the latter, the real educators argued the impossibility of the proper
+comprehension of a difficult subject through a foreign medium, and
+the tendency to parrot-like repetition of formula or fact, while the
+actively “Indian” party, failing to see the real point at issue, held
+that any other method would weaken the standard of English and handicap
+the Indian in public service. The Department have sanctioned the use
+of the vernacular till a later stage, but though some teachers spoke
+warmly in favour of this method, it has not yet gone beyond experiment.
+Certainly the teaching of history throughout the Matriculation forms
+seems exceedingly weak. The Code for the Anglo-Vernacular Standards in
+relation to the Matriculation, and the possible substitution for it
+of the School Final Examination, a more practical test, is, however,
+under Government consideration and the defects of the present Code need
+not be enlarged upon. The variation of the Code for girls is a further
+question, and the planning of a suitable curriculum is a matter which
+eminently lends itself to private enterprise. The deorientalizing
+influence with Parsi girls is not so dangerous as with other Indian
+girls, but there is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</span> surely something wrong when “once a certificate,
+no more books” is a not infrequent cry. Some schools already vary their
+curriculum for girls: one mission report speaks of an alternative
+course better calculated to fit the girls for home life, leaving
+advanced mathematics, etc., to such only as have the necessary mental
+ability and physical strength. This effort has met with the approval of
+the Inspectress and of the more thoughtful parents. Matriculation has,
+however, in certain circles a distinct matrimonial value, and it is
+pathetic to see older girls, struggling at a distance of two forms from
+the desired goal, who would bitterly resent a change to a curriculum
+more suited to their diverse but not inferior powers.</p>
+
+<p>It is here that the opportunity lies for English educators who can
+help Indian women through an exceedingly difficult transitional period
+to realize the meaning of modern culture, which, while possessing
+universal elements, must be evolved by every nation on the lines of
+its own genius and characteristics. In Bombay and in Poona there are
+Indian women who think deeply on these things, and who await as yet
+some constructive policy in the success of which, though the energy
+and initiative must be of the West, their share would not be lacking.
+If this constructive policy is to start from the Christian standpoint,
+if the Spirit of Christ is to dominate the new culture, the women of
+Anglo-Saxon countries must let their religion dominate them as never
+before, and win them out to the larger service.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="IX">IX</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>UNIVERSITY EDUCATION</h3>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+ <div class="poetry">
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<div class="verse indent0">“Travellers all in the land of the living,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">In quest of the self it is best to be;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Comrades all in the getting and giving,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Prythee, tell us, what else are we?</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<div class="verse indent0">Girls who go hopefully forth to the morrow,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">In quest of the Women they wish to be,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Friends who look down on the fair, flying present,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Wistfully, lovingly—this are we.”</div>
+<div class="verse indent10">From the <i>“Lal Bagh” Chronicle</i>.</div>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p class="dropcap-paragraph">A<span class="upper-case"> firm</span> and steady step on the lower rungs of the ladder is a fair
+promise of the ultimate ascent, and after a time incredibly short since
+the first beginnings of Western education for women in India, the girl
+graduate is found issuing from the portals of the University.</p>
+
+<p>Pioneer in many senses, with a world of idealistic possibilities
+surrounding her career, the Indian woman has proved the quality of
+her mental capacity; she has successfully stood the most strenuous of
+tests, and is prepared to take her part as a leader of her sex and as
+a contributor to the Feminist Movement. The member of Congress sees in
+her a political factor; the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</span> papers which advocate social reform hail
+her as a new force which will influence circles far beyond the reach
+of their propaganda; the educator trusts that here at last is someone
+with the brain power and insight to indicate the true lines for the
+education of Indian women; the missionary ponders on her possibilities
+for the Indian Church and the Indian home—while India, the real
+India, the silent multitude of India’s women, knows little and cares
+less. This strange phenomenon seems no longer of their number; she has
+stepped away with her new and dazzling robes from the old tradition,
+from the memories of the twilight and its tales to a new and untried
+world. And yet in a true sense she is still one with them, one with
+them in instinct, in thought, in hereditary traits, and fitted, as no
+Western could ever be, to act as the mediator betwixt the old and the
+new. The possibilities of the Indian woman graduate have to a certain
+extent been proved in subsequent careers; on the other hand, the
+results of the whole system, as regards the average student, have not
+entirely justified the hopes built upon it. A brief examination of the
+actual facts and conditions will prove the best introduction to the
+problems which underlie them.</p>
+
+<p>The five Universities of India—Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Allahabad,
+and Lahore—the constitutions of which resemble that of the University
+of London, are open to any woman who can pass the qualifying entrance
+examination. Their subsequent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</span> studies must be conducted in a college
+duly recognized by Government and in affiliation with a University.
+These colleges vary as first and second grade according to the stage,
+Intermediate or Final B.A., to which they are able to take their
+students. Of the 175 colleges scattered over India 10 are specially
+women’s colleges, but women are also found studying in mixed colleges
+under mission boards or Government. Of Government institutions it may
+practically be said that no sex barrier exists, except where a separate
+provision is made, as in the case of the Bethune College, Calcutta,
+and the same is true to a less extent of the mission institutions.
+Thus women students are found in the Elphinstone College, Bombay,
+in the Presidency College, Madras, and in the Government College,
+Rangoon, studying side by side with men under the same conditions. The
+Wilson College, Bombay, is an important example of the mixed mission
+college. The ten women’s colleges in affiliation with one or other
+University<a id="FNanchor_127" href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> are as follows:—</p>
+
+
+<table><tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdc"></td>
+<td class="tdc"></td>
+<td class="tdr"></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="3"></td>
+<td class="tdr">Number of<br>Students.<a id="FNanchor_128" href="#Footnote_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl" colspan="3">The Bethune College, Calcutta (first grade)</td>
+<td class="tdr">40</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr><td class="tdl" colspan="3">The Diocesan College, Calcutta (first grade)</td>
+<td class="tdr">32</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="tdl" colspan="3">The Isabella Thoburn College, Lucknow (first grade) (A.M.M.)</td>
+<td class="tdr">20</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="tdl" colspan="3">The Sarah Tucker College, Palamcottah (second grade) (C.M.S.)</td>
+<td class="tdr">6</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="tdl" colspan="3">The Maharani’s College, Mysore</td>
+<td class="tdr"></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="tdl" colspan="3">The Maharajah’s College, Trevandrum</td>
+<td class="tdr"></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="tdl" colspan="3">St Bede’s Convent College, Simla (first grade)</td>
+<td class="tdr"></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="tdl" colspan="3">Auckland House School, Simla (second grade)</td>
+<td class="tdr"></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="tdl" colspan="3">European Girls’ High School, Allahabad (second grade)</td>
+<td class="tdr"></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="tdl" colspan="3">Woodstock Girls’ School, Landour (second grade)</td>
+<td class="tdr"></td></tr>
+
+</tbody></table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</span><br></p>
+
+<p>Of these, the last four are mainly for Eurasian girls, and fall outside
+the scope of our inquiry. With the exception of the Bethune and the two
+institutions in Native States, they are all under Christian management.
+The word “college” is highly misleading. The English reader pictures
+an institution parallel to Girton or Somerville, with a full staff
+of women tutors, supplemented by University lectures, whereas these
+colleges consist in most cases of small groups of girls, sometimes
+only one or two, who remain after Matriculation in their old school,
+studying for the most part under the same mistresses, and with little
+or no sense of any transition in their career. If no girls are fitted
+to proceed to the higher stages, the college as such may lapse for the
+time being; thus only students in training as teachers are returned in
+the Panjāb report for 1910, in spite of the two “colleges at Simla,”
+whereas the Diocesan School appears officially for the first time
+in the Bengal report as a college with a most creditable number of
+students and an efficient staff. The one outstanding exception is the
+Isabella Thoburn College, where the college<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</span> department is rigidly
+separated from the school, and where the collegiate atmosphere and
+sense of corporate life are dominant. A similar arrangement is being
+made in the new buildings of the Bethune College. Even in these two
+cases there is the linked High School under the same Principal, sharing
+in the interest of the staff. A women’s college in the English sense of
+the word does not exist.</p>
+
+<p>Passing to the students, the differences of creed, as indicated in the
+Quinquennial Returns of 1907, are seen in the annexed table. (See page
+197.)</p>
+
+<p>This proportion is on the whole maintained to-day, with the addition of
+a few Buddhist girls studying in Rangoon, and an increased proportion
+of Parsis in Bombay. The actual numbers show a remarkably small
+fluctuation within the last decade, and have not justified the hopes
+of those who expected a continuation of the fourfold increase of the
+preceding decade. In 1891 there were 45, in 1901, 177 Arts students.
+Taking some figures from local returns, we find the following:—<a id="FNanchor_129" href="#Footnote_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a></p>
+
+<table class="spb1">
+<thead>
+<tr>
+<th class="tdc bt2 bb" colspan="2">Arts Students.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">1901.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">1906.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">1910.</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+
+<tbody>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">Bengal</td>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">55</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">24</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">47</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">United Provinces</td>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">49</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">38</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">45</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">Burma</td>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">8</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">2</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">12</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">Bombay</td>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">30</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">57</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">76</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bb">Madras</td>
+<td class="tdl bb"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">?</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">?</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb">37</td>
+</tr>
+
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</span></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Classification of College Students by Race or Creed</span></h4>
+
+<table class="spb1">
+<thead>
+<tr class="">
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb"></th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">Eura<br>sian.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">Native<br>Christ<br>ians.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">Hindu.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">Moham<br>medan.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">Par<br>sis.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl bt2 bb">Others.</th>
+<th class="tdc bl br bt2 bb">Total.</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+
+<tbody>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">Arts Colleges</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">48</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">43</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">31</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">33</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">4</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">160</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl hang">Medicine</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">40</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">19</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">4</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">...</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">11</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">2</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">76</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">Teaching</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">34</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">2</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">...</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">...</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">...</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">...</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">36</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">Law</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">...</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">...</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">...</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">...</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">...</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">1</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl">Medical School</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">30</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">110</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">15</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">12</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">1</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl">...</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br">168</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl bl bt2 bb"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt2 bb">152</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt2 bb">174</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt2 bb">50</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt2 bb">13</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt2 bb">46</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bt2 bb">6</td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br bt2 bb">441</td>
+</tr>
+
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</span></p>
+
+<p>A marked increase is shown only in the Bombay Presidency due to the
+influence of the Parsis. The students are drawn from varying ranks of
+society. Of the Hindu students about a quarter are Brahmans. Some are
+drawn from the new professional classes, who highly value education
+for their women, and can afford to pay for it; others from the poorer
+members of the Brāhma-Samāj, who see in college education a prospect of
+a career for their daughters more in accordance with their enlightened
+ideas. Of the system of stipends it is difficult to form a judgment.
+Whereas in Britain a scholarship indicates special ability tested
+by competition, in India a Government or private stipend is in most
+cases available, at any rate in Bengal, for any girl who can pass the
+required average test. With luck she may possibly also secure another
+stipend to cover her board. The “average” girl is therefore apt to
+predominate far more largely than in the early stages of college
+education in Britain or America. There is also a lack of the element
+of hereditary culture, which has a very definite contribution to make
+in Indian life, and which may be the inheritance of the daughter as
+well as of the son. But where it is impossible to secure a genuinely
+competitive system and the only alternative is the closing of the
+college career to the really brilliant girl of the poorer classes,
+the question is a difficult one. In Calcutta, practically all the
+Bethune students belong to the Brāhma-Samāj; in Bombay, where the
+line of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</span> separation between the Prārthanā Samāj and orthodoxy is very
+indefinite, and <i>parda</i> almost non-existent, orthodox Hindu
+students are to be found. It must be remembered, however, that these
+are essentially pioneers, and that the custom of early marriage or
+secluded widowhood still practically prevents any marked Hindu element
+amongst women students. In 1903 two Brahman ladies passed the Madras
+B.A. from the Maharani’s College, Mysore, being the first of their
+caste there to do this.</p>
+
+<p>The Parsi woman student needs no comment. Independent, bright, and
+alert, she holds her own in the mixed colleges of Bombay with the
+utmost equanimity, and has an unparalleled zest for examinations.
+In 1886, the first women students entered Wilson College, Ratanbai
+Ardeshir Vakil and her sister Meherbai, daughters of a leading Parsi
+solicitor. Several years before, the University had given women the
+right to go up for examination, but only one had made use of the
+permission. Ratanbai specialized in French, and was elected a Fellow in
+1890. From then, till her early death in 1895, she taught French in the
+college, and warm testimony to her influence in the college and at home
+is borne by the Principal. “One could see how the education and culture
+of women, instead of creating a cleft in the life of the family, as is
+so often erroneously imagined by those who oppose the cause of female
+education in India, proves a means of strengthening its unity and
+elevating<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</span> its whole character.”<a id="FNanchor_130" href="#Footnote_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> Her sister, Meherbai Vakil, is
+a much-respected medical woman in Bombay, and is typical of a growing
+number of Parsi students who have entered professional life with great
+credit. The brilliant career of Miss Cornelia Sorabji, a Christian
+Parsi, who holds the post of Legal Adviser to the Bengal Government for
+women in <i>parda</i>, is too well known to need emphasis. Two of her
+sisters are Head-mistresses of important Indian schools.</p>
+
+<p>The Indian Christian woman student figures largely in the returns,
+and the pioneers of the movement were drawn from their ranks. This
+is the natural result of the educational policy pursued by the
+various missionary societies, and of the later age of marriage among
+Christians. Some of them are mentally very well fitted for their
+studies; there are others again who are largely subsidized by public
+or private funds, and possess ability to pass the average standard,
+but not sufficient mental power to gain full benefit from their
+training. Here, for instance, are two girls, daughters of an Indian
+clergyman, both passing well, and taking employment, one as a Mistress
+in a Government school, the other as an Inspectress in the Provincial
+Service; contrast with them a trembling, shrinking girl from a Native
+State who has received a scholarship from her State because she has
+matriculated and because she is one of an impoverished family of
+twelve, a particularly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</span> urgent case! Throughout her career the fear
+of failure and poverty intensifies the strain already possibly too
+great for a delicate constitution, and a girl who might have made an
+excellent Primary teacher is sacrificed on the altar of so-called
+higher education. And yet, as has already been indicated, the system
+affords the needed opportunity for the clever girl, and possesses this
+justification. The Christian students are mostly to be found in the
+Isabella Thoburn College, in Madras, and a few in Calcutta, chiefly at
+the Diocesan School and College. Since the latter was founded, about
+fifteen years ago, five B.A.’s have passed out and several F.A.’s.<a id="FNanchor_131" href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a>
+New college buildings have recently been added with boarding
+accommodation for forty-five resident students. It is managed by the
+Community of St John Baptist, known generally as the Clewer Sisterhood.
+Miss Chunder Mukki Bose, M.A.,<a id="FNanchor_132" href="#Footnote_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> to whose guidance the Bethune
+College has owed much of its prestige, and the late Lilavati Singh,
+M.A., Vice-Principal of the Isabella Thoburn College, stand out as the
+most prominent Indian Christian graduates, while the dramatic episode
+of Mrs Nvimabala Shome’s graduation as B.A. at the same time as her
+husband in Calcutta, gave an object-lesson in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</span> matrimonial equality.
+She subsequently took her M.A. in England, and devoted much of her life
+to the organization of one of the mission High schools in Calcutta.
+Indian Christian graduates are to be found all over India undertaking
+responsible work with great credit.</p>
+
+<p>The Mohammedan girl graduates cannot be discussed as a class, for even
+if we go back to the “glory of women,” the Sheikha Shuhda of the Middle
+Ages, who lectured at Bagdad on literature and rhetoric, they are
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</span>
+only found here and there as isolated figures. One Mohammedan girl of
+a well known Bombay family passed first among girl candidates in the
+Bombay Presidency in 1910, and is now studying at Wilson College.</p>
+
+<p>It will thus be seen that the women students of India are a very
+heterogeneous body, representing almost every shade of religious
+opinion, and varying possibly in their mental capacity to a greater
+extent than the women of other lands.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp92" id="i_fp204" style="max-width: 88.0em;">
+ <img class="w100" src="images/i_fp204.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>[Book Image]</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">University of Bombay</span></h4>
+<hr class="full">
+<table class="spb1 tbody">
+<thead>
+<tr>
+<th class="tdc bb">Engi<br>neer<br>ing.</th>
+<th class="tdc bb">Agri<br>cul<br>ture.</th>
+<th class="tdc bb">Science.</th>
+<th class="tdc bb"></th>
+<th class="tdc bb">Arts.</th>
+<th class="tdc bb">L<br>a<br>w.</th>
+<th class="tdc bb" colspan="7">Medicine.</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+
+<tbody>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<th class="tdc_wsp bt">M.D.</th>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<th class="tdc_wsp bt">M.S.</th>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<th class="tdc_wsp bt">M.D.</th>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<th class="tdc_wsp bt">M.S.</th>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl bt bb"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl bt bb"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl bt bb"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl bt bb br"></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp"><span style='font-size:60px;'>&#8593;</span></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp"><span style='font-size:60px;'>&#8593;</span></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp"><span style='font-size:60px;'>&#8593;</span></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<th class="tdc_wsp">M.B.</th>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<th class="tdc_wsp">B.S.</th>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp"><span style='font-size:60px;'>&#8593;</span></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl bt"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bt"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bt"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<th class="tdc_wsp">M.A.</th>
+<td class="tdr_wsp br"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<th class="tdc_wsp bb">L.M.S.</th>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl bt"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl bt"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bt"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bt"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl bt"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bt br"></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<th class="tdc_wsp">B.Sc.</th>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<th class="tdc_wsp bb bl br">B.A.</th>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl"></td>
+<th class="tdc_wsp bb">2nd Exam</th>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp br"></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl bt"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl bt"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bt"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl bt"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bt"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bt br"></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<th class="tdc_wsp bl br">Intermediate</th>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bb bl br"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl bb"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bb"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bb br"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bb bl"></td>
+<th class="tdc_wsp bb">2nd L.M.S.</th>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bb br"></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bt bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 br"></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl br"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<th class="tdc_wsp bb bl br">Intermediate</th>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl"></td>
+<th class="tdc_wsp bb">Preliminary</th>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bb br"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bb bl"></td>
+<th class="tdc_wsp bb">1st L.M.S.</th>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bb br"></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl bt"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl bt"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 br"></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bb bl br"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<th class="tdc_wsp bb bl br">Previous</th>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bb"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bb br"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bb"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp br"></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl br"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bt"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bl bt"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp2 bt br"></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"></td>
+<th class="tdc_wsp bb bl br">Matriculation<br>(age 16)</th>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"><span style='font-size:50px;'>&#9472;&#9472;</span></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"><span style='font-size:50px;'>&#9472;&#9472;</span></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"><span style='font-size:50px;'>&#9472;&#9472;</span></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"><span style='font-size:50px;'>&#9472;&#9472;</span></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp"><span style='font-size:55px;'>&#8594;</span></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bb bl"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bb"></td>
+<td class="tdr_wsp bb br"></td>
+</tr>
+
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<hr class="full">
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><span class="smcap">Notes.</span>—The course in the other universities is somewhat
+similar.</p>
+
+<p class="p0 hang">Calcutta offers a degree as Bachelor of Teaching.</p>
+
+<p class="p0 hang">The degree of L.M. and S. is abolished in Calcutta and the Panjāb, but
+retained in the meantime in Bombay and in Madras after a six years’
+course.</p>
+
+<p class="p0 hang">Matriculation age in Madras and the Panjāb is fifteen.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="center bold sa1">
+<i>Quinquennial Review of Progress of Education in India</i>, vol. ii. p. 65.
+</p>
+
+<p>The question of the curriculum and of the nature of the studies
+required for the degree examinations has a very definite relation to
+the numerical problem stated above. Are these of a nature to attract
+increasing numbers? Are they sufficiently in accord with the Indian
+ideal of womanhood or with the aspirations of the reformers? The facts
+are worth analysis. From the first, the courses for men and women
+have been identical; no temporary expedient of a women’s examination
+such as the Cambridge Higher Local, and the St Andrews L.L.A., has
+been adopted by any of the Indian Universities; women must cover the
+same ground as men or none at all. The various courses in Bombay
+are indicated in the accompanying diagram. The range of subjects is
+somewhat similar to that of the University of London; for the B.A.
+examination, the average candidate presents himself in English,
+Philosophy, or History, and one Classical or Modern language. There
+is a corresponding scientific course, English remaining compulsory
+throughout. The Intermediate examination covers a wider range of
+subjects. The details differ in different Universities, but the
+standard on the whole is similar. Calcutta alone requires a compulsory
+essay in the vernacular for the B.A., and the emphasis laid on Sanskrit
+and Arabic is not the same as that laid on Latin and Greek in the
+Western Universities. The Panjāb University has a separate Oriental
+Course, for which as yet no woman has entered. The M.A. is given on
+the results of further examination, and, in some Universities, after a
+fresh course of study. The proportion of students who go through the
+whole course is small: for every seventeen who pass the Intermediate,
+only five become Bachelors of Arts, and only one a Master.<a id="FNanchor_133" href="#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> I have
+been unable to procure separate figures for women, but apparently the
+proportion is even less, and there are very few women who have obtained
+the degree of M.A. The examination system of the Universities has been
+subjected to severe criticism, both by enlightened Indians and by Europeans, the chief indictments being
+embodied in Lord Curzon’s Universities’ Commission Report of 1904,
+and we find tentative reforms in the subsequent Act.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</span>The “yattering”
+graduate who knows nothing and can decide nothing, but who can repeat
+yard after yard from any prescribed text-book, is the byword of those
+who wish to taunt India, and there is a germ of truth in the reproach.
+The effort to impart the highest Western culture through Indian
+teachers who have only partially assimilated it themselves, must prove
+to some extent unsatisfactory. Since the Public Service Commission in
+1886, Indians have been admitted to the Educational Service in much
+larger numbers: for example, the Presidency College in Calcutta had in
+1880 a complete staff of English professors and Oriental specialists;
+in 1911, only eight are English and twenty-three Indian, though in
+the meantime the number of pupils has increased from 350 to 700.<a id="FNanchor_134" href="#Footnote_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a>
+It is possible that here real efficiency has been sacrificed from the
+commendable motives of economy and a desire to utilize the Indians
+in their own Universities. To command a supply of the best men from
+home would involve a heavy financial strain, and yet, unless the
+Oriental, who can live on a smaller salary, has spent some years in
+Europe, he is hardly fitted to guide a University where the curriculum
+largely consists of Western subjects. It is interesting to find Mr
+Gokhale emphasizing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</span> the need of studying in a foreign University as a
+preliminary to professional work in India.<a id="FNanchor_135" href="#Footnote_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> It is the presence of a
+fully equipped English staff (who are there for other reasons than the
+mere acquisition of a “living” wage) which forms the attractive force
+of a Mission college to the ambitious young Indian. The whole question
+is an exceedingly difficult one, and has been fully discussed recently
+by both Mr Chailley and Sir Valentine Chirol; it is raised here only
+in so far as it affects the women who study in mixed colleges. It
+should also be noted that there is no English lady on the staff of
+Bethune College, the only Government college for women. The feminine
+counterpart of the typical graduate indicated above is apparently
+his decided superior, for the Indian feminine virtues of modesty and
+reticence come to her aid, and she does not air her acquired knowledge.
+Still her knowledge is only acquired, not yet assimilated, and there is
+a lamentable lack of books in her study. The library at Bethune College
+is not utilized to the same extent as one in a corresponding English
+institution. Actual personal contact with some of the Indian students
+is a pathetic experience, as we are forced to realise how little real
+grit there is behind their text-book knowledge. They have gained no
+broad outlook on life: a tired brain has struggled through so many
+hours a day of lecture work and book work, and no energy is left for
+thought! Climatic and constitutional conditions account, to a certain
+extent, for this result; lack of hereditary culture to a still greater
+degree; but it is fostered largely by the conditions under which the
+girls have studied, and by the failure of Anglo-Saxon women to give
+them of their best. Where the women study apart in the additional
+classes of their former High schools they certainly receive individual
+attention, which results in creditable passes, and this is possibly the
+chief merit of a system which has little to be said for it from other
+points of view. The complete staff of the Isabella Thoburn College, the
+well-utilized library, and the reputation which its graduates have won
+throughout India, are facts which should be noted in this connexion.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</span>
+The Diocesan College is establishing a similar tradition.</p>
+
+<p class="spb1"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_fp208" style="max-width: 93.75em;">
+ <img class="w100" src="images/i_fp208.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>[Missionary Settlement for University Women Students’
+Hostel, Bombay]</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>There is another side to University life than the purely intellectual,
+namely, the human and personal. This, with all its varied
+manifestations in the common pursuit of sport or of music, in the
+discussion of social problems and of mental difficulties, or still more
+in the gentle art of doing nothing, lends the charm to college days
+and is perhaps the more dominant factor in after life. The influence
+of certain personalities, men or women, who can be trusted, who can
+look at life’s problems from the same point of view as their students,
+and are able to throw light on their difficulties with the ripeness of
+experience and to lead them to a new moral or religious outlook, is
+often in the long run more powerful than that of the actual literature
+studied. If the University or college fails as a school of character
+it has failed of its <i>raison d’être</i>. Precisely on this ground has
+the strongest indictment recently been made against the Indian system.
+“There has been no more deplorable feature in the recent political
+agitation than the active part taken in it by Indian schoolboys and
+students.”<a id="FNanchor_136" href="#Footnote_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> A University course inevitably shakes the foundations
+of their thought, and in many cases has resulted in a revolt from all
+former moral or religious standards of conduct without providing a new
+basis for life. Under a stricter <i>régime</i>, with liberal grants
+and every possible encouragement of private hostels where religious
+instruction is possible, an effort is being made to combat this lack in
+the training of character. The case of women students presents certain
+parallel features, and also difficulties peculiarly its own.</p>
+
+<p>The larger proportion of women students in Bombay in attendance at the
+mixed classes are living in their own homes; a few from the country
+are in residence at the Students’ Hostel of the Missionary Settlement
+for University Women,<a id="FNanchor_137" href="#Footnote_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> where, though the majority are Christian,
+students of other faiths can be received under special arrangements.
+A Jain lady was at one time in residence there. This hostel is in
+close proximity to both the Wilson and the Grant Medical Colleges, and
+supplies a real need, but its residents so far have not been very numerous.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</span>
+The women students of Bombay as a whole have no
+corporate life of their own; they may attend some of the joint debating
+societies and kindred meetings, but do not as a rule take part. Their
+common rooms offer rather a geographical <i>pied-à-terre</i> than a
+means of social unity. As regards athletics, badminton is pursued in
+a somewhat spasmodic way in one college, and by invitation to the
+Principal’s house in another, but the question of exercise in relation
+to non-resident students is always a moot point in a tropical climate.
+Some attempt to develop social life is made by the women graduates from
+British or Colonial Universities who are in charge of the students’
+hostel; they visit the common rooms of two of the colleges, and
+occasionally organize debates or kindred functions at the hostel, to
+which the residents may invite other students. The writer was present
+at one such debate on the question of educating men and women on
+similar lines, and the opinions expressed by some of the Indian girls
+are embodied in much of the foregoing. This influence is also of a
+religious nature, being in connexion with the Students’ Branch of the
+Young Women’s Christian Association, and indirectly counts for much.
+It is, however, an extraneous one, and therefore many of the students,
+especially in the Government colleges, are beyond its reach. With their
+actual lecturers they can have, in the nature of the case, little or
+no personal contact, and the real need seems to be the introduction
+of women on the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</span> staff of these colleges, together with the tutorial
+system, which has proved itself so useful in mixed non-residential
+universities in Britain. The case is very strongly put by Mr Covernton,
+who was till recently Principal of the Elphinstone College.</p>
+
+<p>“It is becoming a problem how to provide accommodation and adequate
+supervision for these girls. It is ridiculous to expect that young
+unmarried graduates, fresh from Oxford and Cambridge, can mould the
+minds and characters of Parsi, much less of Brahman girls; while the
+training of Eurasian girls is still more difficult. Moreover, the close
+association of male and female involved in a mixed education is so
+totally opposed to the traditions of the East, as well as so fraught
+with possibilities of evil, that in my opinion the system is rather a
+barrier than an encouragement to female education.—A special lecturer
+and tutor of female students should be appointed to the Elphinstone
+College. She should be a British graduate, and a member of the Indian
+Educational Service. Her subject should preferably be English, because
+it is very easy to get women well-qualified to teach that subject.
+She would take complete charge of the girls’ studies in that subject,
+and would in addition supervise their general reading, their games,
+and most important of all their manners and conduct.”<a id="FNanchor_138" href="#Footnote_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> As regards
+conduct the general bearing and influence of these girls in the mixed
+colleges has been most creditable in very trying circumstances,
+but there is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</span> certainly a need to relax the evident tension of the
+position, which is little in accordance with Oriental ideas.</p>
+
+<p>The condition of the women students in Madras who attend the mixed
+colleges is somewhat similar. There is an excellent hostel managed by
+the Students’ Branch of the Young Women’s Christian Association, where
+students of all faiths can reside, and former pupils of the mission
+schools can still remain in connexion with them. I understand that the
+same strain exists here, with the consequent lack of energy for any
+corporate life. An English woman graduate writes from Madras of the
+great need in South India of a first grade women’s college.</p>
+
+<p>In Calcutta conditions are entirely different; there is a good hostel
+in connexion with the Bethune College, and the Christian girls who
+attend it are resident in their former schools. There are only a few
+non-residential students, but as the colleges attended by the Arts
+students are very small, the system assimilates to the tutorial, and
+there is ample opportunity for contact between student and lecturer.
+In the Bethune College, however, where the majority of teachers are
+men, the conflict with Oriental ideas arises again, and one is not
+surprised, apart from other reasons, at the absence of Moslem or
+orthodox Hindu girls. Here again it seems unfortunate that there is no
+corporate life or unity amongst the women students as a whole, or even
+in the Bethune hostel itself. In the latter it would depend entirely
+on Indian initiative, and though one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</span> would expect it to assume a
+different form from the customary Saxon one, its entire absence can
+only be accounted for by unfavourable conditions.</p>
+
+<p>The corporate life of the Isabella Thoburn College has already been
+emphasized; a glance at the students’ <i>Lal Bagh Chronicle</i>
+is enough to convince the reader of its reality, and of its
+characteristically Indian nature.</p>
+
+<p>The case of the Indian woman medical student must be considered
+apart from the life of the Arts colleges. As a rule few women,
+except an occasional Parsi, pass from the one to the other, and
+there is little contact. It is unnecessary here to emphasize the
+need for every possible encouragement for Indian women to take up
+the practice of medicine. The sorrows and sufferings of Indian women
+behind the <i>parda</i>, who would rather face death than admit a
+male practitioner, are well known. If to some the statements made
+by missionary writers seem exaggerated, they have only to turn to
+the petition presented to the Viceroy in 1890 by the medical women
+practising in India to find evidence of the saddest facts. Indian
+medical students are divided broadly into two classes, those who
+study in one of the four Government colleges affiliated to one or
+other of the chief Universities, and those who study in the medical
+schools for a very much lower qualification.<a id="FNanchor_139" href="#Footnote_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</span> Of the first class
+again some are genuine University students going up for the degrees
+indicated on page 204, while others are content merely with the college
+diploma which qualifies for practice in India. The medical schools,
+of which there are twenty-seven in different parts of India, are
+“intended primarily for the instruction of candidates for employment
+in Government Service as hospital assistants, but many of their
+pupils also go into private practice.”<a id="FNanchor_140" href="#Footnote_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> They confer the title of
+sub-assistant-surgeon. A few women students are to be found in the
+former class: in 1907 it included thirty-four Indian women in all,
+and there has not been any marked increase in recent years. An even
+smaller number of these take the highest qualification. All that has
+been said of the strained life of the women Arts students applies
+even more strongly to the medicals. It is a very hard and difficult
+life, and there is little in the environment to lessen the burden.
+The statistics of the medical schools on the other hand show a larger
+figure, 138 in 1907, with a considerable increase in recent years.
+It is in these schools that the administrators of the Countess of
+Dufferin’s Fund,<a id="FNanchor_141" href="#Footnote_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> which has done so much for the medical treatment
+of women, place most students, though some are also to be found
+studying in the Universities. Three of these<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</span> schools are specially
+women’s schools—the North India Medical School for Christian Women
+at Ludhiana, the female branch of the Agra Medical School, and one
+centre in the Bombay Presidency with some half-dozen pupils. The work
+of the former, as it illustrates by contrast the serious problem of
+the mixed medical schools and colleges, is worthy of special notice.
+This school, which is under the management of a private committee,
+including members of the Indian Medical Service, was originally founded
+in 1894 through the agency of seven missionary societies working in
+the United Provinces and the Panjāb. Its aim was to secure “that the
+young Christian women who pass through a medical course, and then go
+out to Government or Native State or Mission Hospital work, should be
+so safeguarded and trained that they shall be worthy representatives
+of the religion they profess.”<a id="FNanchor_142" href="#Footnote_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> The dangers of the joint-system of
+instruction in all subjects, with unlimited association in hospitals
+and museums, is apparent in every centre, with its consequent effect
+in some cases of bringing “female education and emancipation into
+discredit.” A letter of application to the Ludhiana School throws some
+light on prevalent conditions:—</p>
+
+<p>“I require a Female Hospital Assistant for my Hospital, and am very
+anxious to get one who has been trained under Medical Women. As your<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</span>
+School is the only one in India of this sort, would you be kind
+enough to let me have one? This is not a Mission Hospital but one
+for <i>parda</i> Moslem women only, under the Dufferin Fund, and it
+is essential that the Assistant be respectable. (This I find rather
+difficult to get amongst the class trained under males.) It is perhaps
+against your rules to supply Dufferin Fund Hospitals, but I hope you
+will stretch a point and oblige me by letting me have one, as I have
+had a great deal of trouble for the past year with Assistants.”</p>
+
+<p>The students of the Ludhiana School flock from all parts of India for
+the benefit of this tuition under qualified medical women. There are at
+present some twenty-seven Indian Christian students and five Eurasians,
+taking the four years’ course, while some thirty others are training as
+“compounders.” The linked women’s hospital,<a id="FNanchor_143" href="#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> with a record of 1300
+in-patients and 26,000 new out-patients in 1910, affords the necessary
+opportunity for practice. The staff is drawn from India, Britain, and
+America, and consists of eight fully qualified medical women. The
+record of the school is one of slow and steady progress in efficiency
+and numbers, and the latest stage is the proposed affiliation to
+the Panjāb University, the negotiations for which are progressing
+favourably. Under these conditions the school would be able as a
+college to send students up for the M.B., B.S. examination, and the
+Government students would be transferred to it from Lahore.
+The hostel life of the students is under careful superintendence, and arrangements
+are being made for the accommodation of non-Christian students. The
+contrast between the life here and that of women medical students in
+Bombay or Calcutta is marked; and if it be argued that the highest
+professional ability cannot be obtained with so limited a hospital
+roll, there is surely need for modifying in some way the conditions at
+these centres. Two Government hostels for women medical students exist
+in Calcutta in close proximity to the two hospitals;<a id="FNanchor_144" href="#Footnote_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> the question,
+however, concerns not only hostel life but professional training under
+circumstances which will not injure character. The complete separation
+in the London and Edinburgh Schools of Medicine for Women affords a
+striking contrast. A certain number of Indian students, perhaps one or
+two a term, come over for a full or supplementary course in British
+colleges, as this qualification secures a better post on return.</p>
+
+<p class="spb1"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_fp216" style="max-width: 93.75em;">
+ <img class="w100" src="images/i_fp216.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>[Ludhiana School of Medicine—Hospital Court Yard with
+Patients]</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>To sum up, the problem respecting Indian women students, in both
+Arts and Medicine, arises, apparently, from the need of a numerical
+increase, from the lack of conditions so adapted to Oriental ideas
+that the highest courses shall be open without difficulty to women of
+all ranks, and from the lack of a curriculum calculated to raise the
+standard of the intellectual work done. Moreover, mental training must
+be combined with such opportunities for the development of character
+as shall ensure to Indian women the leaders they require.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</span></p>
+
+<p>These needs interact, and affect one another; the numerical problem
+depends, as we have seen, on certain conditions of Indian society,
+and also on the attractive force of the education offered and its
+appeal to Indian ideas, as well as on the possibility of pursuing
+it under conditions which shall not be too utterly opposed to the
+tradition of the country. With the increase in the numbers receiving
+Secondary education there has not been a corresponding increase in the
+college courses. Mr Covernton, in the quotation given above, further
+emphasizes this, and points to the real need of Bombay, for which the
+appointment of a woman tutor would only be a temporary expedient. “If
+the conditions of University education were in accord with Oriental
+ideas of women’s functions, the number would go up by leaps and bounds.
+I am confident that the time is ripe for the creation in Bombay of
+a women’s college managed by a staff of Oxford or Cambridge women
+graduates.”<a id="FNanchor_145" href="#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> The spontaneous movement amongst Indian gentlemen to
+organize high-class schools, where, if desired, <i>parda</i> can be
+kept, points to further possibilities. At present, if a Mohammedan or
+Hindu girl of high-caste, who had been educated in some such school,
+or privately, desired to take a University course,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</span> there would be
+no opportunity for her doing so. A Mohammedan lady, whose daughter
+was being educated in one of the mission schools in Bombay, told the
+writer she could not think of letting her attend any college in that
+city, though she was anxious for her to have University education. The
+only possible course was an English college, such as Cheltenham. The
+migration to England of Indian women Arts’ students has, so far, not
+been extensive; about a dozen have studied at Cambridge, Oxford, and
+Cheltenham; a larger number may have gone to America. The missionary
+societies which struck out a bold policy for attracting men by their
+great Christian colleges have not made any corresponding move to meet
+the new situation in women’s education. The one or two women’s colleges
+which exist are created so predominantly for Christian girls that they
+attract only isolated pupils of other faiths, and these not of the most
+influential classes.<a id="FNanchor_146" href="#Footnote_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> It seems strange that in Great Britain the
+highest education for women should be to a certain extent apart, with
+the necessary contact carefully chaperoned, whereas in India, with a
+very different tradition of womanhood, one girl may sit alone in a
+class of over a hundred students. It may be argued that the best way
+to overcome this tradition is to ignore it, and that it should not be
+yielded to in any way, least of all in the case of Higher education,
+where the students have presumably<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</span> risen above it. Some English women
+of experience in India take this bold attitude. On the other hand it is
+of the highest importance in any transitional stage to secure leaders
+from every stratum of the population; and if education be the only safe
+lever for the uplift of women in India, it seems a strategic mistake
+practically to close its highest stages to those whose families hold by
+a certain type of decorum which prohibits co-education.</p>
+
+<p>By adaptation of the curriculum is not meant in any sense the lowering
+of the intellectual standard nor the introduction of the element of
+domestic economy and so-called “feminine subjects” which are necessary
+at a lower stage, but rather a re-arrangement of studies which shall
+ensure more individual research and a fuller comprehension of the
+material studied. The revision of the curriculum is at present under
+consideration in at least one of the Universities, and is a matter for
+experts. The action of the University of Cambridge in permitting women
+candidates to go up for Honours courses only, and the success which has
+attended women candidates for the Triposes, suggest the advantage of
+specialized studies in the case of women. Mrs Satthianadhan’s opinion
+of the effect of University education on women is illuminating. “It
+will make women more methodical, more orderly in their arrangements,
+more precise, and better able to weigh causes and results.”
+<a id="FNanchor_147" href="#Footnote_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</span>
+A three years’ specialized course would tend in many ways to develop
+these qualities, and would possibly produce the new and more thorough
+type of teaching which is so greatly needed in the schools. The
+intellectual strain which is so marked a feature at present might in
+this way be lessened without detrimental effect upon real intellectual
+development.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the end of last century, it seemed as if the goal of the
+women’s educational movement in Great Britain might be reached
+by the formation of a Women’s University with federal colleges.
+Various reasons have led rather to their taking a parallel place in
+the existing Universities, though still under somewhat anomalous
+conditions, so far as Oxford and Cambridge are concerned. The
+American solution is a different one. Vassar, Bryn Mawr, Wellesley,
+Mount Holyoke, and others have their separate degrees and completely
+separated life. It is possible that the solution of the Indian problem
+will rather follow these latter lines, and there are indications of
+this ideal, somewhat nebulously outlined, in the writings of leading
+Indian women. Such a Women’s University with affiliated colleges
+in the different large centres might establish a new era and a new
+tradition in the education of women. A competent staff of Indian
+women graduates, whose presence would secure the students from
+deorientalizing influences, and of English women graduates competent
+to teach on specialized lines, would raise the educational standard.
+The complete separation of such colleges from the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</span> High schools
+would render a corporate life possible, and give to the Indian girl
+graduates the opportunity of carrying on their studies in congenial
+and stimulating surroundings. “To them, too, college life might bring
+that joyous spring-time of youth, friendship, and unfettered delight of
+study and leisure which have hitherto been withheld from them.”<a id="FNanchor_148" href="#Footnote_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a>
+The Maharani of Baroda notes in her recent book<a id="FNanchor_149" href="#Footnote_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> the tendency of
+women’s education in Europe to take a too exclusively literary form,
+and the consequent overcrowding of certain professions. While there is
+no danger that the teaching profession will be overcrowded in India
+for decades to come, the warning is not without its value. Such a
+University might have affiliated with it colleges of Indian Domestic
+Science and Economy, but the theory for this has yet to be worked out.</p>
+
+<p>It may seem to some readers, especially to those rightly imbued with
+the Eastern principle of <i>festina lente</i>, that the day for women’s
+colleges in India has not yet come, and that all available strength
+should be concentrated on Secondary education; and yet, on the other
+hand, the crux of the whole educational problem may be found here. Miss
+Emily Davies, who by universal consent stands as the chief pioneer of
+the movement in Britain, realized from the first that the reform<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</span> in
+girls’ education must begin at the top. The same principle is seen in
+the history of Cheltenham Ladies College (founded 1853), and the early
+efforts of Miss Beale to face the same problem of the need of teachers,
+which is felt in every Indian school to-day. “Her efforts show how
+hard it was to found a school before the reformation of the higher
+education had given the necessary stimulus from above. It was a case
+of making bricks without straw.”<a id="FNanchor_150" href="#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a> The proximity of certain dates
+is suggestive. In 1869, the “Girton Pioneers” first met at Hitchin to
+read for the examinations of the University of Cambridge. In 1872,
+the Girls’ Public Day School Company was founded, and in 1879 the
+Oxford Women’s Halls were opened. The two movements are of necessity
+contemporaneous, and cannot be viewed as successive stages towards the
+same end.</p>
+
+<p>The beginning exists in India; much excellent pioneer work has been
+done, and it now remains to raise the whole movement to a status from
+which its future development on Indian and womanly lines would be
+assured.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="X">X</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>THE RELIGIOUS ELEMENT IN EDUCATION</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquote">
+
+<p>“Education, education—education about what? Education about matter,
+mere material things, thoughts and ideas. Education, according to the
+Vedas, is the opening of the petals of the mind-lotus to the rays of
+the spiritual sun, and that is what we now want first.”</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+—Swami Baba Pramânand Bhârati.<br>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="dropcap-paragraph">T<span class="upper-case">he</span> analysis of the religious element in education is a deep and subtle
+problem, and yet, at the same time, this element is the touchstone by
+which all systems of education are ultimately tested. The formation
+of independent thought and judgment, and of an upright character,
+spontaneously moral, may lead in adolescent years to the attainment
+of some unifying philosophy of life which shall dominate and satisfy
+the religious nature. The successful quest of this during the “silent
+period,” and the re-interpretation of it during a college career,
+must be the aim of all education. How is this aim to be achieved?
+The separation of religion from education in a Christian country,
+where morality is under the corporate sanction of inherited religious
+tradition, may be a dangerous experiment, but it is made under the
+supposition<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</span> that the influence of home and Church will supplement the
+teaching at school. In India, a country of conflicting faiths, all in a
+period of transition, and withal a country of deep religious instinct,
+the case is different. There is no corporate sanction: religion and
+moral principles are not necessarily kindred terms; the influence of
+school and of home are often diverse, and thus the former, if it is
+in any sense to be the builder of character, must include religion as
+the only unifying educational factor. Theoretically, this statement
+is justified and endorsed, not only by missionary enthusiasts, but by
+official opinion and by Indian sentiment in so far as it is articulate;
+its practical endorsement, on the other hand, is one of the most
+difficult problems of Indian administration. A brief sketch of the
+attitude of Government in the past, and of the modern desire for its
+modification may serve to show the relation which this question bears
+to the present development of women’s education.</p>
+
+<p>The great educational Charter of 1854 established the Indian system
+on the only basis which seemed in accord with our whole Indian
+policy—that of religious neutrality; but it was not, as is sometimes
+erroneously supposed, an endorsement of a wholly secular policy. The
+Government could not of itself undertake direct religious teaching
+in its own schools, but the system of “grants-in-aid” with which it
+endowed the voluntary schools was “based on an entire abstinence
+from interference with the religious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</span> instruction conveyed in the
+schools assisted.” “The framers of this Despatch entertained the
+hope that under its provisions Hindu, Mohammedan, and Christian
+managers would supply, each class in its own particular way, what was
+already known to be a great defect of the course of instruction in
+Government institutions. The same hope was one of the chief reasons
+that led the Education Commission to make and the Government of India
+to adopt the recommendation that ‘the improvement and extension of
+institutions under private management be the principal care of the
+Department.’”<a id="FNanchor_151" href="#Footnote_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> At the same time many of its members believed that
+even the more secular instruction given in the Government schools
+would remove ignorance and superstition, and ultimately pave the way
+towards the acceptance of Christianity. Moreover, definite provision
+was made for the inquiring mind. “The Bible is, we understand, placed
+in the libraries of the colleges and schools, and the pupils are freely
+able to consult it. This is as it should be; and, moreover, we have no
+desire to prevent, or discourage, any explanations which the pupils
+may of their own free-will ask from the masters on the subject of the
+Christian religion, provided that such information be given out of
+school hours.” The agitation of those who wished a more definitely
+Christian attitude to be adopted aimed at voluntary teaching of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</span>
+Bible, where a suitable teacher could be procured, and a suggestion of
+teaching the Indian religions parallel with it is scarcely found. The
+argument, as it might be presented to an Indian expostulating in favour
+of neutrality, is thus put in Sir John Lawrence’s Despatches:—“We
+offer you the Bible in our Government schools because we believe it
+to be for your inestimable good if you choose to listen to it. We
+do not wish you to study it unless you do so voluntarily. But you
+cannot expect us to help in teaching your religion, which we do not
+believe to be true. That you can do for yourselves.”<a id="FNanchor_152" href="#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> “The Indian
+religions ought not to be taught; they have ample means of their own
+for doing this.” It should be noted that at this time the Samājes
+had not arisen, nor the Hindu reform movement, and that the Western
+comprehension of things Indian and religious was much more limited than
+it is now. The Despatch of 1859, after reviewing the various arguments
+for the modification of the “secular” policy, finally sums up—“They
+[Her Majesty’s Government] are unable, therefore, to sanction any
+modification of the rule of strict religious neutrality, as it has
+hitherto been enforced in the Government schools, and it accordingly
+remains that the Holy Scriptures being kept in the library, and being
+open to all the pupils who may wish to study them, and the teachers
+being at liberty to afford instruction and explanations regarding<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</span>
+them to all who may voluntarily seek it, the course of study in
+all Government Institutions be, as heretofore, confined to secular
+subjects.”<a id="FNanchor_153" href="#Footnote_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> The emphasis on the place of the aided school and
+the Government school has varied in the different periods of Indian
+administration and in different localities, but in the main in the
+education of boys the Government or municipal school has predominated.
+Its possible religious influence has been negative; and while there
+is no record of the English teacher expounding the Bible to inquiring
+minds after school hours, as the Despatches fondly picture, there
+is ample evidence that the Western education introduced sapped the
+foundations of ancient belief and substituted no new positive sanction
+of moral principles. The Hindu and Mohammedan effort of the early days
+on Western lines was also, with the exception of Aligarh College,
+largely on a secular basis. Thus, the place of definite religious
+teaching was confined to the schools under missionary management, and
+though their influence, especially in South India, has been enormous,
+it can in no sense be considered conterminous with Western education in
+India. A predominantly secular education has therefore produced its own
+fruits, and a discussion of it when so much literature already exists
+on the subject is superfluous.</p>
+
+<p>The modern reaction is manifest in popular speeches, in the Press,
+and in Government reports. An Indian writer pleads that the Durbar
+boon of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</span> additional grants for education is no boon, but a curse, if
+it perpetuate only the “nauseatingly materialistic, all-intellectual,
+and soul-killing system,” and is not in consonance with the
+“natural ideals, national aspirations, and the world-old mental
+characteristics”<a id="FNanchor_154" href="#Footnote_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> of the Indian people. It would be easy to
+multiply quotations in grandiloquent language, which, for all their
+quaintness, have a strong element of truth. Parallel with the plea
+for religious instruction, and to a certain extent confused with
+it, is the plea for moral instruction, either apart from or based
+on religion. The most trustworthy evidence as to the extent of this
+demand and its somewhat incoherent nature was given at the Government
+Educational Conference held recently in Allahabad, when a whole day was
+devoted to the subject of Moral and Religious Education. The preceding
+questionnaire inquired (<i>a</i>) how far moral lessons were included
+in the ordinary Primary readers, (<i>b</i>) whether special moral
+text-books were in use, (<i>c</i>) whether direct moral instruction
+was given and appreciated, (<i>d</i>) whether the trend of public
+opinion was really in favour of moral instruction in the schools, and
+finally (<i>e</i>) whether any divergent views thereon were based on
+differences of creed. Most of the provinces reported a certain element
+of moral instruction in the shape of stories and poetry in the readers,
+with the comment that these were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</span> mainly used as reading or grammar
+lessons, or else were too didactically taught to have any lasting
+effect. Certain moral text-books are in use, but these are mainly of a
+religious nature and found in the newer Indian schools. The “Sanatana
+Dharma” series, issued by the Central Hindu College, Benares, which
+attempts to deal only with basal principles of religion, is used by
+the Surat municipality, in Mysore, in Baroda and elsewhere, but is not
+generally acceptable to orthodox Hindus. The classic Bhaghavat Gita—an
+eclectic synopsis reconciling different systems of Hindu philosophy
+and religion—is also taught as a class-book in the higher classes
+of certain schools in Bengal which were started as rivals to mission
+schools. The Anjuman-i-Islamia, Lahore, also prepares books for both
+Primary and Secondary classes in Mohammedan schools, and in these again
+moral instruction is imparted through religious references. Moral
+text-books pure and simple are not used except occasionally those of
+the International Moral League in some of the hostels in Baroda and
+elsewhere. As regards lessons in direct moral teaching, apart from
+religion, there seem to be exceedingly few. A few debating societies
+exist for this purpose. One school reports a weekly lecture thereon,
+but the boys of the school are credited with stoning a visiting cricket
+team which had defeated them! Moral instruction combined with religion
+is more common than it is thought in the Indian aided schools, and
+various instances are on record.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</span> The old-fashioned Koranic schools and
+Sanskrit “<i>tols</i>” are steeped in religion. “To describe the system
+of moral training in such institutions would be to write an account
+of the rites and tenets of the Hindu and Mohammedan religions.”<a id="FNanchor_155" href="#Footnote_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a>
+With two exceptions the reports show in detail a general state of
+dissatisfaction with things as they are, and a desire for definite
+moral instruction combined with a strong preference for a religious
+basis where such could be made possible. The words “moral instruction”
+seem also to have become a sort of shibboleth. “People are also rather
+vague as to what comes under the head of religion or morality.” A
+Brahman student is instanced as having devoted much time to religion,
+which was found to mean “breathing exercises.” “There are a few of
+exceptional intelligence who hold that the teaching of morality must
+be based on religion. These would advocate the teaching of a religion,
+or rather a combination of religious truths that all men could agree
+on.” “The public mind in Bengal is not ripe for the idea of moral
+instruction totally severed from religion.” At the same time it is
+noticed that little advantage has as yet been taken of the opportunity
+to teach religion in the Government schools in the United Provinces
+and in Burma. The restrictions which surround it in the former and the
+recent date of the permission for it in the latter may possibly account
+for this.</p>
+
+<p>The bulk of the answers to the questionnaire<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</span> issued by the Conference
+may be summed up in respect of moral instruction as follows: it is
+inefficient, unless impressed by the personality of the teacher, and
+unless based on religion; a merely moral system can be accepted only
+in circumstances which completely prohibit the religious element.
+Combined with the desire for it is a certain healthy scepticism as to
+whether moral instruction can be imparted in small doses, and whether
+the more effective influence is not the general discipline and tone of
+the school. The discussions at the Conference, which represented every
+shade of official and religious opinion, followed the same line. The
+emphatic testimony of Christian and Mohammedan dwelt on the need for
+the religious sanction, the Hindu testimony on the same need, but also
+on the impossibility for Hindus of finding a common ground amongst
+themselves. “No teaching which rests merely upon the basic principles
+of religion will be accepted by Hindus as taking the place of directly
+orthodox religion.”<a id="FNanchor_156" href="#Footnote_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> The incorporation of moral teaching in the
+Government system by means of a general text-book seemed at best only a
+makeshift, and did not meet with universal approval.</p>
+
+<p>The evidence of the Allahabad Conference reveals a need and a deadlock.
+The country needs morality taught under religious sanction, but how
+can a Government pledged irrevocably to religious neutrality provide
+this? The granting of equal<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</span> opportunity in the Government and
+municipal schools for parallel instruction in the various faiths, as
+Sir Valentine Chirol suggests,<a id="FNanchor_157" href="#Footnote_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> would not meet the special case of
+the Hindus, and might possibly complicate the position of the mission
+schools. The disintegration of a school where rival influences were
+at work would further render impossible the unity necessary to tone
+and discipline. The solution of the problem seems rather to lie in the
+<i>religious influence of a single kind</i>, and this is possible only
+in the aided schools. The development of these, and the allocation of
+a greater proportion of public funds to them, especially now that the
+indigenous Indian schools of the newer type are developing religious
+instruction, would be in historical continuity with the principles of
+1854, and would not contradict the principles of neutrality.</p>
+
+<p>The problem of female education was not considered separately at
+Allahabad, and there was no reference throughout the discussion to
+girls’ schools. But though girls’ education may be assumed to be some
+fifty years behind that of boys, a great deal of the report has a very
+direct bearing on our subject as indicating dangers to be avoided and a
+more profitable course to be pursued. The whole question is even more
+vital in their case, as the removal of religious and moral principles
+would be fraught with consequences even more serious to the community.
+How far is the education of women in India undermining<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</span> their religious
+beliefs? How far is this influence being counteracted by moral
+teaching, or by definite instruction in the principles of their own
+religion or of Christianity?</p>
+
+<p>As regards the vast proportion of girls who attain a mere literacy
+in the Primary schools, the disintegrating influence can scarcely be
+said to have begun; on the other hand, in the Government and municipal
+schools there is a lack of constructive influence guiding them towards
+that which is true, honest, and of good report. Exceptional women
+amongst the few trained teachers may use the opportunity afforded by
+the moral lessons in the readers, but only the exceptional women.
+Schools started for girls by Indian societies have arisen mostly in the
+later period of religious revival, and some of their Primary schools
+are saturated with religion. In so far as an outsider can judge, this
+tends mainly to the abnormal development of the repetitive faculty. In
+the Christian Primary schools the influence of the Biblical instruction
+given naturally varies enormously according to the method of the
+Indian teacher and according to the frequency of the visits of the
+English missionary. The writer has watched a Scripture lesson given
+by an Indian teacher to a group of Bengali girls aged about eight
+years; their attention, response, and independent questions compared
+favourably with those of English children of the same age. It is also
+part of the ordinary experience of the zenana visitor to find the
+influence and memory of these<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</span> school lessons still alive amongst those
+who have long left school.</p>
+
+<p>In the Secondary and Training stages, the question is totally
+different, and the beginning of the influence which has proved
+so disastrous on the men’s side is already felt. The Head of one
+Government Normal school stated, “Our education cannot fail to
+undermine their previous ideas,” and then commented afterwards on the
+ineffectiveness of the moral instruction she was trying to introduce.
+In some of the Government schools where the Principal is a woman
+of special ability and tact, moral instruction is given, but as a
+rule it is not attempted. In the Government mixed colleges there is
+naturally no influence of this nature. In the Indian schools religious
+instruction is the rule, its character, as indicated in the reports to
+the Allahabad Conference, differing enormously in different places. In
+some it is carefully thought-out moral instruction, linked with those
+ideas in the particular religious faith which bear it out. The Benares
+school is a typical example of this; the whole school join in morning
+<i>puja</i>, to Sarasvati, the goddess of learning, and there are
+special times during the week for instruction from the Sanatana Dharma
+series. The new Hindu High school in Bombay is visited once a week for
+the purpose by a Brahman, and a small catechism of a more orthodox
+nature is in use. The only Buddhist girls’ Anglo-Vernacular school
+in Burma is marked by a strong religious tone. Instruction is given<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</span>
+daily by an elderly priest to the whole school together, “in order that
+they may feel religion is the most important thing in daily life and
+therefore must be daily.” A specimen of the catechism used is typical:—</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+ <div class="poetry">
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<div class="verse indent0">“What are the three things to seek daily?</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Truth, Knowledge, Righteousness.”</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<div class="verse indent0">“What will you do when you go home?</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">We will do salutation to our parents.”</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<div class="verse indent0">“And afterwards?</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">We will do our work.”</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<div class="verse indent0">“And in the morning?</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Our first thought will be of righteousness.”<a id="FNanchor_158" href="#Footnote_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a></div>
+</div>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Religious and moral instruction is now given in most of the Parsi
+schools of Bombay under the auspices of a special Zoroastrian
+Association. This is, I understand, an innovation of the last ten
+years. In the schools under committees of different faiths the same
+difficulty is felt as in the Government schools. It is solved in one
+case by carefully prepared moral instruction on an eclectic basis, in
+another by parallel religious observances. There is no uniformity in
+practice, but the universal attempt is a clear proof that the Indian
+desire for education on a religious basis for their daughters is
+genuine.</p>
+
+<p>The Christian factor so far has been the predominating one,
+for the “bulk of female Secondary education is provided by the
+missionaries.”<a id="FNanchor_159" href="#Footnote_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a> The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</span> religious atmosphere is one of unity and
+simplicity. It is part of the wonderful tolerance of Hinduism and
+its desire to embrace other faiths in its pervading atmosphere, that
+Hindu girls can share outwardly in Christian worship without apparent
+realization of its incompatibility with their ancestral religion. The
+daily instruction is given in class groups, and where the non-Christian
+element enters largely there is usually a separate classification for
+this. Its bearing is stated in simple direct terms by a teacher. “The
+education of any child is not complete which has not led it consciously
+to realize the supernatural, and the revelation of God in Christ.”
+In the few schools where a “conscience clause” exists, it is not as
+a rule taken advantage of. The girls in one convent who were thus
+exempted sat in the back row quietly and were not asked questions;
+they also attended chapel, but might take their own books with them.
+Another curious instance of the working of the Hindu mind is seen in
+the case of an Indian gentleman who withdrew his daughters from the
+regular school lesson by virtue of the conscience clause, but sent
+them back voluntarily to a special Scripture class held once a week.
+Caste prejudice was possibly justified by this arrangement. The tone
+and influence of the Christian schools is greatly appreciated; it is
+this which fills the Diocesan School in Calcutta with pupils, although
+a thorough education is available in the Bethune School. A high-caste
+Brahman lady in Bombay testified in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</span> the warmest tones to the wonderful
+character and spirit of the Catholic sisters who had educated her,
+and to whom she had sent her daughters. It is not only the English
+education which attracts, it is something more. It would be invidious
+to multiply instances, but the testimony is practically universal to
+the acceptability of educational work done in the name of Christ.</p>
+
+<p>The three factors contributing to the education of women in India have
+thus a varying contribution to make to the most fundamental element in
+education, and it is this diversity which supplies the keynote to the
+whole problem, and indicates the line for Western action in the future.
+The share of the Government, as indicated by the present policy in
+Eastern Bengal, Madras,<a id="FNanchor_160" href="#Footnote_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> the United Provinces, and elsewhere will
+of necessity become an increasing one in the direct establishment of
+schools, if there is not a sufficient development of aided schools to
+meet the rising tide. Its contribution to religion will be a negative
+one. The spontaneous Indian schools which attempt to supply the need
+are at their best—and they are not always at their best—only an
+imperfect solution. It would be but a poor form of Christianity which
+failed to recognize the diverse manners in which God has revealed
+Himself to the world, and the truth of permanent value in the great
+ethnic faiths of the world which finds its final interpretation in That
+which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</span> is Perfect. There is nothing more striking in the modern reform
+movements of India than the reflection in them of Christian thought and
+idealism, and this is specially seen in the instruction given in the
+girls’ schools. Christian hymns are used with certain specific verses
+left out, the Lord’s Prayer is printed in a Parsi manual of devotion,
+verses from Watts and Charles Kingsley are in the Benares series, and
+the hope of Christ as the Lode Star of Indian thought can be read
+in many a school manual. Together with all this is the perpetual
+allegorizing of such facts in Indian literature as will not bear the
+pure ethical light. Principal Paranjpe of the Fergusson College at
+Poona, in arguing at the Bombay Educational Conference for a secular
+basis for moral teaching, held that to make morality depend upon
+religion is dangerous if the religious sanction comes to be no longer
+regarded as binding. His speech is so illuminating as to be worth while
+quoting in full:—“In times like ours where landmarks that were but
+yesterday regarded as perennial are being removed to-day and are likely
+to be forgotten to-morrow, it is best not to cling to too many rocks.
+The one solid rock on which we can rest is our own reason. If eating
+pork is a heinous sin with one set of people, beef with another, and
+any meat at all with a third, how can the alleged basis of morality be
+regarded as absolute! Especially when, as in India, there are various
+religions, each religion divided into innumerable sects, and each sect
+divided into many separate<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</span> sections; when the feeling aroused by any
+religious question is of a pitch which can hardly be conceived in
+Western countries; when the respectability of a man is in inverse ratio
+to the number of people he is able to associate with without coming
+into conflict with the prevailing religious ideas—it will be seen that
+the less we have to do with religion in moulding the character of young
+children the better for our national being. Let boys be taught to see
+that there are some principles which they can all believe irrespective
+of the fact that they belong to one religion or several. It is only in
+this way that our various races can be brought closer together.”<a id="FNanchor_161" href="#Footnote_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a>
+To bring morality into relation with a religion which is ethical to
+the core, and which has attained with modern science and historical
+criticism only a fuller and deeper content, is to place it on a new
+footing and to endow it with spiritual power. While full sympathy
+must be extended to the Indian effort, the emphasis must fall on the
+Christian schools. They alone can supply in full the religious element
+so needed in Indian education. The present situation offers to them
+in increasing measure an opportunity for a voluntary contribution of
+the needed spiritual force and power to the educational development
+of India. Their contribution, as already indicated, has been great,
+but modern conditions demand something more. Old schools must be
+remodelled, new schools started; independent work must be done<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</span> in
+adapting curricula to Indian ideas and the special needs of girls; the
+whole educational machinery must be raised to the level of the standard
+required for men if the opportunity for imparting this spiritual power
+is to be retained.</p>
+
+<p>No social or religious problem can bear isolation, and if this book has
+treated the question of the education of women in detail and in its
+technical bearings, the relation of that question to the Christianizing
+of Indian life and thought is the main interest in its composition.
+The problem is a question of character, but of character built upon
+personal contact with the Christ-life in God—a question of environment
+and curricula, but also of showing that Christianity is of the East,
+and Eastern in its spiritual appeal; a question of womanhood, but
+also of that more perfect human fellowship where Christ is all and
+in all. “Jesus Christ, by the silent action of a lifetime, laid the
+first emphasis on the identity of woman’s humanity rather than on the
+difference of her sex, thus both dignifying her and man in his attitude
+to her.”<a id="FNanchor_162" href="#Footnote_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> The solution of India’s social problem lies in the
+fulfilment of the Christian ideal, and the progress towards it must be
+a united one, in which both sexes share alike. The negative influence
+of the home is often found to be the strongest in the student life of
+the great Christian colleges, and many an earnest man has fallen back
+from what he seemed to have gained because of a silent, unseen woman.
+The work of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</span> Christian education in leavening thought and producing
+the atmosphere in which there is hope of the ultimate acceptance of
+Christianity is regarded by many as the most potent influence for
+the Kingdom of God in India. The great majority of converts in later
+life, who belonged to the high-castes, have been drawn from the ranks
+of those who have been educated in Christian schools, and in spite of
+intense opposition there are actually men to-day who seek for baptism
+during their college career.<a id="FNanchor_163" href="#Footnote_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> There is the further, and perhaps in
+the sure Providence of God the greater, result in the permeation of
+Hindu society by Christian thought and sentiment, which may yet pave
+the way for a movement of the higher castes to Christ. At the recent
+anniversary services of the Prārthanā Samāj in Bombay, the sermon
+preached by a Justice of the High Court, on the present day as “The
+Age of the Holy Spirit, the Age of Education,” throbbed throughout
+with the reverence of one who had studied at the feet of Jesus. The
+long open hall was packed from end to end with young men who had been
+touched by the new ideas; in one corner sat some twelve Indian women
+whose sympathies were with them. The disparity of the two sexes in the
+audience indicted how the leavening influence of Christian education
+will be deprived of half its power unless it touches the family as
+the unit of civilization. The “direct result”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</span> longed for by those
+who teach in Christian schools is not lacking. It is unnecessary in
+these days to contradict once more the impression that the baptism of
+children and girls of immature age is attempted. There are some cases
+of the baptism of mother and child together, where careful zenana
+visiting has followed up the school pupil; others—and these are the
+majority—are secret disciples whose whole environment is massed up
+against an open confession. One Moslem girl in the higher classes of
+a Christian school is convinced of the truth of Christianity; every
+vacation her parents inquire whether she is a Christian yet, and she
+knows that if she replies in the affirmative all the advantages which
+her younger sisters are enjoying in another Christian school will
+cease. The case is not an extreme one. There is a different story of a
+girl in Burma who was found teaching the children of her jungle village
+daily, and gathering them on Sundays for Bible stories and hymns,
+“until,” as she put it, “some one comes who can do it better than I.”
+Her former school knew nothing of it, and but for the chance visit of a
+Commissioner’s wife the tale would never have been told. Surely this is
+direct result.</p>
+
+<p>Christian educational work has also its place in the problem of the
+Indian Church. Ultimately the interpretation of Christ to India
+must be through the Indian, and the building up of a strong Indian
+Christian community is strategically necessary. The power of the Indian
+Christian home is in proportion to the power of the woman. Yet only 43%
+of the Christian community are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</span> being educated. The dangers of mass
+movements and of illiterate, uninstructed Christianity on one side,
+of europeanizing the convert and educating him beyond his capacity on
+the other, show at the same time the necessity and the difficulty of
+action. The less romantic educational work of industrial orphanages has
+its place in the building up of a strong, true community. The training
+of Christian girls as teachers, through whom the leavening process
+will again work on the non-Christian village life, is perhaps the most
+definite and most direct form of influence.</p>
+
+<p>There is no more subtle problem than the lack of any characteristically
+Indian note in the Indian Christianity which is now assuming some
+numerical importance. “There is no doubt that the lack of vitality,
+the half dead and half alive spirituality which is the present
+characteristic of the Indian Church, is due to enforced conformity to
+Western standards of what is Christian and what is not Christian.”<a id="FNanchor_164" href="#Footnote_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a>
+It may be that this problem too has its relation to the education on
+Christian and Oriental lines of the women, who have been from all time
+the custodians of religion, the upholders of traditional custom, and
+conservative rite.<a id="FNanchor_165" href="#Footnote_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a></p>
+
+<p>From whatever point the larger question of the whole country is viewed,
+it seems to attain perspective and reality in relation to the education
+of its womanhood, and it is only thus as part of one great Christian
+movement that the feminist problem receives its right emphasis and
+value.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="XI">XI</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>CONCLUSION</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquote">
+
+<p>“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of
+the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of
+the fulness of Christ.”</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+<span class="smcap">Ephesians</span> iv. 13.<br>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="dropcap-paragraph">T<span class="upper-case">he</span> spiritual heritage of the twentieth century is marked by extreme
+diversity and yet by a deep inward reality. The march of science and
+commerce, and the development of international relationships have
+given a new content and width to the world’s thought. Isolated life
+is powerless, and a larger synthesis links the human race together.
+All such relationship must inevitably have spiritual content. The
+social upheaval, the claim of the individual for recognition, have a
+determining influence on the interpretation of our faith. Pragmatism
+in modern philosophy tests religion by its results. The religious
+evolution necessitated by the play of international forces is all the
+more critical in that it is to a certain extent unconscious. There is
+a deep Christianity apart from the Church as it is, which has yet to
+make the Church its own. The demand is now for reality—an embodiment
+of religious principles in modern social conditions; for charity—a
+sympathy with the ethnic faiths which is the surer<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</span> for belief in the
+finality of the Christian revelation; for unity, since the modern mind
+cannot accept a Christianity which does not transcend and interpret all
+political, social, and intellectual life. “It is not our duty to-day to
+fight for a new religion; we have but to awaken into freshness of life
+the fathomless depths of Christianity. In so far as we succeed in doing
+this, we can completely satisfy the requirements of the new situation;
+we can seek to realize a Christianity that shall be at once more
+universal and more active and intent on disengaging itself from its
+anthropomorphisms; at the same time we shall view as our very own the
+wealth of religious profundity and inward experience which the older
+Christianity has gathered through its centuries of service, and shall
+seek to realize them in our own life.”<a id="FNanchor_166" href="#Footnote_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a></p>
+
+<p>The growth of the desire to make Christianity universal is perhaps the
+most wonderful phase in the advance of thought; while in one sense
+it is very old and a return to the primitive times of the faith, its
+modern phase thrills with fresh content by the ever-present working
+of the Spirit of God. The fresh light which criticism has shed on
+the historical Jesus has thrown once more into relief His wonderful
+doctrine of the brotherhood of men in the Fatherhood of God. The desire
+is not so much to bring salvation to those whom a rigid theology long
+condemned as “heathen,” as to give freely of the fulness received in
+clear<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</span> consciousness of the solidarity of the human race. The world’s
+best thought must be in terms of Christian philosophy; the Kingdom is
+conceived as present now in power; Christ is seen as the Fulfiller of
+all that is true and eternal in the ancient Faiths, and essentially the
+Saviour of the corporate life.</p>
+
+<p>The appeal of this book is thus for the Christianizing of every factor
+in the education of women in India. None of the three contributing
+forces need be alien to the Spirit of Christ; their unity, their mutual
+relationship, and the necessity of their presence in a transitional
+period must be felt and realized. Can all this educational advance be
+made, if not directly in the Name of Christ, at least in the power
+of His Spirit? The Government influence must determine the tone and
+character of the whole frame-work. Can the Educational Service be
+supplied in all its branches with women who, while absolutely loyal to
+the great principle of neutrality, yet seek through it the spiritual in
+the material, and whose whole work in Empire-building is consciously
+related to the Kingdom of Christ? India has known men of this type
+in the Government Service, and has esteemed their strict neutrality
+the more because of the Christian conviction which lay behind it. The
+influence of Christian ethics in the Government schools behind such
+moral instruction as is possible is enormous, and it naturally enters
+into the teaching of secular subjects. The direct influence permitted
+out of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</span> school hours is a matter of great difficulty and calls for the
+utmost discretion. If the Government policy were ultimately modified so
+as to permit of parallel religious instruction, the direct opportunity
+would be present, but in the meantime indirect religious influence has
+a very definite place.</p>
+
+<p>The spontaneous Indian element will have an important contribution to
+make in the determining of the curricula. Will the Indian committees,
+who need the help of English women, be able to secure those of the
+highest talent and educational qualifications, who for the sake of
+Christ will give them of their best and remain, if silent, yet strong
+in the Faith? This is hard and perplexing work, and calls for strong
+personalities, but it is fraught with endless possibility. India will
+never be won if she does not behold Christianity in her midst lived in
+the lives of those who pursue their ordinary vocation in the Spirit of
+the Master.</p>
+
+<p>These suggestions are made with hesitation lest their attraction should
+weigh with those who could take the more definite line of associating
+themselves with the educational work in India which is done directly
+in the name of Christ. The development of this work on sound lines
+by women of experience and of the highest educational qualifications
+is, as has been indicated in the preceding chapter, the keynote to
+the whole problem. In no work is there such a magnificent sphere of
+influence as in this. A spiritual heritage involves<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</span> responsibility and
+opportunity. Nearly a century of patient work for the women of India
+is written in the annals of the Church: the task of the present day is
+to enter into this work with the same earnest patience. The need for
+action is urgent. It is not only that there are endless opportunities
+for new work which are not being utilized, but that schools with an
+excellent tradition are not being raised to the modern standard of
+efficiency. They are inevitably handicapped by shortage in the English
+staff. A young girl of little experience may find herself almost at
+once at the head of some most complex institution, long before she
+would ever have had such a position of responsibility at home. The
+perpetual strain on those who work on at such tension prevents the due
+result. In other cases the needed and desired expansion is checked by
+lack of the trained educator who could supervise village schools and
+their teachers, or who could put her energy and talent into building
+up a first-class school for non-Christian girls in the centre of
+some district where the new spirit is manifest. Facts indicate the
+appointment in the future of women to act as Tutors or Directresses
+of Studies to the girl students in the mixed mission colleges. There
+is the possibility also of women’s Christian colleges. On every side
+the need is apparent, and the power to meet it lies with the women
+of the English-speaking countries. It is work which makes demands on
+intellect, on character, and on the religious nature. The hesitation
+to respond<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</span> to it springs in part from the sense of reverence for
+things sacred. There are women in educational circles at home who hold
+the truth of Christianity and its sufficiency to meet the need of the
+whole world, but have not offered to share in educational missions
+lest their contribution be not of the required type. There is need in
+India for every type of worker. Christianity gains there, as at home,
+by interpretation through diverse personalities, and there is room
+for all who can reflect, it may be silently, its spirit and power in
+the daily routine of work. A sense of vocation is a sense of personal
+relationship to Him Who calls, and therein lies the motive power for
+all educational work done in the name of Christ.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Appendix_A">Appendix A</h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Curricula</span></h3>
+
+<p class="p0 hang">
+Matriculation subjects of the five Universities of Calcutta, Madras,
+Bombay, Panjāb, and Allahabad:—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p class="hang">English and Mathematics, compulsory in all.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">History and Geography, compulsory in all except Calcutta.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Science, compulsory in Madras and Bombay; elective in the other three.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Classical language, compulsory in Calcutta, Bombay, Panjāb;
+alternative with vernacular in Madras; elective in Allahabad.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Vernacular compulsory in Calcutta and Bombay; alternative with
+classical in Madras; elective in Allahabad and Panjāb.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Drawing, elective in Allahabad and Panjāb.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Text-Books</span></h3>
+
+<p class="p0 hang">State Schools.—No choice.</p>
+
+<p class="p0 hang">Aided Schools.—Choice among authorized alternatives.</p>
+
+<p class="p0 hang">Unaided but recognized Schools.—Abstention from books disapproved by
+Government.</p>
+
+<p class="p0 hang">Text-book Committees.—In every case appointed by Government, and
+include official and non-official
+members; in some provinces places
+are reserved for members of the staff of mission schools.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p0 center">From Analysis of Educational Codes in British India.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Appendix_B">Appendix B</h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Courses for the Training of Teachers</span></h3>
+
+<p class="p0 hang">Training colleges and classes:—<br>
+
+(1) Graduate Course—one year.<span style="margin-left: 3em">} Both in</span><br>
+(2) Undergraduate Course—two years. } English.<br>
+(3) Vernacular Course—after Middle examination—two years.<br>
+(4) Lower Vernacular Course—after Upper Primary examination (women only)—two years.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="p0 hang">Courses (1) and (2) are pursued in the Universities, in special English
+Training schools for men, or in the Training Department of some
+European schools.</p>
+
+<p class="p0 hang">Courses (3) and (4) in Government or mission Vernacular Training
+schools for women. These consist frequently of very small groups in an
+ordinary Middle or High school. A few students are also found in mixed
+schools.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Appendix_C">Appendix C</h2>
+
+<h3>Diagram showing INCREASE OF FEMALE EDUCATION in India.</h3>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp62" id="i_fp278" style="max-width: 68.0625em;">
+ <img class="w100" src="images/i_fp278.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>
+<table><tbody>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">In</td>
+<td class="tdl">Burma</td>
+<td class="tdc">9.6%</td>
+<td class="tdc">of girls</td>
+<td class="tdc">of school age</td>
+<td class="tdc">are receiving</td>
+<td class="tdc">education.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdl">Bombay</td>
+<td class="tdl">7.2%</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdl">Madras</td>
+<td class="tdl">6.8%</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+</tr>
+
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdl">Bengal</td>
+<td class="tdl">4.3%</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdl">Punjāb</td>
+<td class="tdr">3.1%</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdl">United Provinces</td>
+<td class="tdr">1.3%</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+</tr>
+
+</tbody></table>
+
+</figcaption>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Bibliography">Bibliography</h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p class="p0">
+<span class="smcap">Baroda</span>, Maharani of. <i>Position of Women in Indian Life.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Bradley Birt, F. B.</span> <i>Romance of an Eastern Capital.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Carpenter, J. E.</span> <i>Life of Mary Carpenter.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Carpenter, M.</span> <i>Six Months in India.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Chailley, J.</span> <i>Administrative Problems in British India.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Chirol</span>, Sir <span class="smcap">Valentine</span>. <i>Indian Unrest.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Davies, E.</span> <i>Questions relating to Women.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Dutt, R. C.</span> <i>Ancient India.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Dutt, R. C.</span> Translation of <i>Ramāyana and Mahabhārata</i>.<br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Festiné, G.</span> <i>From the Land of the Princes.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Fraser</span>, Sir <span class="smcap">Andrew</span>. <i>Among Rajahs and Ryots.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">James, H. R.</span> <i>Education and Statesmanship in India</i>, 1797-1910.<br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Low, Sidney.</span> <i>A Vision of India.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Lyall</span>, Sir <span class="smcap">Alfred</span>. <i>Asiatic Studies.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Mitra, S. C.</span> <i>Indian Problems.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Nevinson, H. W.</span> <i>The New Spirit in India.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Purser, W. C. B.</span> <i>Christian Missions in Burma.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Poole, F. F.</span> <i>Woman’s Influence in the East.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Rice, B. L.</span> <i>Mysore.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Rulers of India Series.</span> Edited by Sir William Hunter.<br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Richter, J.</span> <i>History of Missions in India.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Scott</span>, Sir <span class="smcap">Geo.</span> <i>Burma.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Smith, Geo.</span> <i>Life of Alexander Duff.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Sorabji, C.</span> <i>Between the Twilights.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Steele, F. A.</span> <i>India through the Ages.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Strachey</span>, Sir <span class="smcap">John</span>. <i>India.</i><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Zimmern, Alice.</span> <i>Renaissance of Girls’ Education.</i><br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<i>Imperial Gazetteer of India.</i><br>
+<br>
+<i>Quinquennial Report on Progress of Education in India, 1907.</i><br>
+<br>
+<i>Public Instruction Reports, 1860-1910.</i> Selections<br>
+<br>
+<i>Statistical Abstract relating to British India, 1911.</i><br>
+<br>
+<i>Reports of Various Missionary Societies.</i><br>
+</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Index">Index</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p0">
+<span class="smcap">Ahmedabad</span>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a><br>
+Ahmednagar, <a href="#Page_180">180</a><br>
+Ajmer-Merwara, <a href="#Page_156">156</a><br>
+Alexandra School, <a href="#Page_173">173</a><br>
+All-Indian Moslem League, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br>
+Allahabad Conference, <a href="#Page_231">231</a><br>
+Alwar, <a href="#Page_154">154</a><br>
+American Baptist Mission, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a><br>
+American Board, <a href="#Page_178">178</a><br>
+Amherst, Lady, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a><br>
+Anglo-Indian (Eurasian), <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a><br>
+Anjuman-i-Islamia, <a href="#Page_229">229</a><br>
+Ārya Samāj, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Baptists</span>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a><br>
+Baroda: Maharani of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;<br>
+—— schools in, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a><br>
+Benares, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a><br>
+Bengali, <a href="#Page_101">101</a><br>
+Besant, Mrs, <a href="#Page_133">133</a><br>
+Bethune School and College, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a><br>
+Bharat Stri Mahamandal, <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br>
+Bhopal, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br>
+Bhore, Miss, <a href="#Page_181">181</a><br>
+Bombay, <a href="#Page_160">160</a> ff.<br>
+Bose, Miss, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a><br>
+Brāhma-Samāj, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a><br>
+Buddhist, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Calcutta, School Society</span>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a><br>
+Capitation grant, <a href="#Page_130">130</a><br>
+Carpenter, Miss, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br>
+Chanda Ramji, <a href="#Page_167">167</a><br>
+Chichgar, <span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</span><a href="#Page_173">173</a><br>
+Chiefs’ College, <a href="#Page_145">145</a><br>
+Christian students, <a href="#Page_197">197</a> ff.<br>
+Church Missionary Society, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a><br>
+Clewer Sisters, <a href="#Page_116">116</a><br>
+Compulsory Education, <a href="#Page_124">24</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a><br>
+Conversion, <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br>
+Cook, Miss, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a><br>
+Covernton, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a><br>
+Curriculum, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br>
+Cursetji, <a href="#Page_166">166</a><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Dacca</span>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br>
+Danish missionaries, <a href="#Page_35">35</a><br>
+Davies, Emily, <a href="#Page_221">221</a><br>
+Dehra Dun, <a href="#Page_133">133</a><br>
+Diocesan High School, Calcutta, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a><br>
+Duff, Dr Alex., <a href="#Page_35">35</a><br>
+Dufferin Fund, <a href="#Page_212">212</a><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Eden Girls’ High School</span>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br>
+Education: Despatch, 1854: <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;<br>
+—— Commission, 1884: <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;<br>
+—— Despatch, 1904: <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br>
+Elphinstone, Lord, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;<br>
+—— College, <a href="#Page_194">194</a><br>
+Eurasian, cp. Anglo-Indian<br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Frere, Lady</span>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Gārgā</span>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br>
+Gokhale, G. K., <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br>
+Gondal, Rani of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a><br>
+Government, system of education, <span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</span><a href="#Page_22">22</a> ff.<br>
+Government: attitude to female education, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;<br>
+—— Female Education Committee, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br>
+Grant Medical College, <a href="#Page_208">208</a><br>
+Gujerati Stri Mandal, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Hastings, Lady</span>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br>
+Hindu, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a> ff., <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a><br>
+Hindu Female Training School, <a href="#Page_123">123</a><br>
+Hostels, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a><br>
+Hyderabad, <a href="#Page_151">151</a><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Ideals of Womanhood</span>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a><br>
+Indian Church, <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br>
+Indian National Congress, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br>
+Indian schools, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a><br>
+Inspectress, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a><br>
+International Moral League, <a href="#Page_229">229</a><br>
+Isabella Thoburn School, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Jaipur</span>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Ladies’ Society for Female Native Education</span>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br>
+Lawrence, Lord, <a href="#Page_38">38</a><br>
+Learned ladies, <a href="#Page_31">31</a> ff.<br>
+Lilavati Singh, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a><br>
+Literacy, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a><br>
+London Missionary Society, <a href="#Page_152">152</a><br>
+Ludhiana, <a href="#Page_215">215</a><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Madras</span>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a><br>
+Mahakali Pathshalas, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a> ff.<br>
+Maharani’s College, <a href="#Page_194">194</a><br>
+Maitreyi, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br>
+Manu, Code of, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br>
+Marathi, <a href="#Page_179">179</a><br>
+Marshman, Mrs, <span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</span><a href="#Page_103">103</a><br>
+Medical students, <a href="#Page_212">212</a><br>
+Methodist Episcopal, <a href="#Page_67">67</a><br>
+Minto, Lord, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br>
+Mission schools, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, etc., <a href="#Page_233">233</a><br>
+Missionary Settlement for University Women, <a href="#Page_208">208</a><br>
+Mohommedan, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a><br>
+Moral instruction, <a href="#Page_223">223</a> ff.<br>
+Municipal schools, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a><br>
+Mysore, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Nasirabad</span>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a><br>
+National Indian Association, <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br>
+Native States, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a><br>
+Nauraji, <a href="#Page_165">165</a><br>
+Neo-Hinduism, <a href="#Page_133">133</a><br>
+Nivedita, Sister, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><br>
+Normal schools, cp. Training<br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Oxford Mission</span>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Paranjpe, Principal</span>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a><br>
+Parda: absence of, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;<br>
+—— introduction of system, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;<br>
+—— party, 18, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;<br>
+—— schools, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a><br>
+Parsi, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a> ff., <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a><br>
+Poona, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a><br>
+Prabhu Brahmans, <a href="#Page_164">164</a><br>
+Prārthanā Samāj, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Queen Mary College</span>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Rajputana</span>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a><br>
+Ramabai, <a href="#Page_180">180</a><br>
+Rangoon, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a><br>
+Religious instruction, <a href="#Page_225">225</a> ff.<br>
+Results, <a href="#Page_241">241</a><br>
+Roman Catholic, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Sarah Tucker School</span>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a><br>
+Secondary training, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a><br>
+Seva Sadan, <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br>
+Social life, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</span><a href="#Page_207">207</a><br>
+Society for Propagation of the Gospel, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br>
+Sorabji, Cornelia, <a href="#Page_200">200</a><br>
+—— Lena, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br>
+—— Mrs, <a href="#Page_178">178</a><br>
+Specialization, <a href="#Page_219">219</a><br>
+Stages of education, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a><br>
+Stipends, <a href="#Page_198">198</a><br>
+Students Literary and Scientific Society, <a href="#Page_165">165</a> ff.<br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Teachers</span>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a><br>
+Training schools, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a> ff., <a href="#Page_194">194</a><br>
+Travancore, <a href="#Page_152">152</a><br>
+Trevandrum, <a href="#Page_195">195</a><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">United Free Church Mission</span>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</span>
+<a href="#Page_179">179</a><br>
+University, <a href="#Page_192">192</a> ff.<br>
+Unrest, political, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Welsh Presbyterians</span>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br>
+Wesleyan, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a><br>
+Whyte, Miss, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br>
+Widows, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a><br>
+Wilson College, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a><br>
+Wilson, Mrs, cp. Cook<br>
+Wilson, Mrs Margaret, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a><br>
+Wilson, Miss, <a href="#Page_187">187</a><br>
+Women’s colleges, <a href="#Page_194">194</a><br>
+—— University, <a href="#Page_220">220</a><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Y.W.C.A.</span>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a><br>
+<br>
+<span class="smcap">Zenana Bible and Medical Mission</span>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a><br>
+Zenana, cp. parda.
+</p>
+
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> An Indian Theistic sect eclectic in character, founded
+by Raja Rammohan Roy in Calcutta, 1828. <i>Cp. New Ideas in
+India</i>—John Morrison, D.D.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> Or Vedic Theistic Association, a patriotic and religious
+sect, chiefly in the United Provinces and the Punjāb. Founded in 1875
+by Dyanand Saraswati. <i>Cp.</i> as above.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> Women who remain behind the curtain.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> <i>Among Indian Rajahs and Ryots</i>—Sir Andrew H. L.
+Fraser, K.C.S.I.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a>
+<i>Between the Twilights</i>—Cornelia Sorabji.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> <i>Women in the Modern National Movements of the East</i>
+(S.C.M. Pamphlet), by A. de Sélincourt.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> Seva Sadan Report.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> <i>Ruler of India Series</i>—Lord Amherst.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> Speech at the Education Congress, 1897—G. K. Gokhale.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> <i>Among Indian Rajahs and Ryots</i>—Sir A. H. L.
+Fraser, K.C.S.I.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> <i>Cp.</i> Diagram, Appendix C.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> Lodgings.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> 1911 Census Returns. In 1901, 9.8 per cent. men, 0.07 per
+cent. women.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> <i>Women in the Modern National Movements of the East</i>
+(S.C.M. Pamphlet, 1912), A. de Sélincourt.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> <i>Vedic Quarterly</i>, 1911.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> <i>Koran Sura IV.</i> (Rodwell’s edition, <i>Sura</i>,
+C.).</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> A secret phrase or password used for initiation into
+Hindu sects. <i>Cp. Primer of Hinduism</i>—J. N. Farquhar (C.L.S.).</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> <i>Cf. Ancient India.</i> R. C. Dutt.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> <i>Vedic Quarterly</i>, 1911.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> Manu, ii. 67. S.B.E. The Vedic Sacrament had for its
+object the study of Vedic texts.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> Manu, ix. 18. S.B.E.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> <i>India through the Ages.</i> F. A. Steele.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> <i>India through the Ages.</i> F. A. Steele.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> Smriti=tradition (of philosophy).</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> System of philosophy.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> <i>Calcutta Review</i>, September 1855.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> <i>India through the Ages.</i> F. A. Steele.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> <i>History of Missions in India.</i> J. Richter.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> <i>Biography of Alexander Duff.</i> George Smith.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> Appointed to the Subordinate Educational Service in 1876.
+India Office Note.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> Popular Education in the North Western
+Provinces.—<i>Government Report</i>, 1860.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">[32]</a> Popular Education in the North Western
+Provinces.—<i>Government Report</i>, 1860.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">[33]</a> An agricultural caste.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">[34]</a> Landowners.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">[35]</a> <i>North Western Provinces Report on Education</i>, 1875.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">[36]</a> <i>Life and Work of Mary Carpenter.</i> J. E. Carpenter,
+1879.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">[37]</a> <i>Six Months in India.</i> Vol. I., p. 278. M.
+Carpenter.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">[38]</a> <i>North Western Provinces Report on Education</i>, 1877.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">[39]</a> <i>Ibid.</i></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">[40]</a> The Madras Report alone gives separate figures:</p>
+
+<p class="p0 hang">
+Secondary schools, Government, 2 Mission, 35 Indian, 0<br>
+Primary schools, ” 208 ” 523 ” 331<br>
+</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">[41]</a> Pathshala = school.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">[42]</a> <i>Quinquennial Survey of Progress of Education in
+India</i>, 1907. Vol. II. Tables 181-184. These statistics include
+Eurasian Schools.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">[43]</a> <i>Quinquennial Survey</i>, 1907. Vol. II. Table 180.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="label">[44]</a> <i>Quinquennial Survey</i>, 1907. Vol. I., p. 257.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="label">[45]</a> Comparative Percentages. In 1886—1.6 per cent.; in
+1896—2.1 per cent.; in 1901—2.2 per cent.; in 1907—3.6 per cent.; in
+1910—4.6 per cent.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="label">[46]</a> Schools are classified as</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p class="p0 hang">(<i>a</i>) Primary, including Standards I to IV.</p>
+
+<p class="p0 hang">(<i>b</i>) Vernacular Middle, including Standards I to VII.</p>
+
+<p class="p0 hang">(<i>c</i>) Anglo-Vernacular Middle or Middle English, including
+Standards I to VII. English taught from Standard IV.</p>
+
+<p class="p0 hang">(<i>d</i>) High, including Standards I to X. English taught from
+Standard IV and used as a medium in the higher stages.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p0 hang">This classification varies somewhat in the different provinces,
+especially as to the age for using English as a medium. (<i>b</i>) is
+entirely absent from some returns. (<i>c</i>) and (<i>d</i>) are often
+grouped together as secondary schools.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="label">[47]</a> <i>Quinquennial Survey</i>. Vol. I., p. 255.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="label">[48]</a> <i>Renaissance of Girls’ Education</i>, A. Zimmern.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="label">[49]</a> <i>Cf.</i> Appendix A. for curriculum.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="label">[50]</a> <i>World Missionary Conference Report.</i> Vol. III. p.
+51.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="label">[51]</a> <i>Cf.</i> Appendix B.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="label">[52]</a> “Marriage in Burma is simply concubinage, which may
+terminate at the desire of either party.” <i>Christian Missions in
+Burma.</i> W. C. B. Purser.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="label">[53]</a> <i>Public Instruction Report, Burma</i>, 1910.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="label">[54]</a> <i>Public Instruction Report, Burma</i>, 1910.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="label">[55]</a> <i>Missions in Burma</i>, p. 13. W. C. Purser.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="label">[56]</a> <i>Burma.</i> M. and B. Ferrars.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="label">[57]</a> <i>Report of Public Instruction in Burma</i>, 1910, p.
+41.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="label">[58]</a> Dramatic tales with pointed moral. The “Pyazats,” the
+modern development thereof are popular burlesque plays, performed at
+festivals. <i>Cf.</i> <i>Burma.</i> Sir George Scott.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="label">[59]</a> <i>Public Instruction Report</i>, p. 18.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="label">[60]</a> <i>Cf.</i> p. 66.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61" class="label">[61]</a> This was written before the Durbar Proclamation on the
+further re-adjustment of Bengal areas. Calcutta is now the capital of
+the Bengali-speaking districts.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62" class="label">[62]</a> White veil with eye-holes, enveloping the whole person.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63" class="label">[63]</a> Mohammedans, 18 millions. Hindus, 11&#189; millions.
+Animists, 1&#188; millions. 1901 Census.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64" class="label">[64]</a> This title is used of a Mohammedan woman of a ruling
+family, or who can prove direct descent from the Prophet.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65" class="label">[65]</a> A literary caste.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66" class="label">[66]</a> A literary caste, about 25 per cent. of their women are
+literate.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67" class="label">[67]</a> Descendants probably of the original inhabitants of the
+district.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68" class="label">[68]</a> Shloka, a particular type of Sanskrit metre, often used
+loosely to mean any verse of Sanskrit poetry.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69" class="label">[69]</a> Patshala = school.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70" class="label">[70]</a> Information throughout is chiefly drawn from
+<i>Proceedings of Female Education Committee</i>.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71" class="label">[71]</a> Teacher.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72" class="label">[72]</a> <i>Cf.</i> p. 137.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_73" href="#FNanchor_73" class="label">[73]</a> 50 rupees per month in addition to 25 rupees
+gari-allowance is given to each governess and the pupils do not
+contribute much.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_74" href="#FNanchor_74" class="label">[74]</a> <i>Indian Speeches.</i> Lord Curzon.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_75" href="#FNanchor_75" class="label">[75]</a> Work. “It is not my work” is a common excuse.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_76" href="#FNanchor_76" class="label">[76]</a> <i>Cf.</i> Note Chap. IV, p. 78.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_77" href="#FNanchor_77" class="label">[77]</a> <i>Imperial Gazetteer of India</i>—Volume <i>Bengal</i>.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_78" href="#FNanchor_78" class="label">[78]</a> Only 3171 in the 1901 Census.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_79" href="#FNanchor_79" class="label">[79]</a> <i>Position of Women in Indian Life.</i> Her Highness the
+Maharani of Baroda. <i>Cf.</i> also Chap. II, p. 36.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang">
+<a id="Footnote_80" href="#FNanchor_80_1" class="label">[80]</a><i>Calcutta Review</i>, 1855.
+</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_81" href="#FNanchor_81" class="label">[81]</a> <i>Address on Female Education in India</i>, 1839,
+delivered by Dr Duff at the First Annual Meeting of the Scottish
+Ladies’ Association.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_82" href="#FNanchor_82_1" class="label">[82]</a> Percentage of girls of school age at school.</p>
+<table><tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl_wsp">1881</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdl_wsp">0.87</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl_wsp">1891</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdl_wsp">1.61</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl_wsp">1901</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdl_wsp">1.8</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl_wsp">1910</td>
+<td class="tdc_wsp"></td>
+<td class="tdl_wsp">4.3</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody></table>
+
+<p class="p0 hang">The total number of girls under instruction is now 171,569.</p>
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><i>Imperial Gazetteer. Bengal Public Instruction Report</i>, 1910.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_83" href="#FNanchor_83" class="label">[83]</a> <i>Imperial Gazetteer.</i></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_84" href="#FNanchor_84" class="label">[84]</a> <i>Cf.</i> Chap. II, p. 36.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_85" href="#FNanchor_85" class="label">[85]</a> <i>Cf.</i> Chap. IX.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_86" href="#FNanchor_86" class="label">[86]</a> The Goddess of Learning. On her festival, students will
+pile their books and inkpots before the shrines in their colleges for
+special blessing.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_87" href="#FNanchor_87" class="label">[87]</a> Worship.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_88" href="#FNanchor_88" class="label">[88]</a> Lady, a title of respect.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_89" href="#FNanchor_89" class="label">[89]</a> <i>Report of the Mahakali Patshala.</i></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_90" href="#FNanchor_90" class="label">[90]</a> 1911 Census. <i>Statistical Abstract of British
+India.</i></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_91" href="#FNanchor_91" class="label">[91]</a> A school under the English Code, where only 15 per cent.
+of the pupils may be of Indian parentage.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_92" href="#FNanchor_92" class="label">[92]</a> <i>Bengal Public Instruction Report</i>, 1910.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_93" href="#FNanchor_93" class="label">[93]</a> <i>Cf.</i> Chap. VIII.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_94" href="#FNanchor_94" class="label">[94]</a> Inspectress’s Report.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_95" href="#FNanchor_95" class="label">[95]</a> <i>Public Instruction Report, United Provinces</i>, 1910.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_96" href="#FNanchor_96" class="label">[96]</a> <i>Cf.</i> <i>Young India and the Education of Girls</i>,
+E. R. M’Neile (C.M.S.).</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_97" href="#FNanchor_97" class="label">[97]</a> Formed from Statistical Tables III and IIIA. <i>in Public
+Instruction Report for United Provinces</i>, 1910.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_98" href="#FNanchor_98" class="label">[98]</a> <i>Cf.</i> <i>The Renaissance in India</i>, C. F.
+Andrews.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_99" href="#FNanchor_99" class="label">[99]</a> <i>Public Instruction Report, United Provinces</i>, p.
+34.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_100" href="#FNanchor_100" class="label">[100]</a> <i>Public Instruction Report, Panjāb</i>, 1910.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_101" href="#FNanchor_101" class="label">[101]</a> <i>Cf.</i> p. 178.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_102" href="#FNanchor_102" class="label">[102]</a> <i>Female Education in North India. East and West</i>,
+January 1911. M. P. Western, Principal, Victoria May School.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_103" href="#FNanchor_103" class="label">[103]</a> The prospectus of the Conjeevaram School (South India)
+presents several unique features. The Hindus consider it their best
+school. A visit was, unfortunately, impossible.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_104" href="#FNanchor_104" class="label">[104]</a> <i>Administrative Problems of British India</i>, book
+ii., chap. i. J. Chailley.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_105" href="#FNanchor_105" class="label">[105]</a> Chief minister.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_106" href="#FNanchor_106" class="label">[106]</a> <i>Public Instruction Report, Bombay</i>, 1910, p. 24.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_107" href="#FNanchor_107" class="label">[107]</a> <i>Imperial Gazetteer of India.</i></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_108" href="#FNanchor_108" class="label">[108]</a> The great “war-sacrifice of honourable death” practised
+by the Rajputs. When resistance was unavailing, they chose death in
+battle rather than surrender.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_109" href="#FNanchor_109" class="label">[109]</a> From <i>The Land of the Princes</i>, Gabrielle Festing.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_110" href="#FNanchor_110" class="label">[110]</a> <i>Imperial Gazetteer.</i></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_111" href="#FNanchor_111" class="label">[111]</a> <i>Statistical Abstract of British India</i>, 1911.
+Approximate figures.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_112" href="#FNanchor_112" class="label">[112]</a> Asoka, ruler of India, <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> 272-231. He is
+known as the Constantine of Buddhism.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_113" href="#FNanchor_113" class="label">[113]</a> A society similar to the Brāhma-Samāj, but less
+organized and not so strong numerically. <i>Cf.</i> <i>New Ideas in
+India.</i> Morrison.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_114" href="#FNanchor_114" class="label">[114]</a> There are also 190 girls studying in the High Stage of
+12 of the schools classified for various reasons as Middle.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_115" href="#FNanchor_115" class="label">[115]</a> High and Middle schools which have a Primary Department
+are included again in the returns of Primary schools.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_116" href="#FNanchor_116" class="label">[116]</a> <i>Public Instruction Report, Bombay</i>, Table IIIA.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_117" href="#FNanchor_117" class="label">[117]</a> “English-teaching” schools form a special category in
+the Bombay Presidency. There is no limitation to the number of Indian
+pupils, and they are not bound by the Anglo-Vernacular Code. <i>Cf.</i>
+p. 179.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_118" href="#FNanchor_118" class="label">[118]</a> Hindu ladies attended first about 1863 in response to
+special efforts made on their behalf by Lady Frere.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_119" href="#FNanchor_119" class="label">[119]</a> Farthings.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_120" href="#FNanchor_120" class="label">[120]</a> Detailed information can be obtained in the reports
+of the various societies. There are 26 Protestant societies in the
+Presidency, most of whom have educational work for girls.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_121" href="#FNanchor_121" class="label">[121]</a> <i>Cf.</i> <i>Life of Pandita Ramabai</i>, Helen Dyer.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_122" href="#FNanchor_122" class="label">[122]</a> <i>Public Instruction Report, Bombay</i>, 1910, p. 27.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_123" href="#FNanchor_123" class="label">[123]</a> <i>Public Instruction Report, Bombay</i>, p. 27.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_124" href="#FNanchor_124" class="label">[124]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 18.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_125" href="#FNanchor_125" class="label">[125]</a> <i>Public Instruction Report, Bombay</i>, p. 29.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_126" href="#FNanchor_126" class="label">[126]</a> <i>Public Instruction Report, Bombay</i>, p. 16.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_127" href="#FNanchor_127" class="label">[127]</a> There are in addition three Training Colleges.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_128" href="#FNanchor_128" class="label">[128]</a> Approximate number only.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_129" href="#FNanchor_129" class="label">[129]</a> <i>Cf.</i> also <i>Statistical Abstract, British
+India</i>, Table 105.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_130" href="#FNanchor_130" class="label">[130]</a> Dr Mackichan, in Preface to Ratanbai’s Translation of
+<i>Les Parsis</i>.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_131" href="#FNanchor_131" class="label">[131]</a> F.A.—title given to those who have passed the First
+Arts examination, corresponding to “Intermediate.” It is abolished by
+some of the Universities. <i>Cf.</i> p. 116.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_132" href="#FNanchor_132" class="label">[132]</a> Now married to Pandit Keshavan.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_133" href="#FNanchor_133" class="label">[133]</a> <i>Administrative Problems of British India.</i> J.
+Chailley.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_134" href="#FNanchor_134" class="label">[134]</a> <i>Indian Unrest.</i> V. Chirol.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_135" href="#FNanchor_135" class="label">[135]</a> <i>Administrative Problems.</i> J. Chailley.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_136" href="#FNanchor_136" class="label">[136]</a> <i>Indian Unrest.</i> Chirol.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_137" href="#FNanchor_137" class="label">[137]</a> <i>Cf.</i> Report from Secr. M.S.U.W., 74 Denison House,
+Vauxhall Bridge Road, London.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_138" href="#FNanchor_138" class="label">[138]</a> <i>Public Instruction Report</i>, Bombay, 1910.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_139" href="#FNanchor_139" class="label">[139]</a> There are at present in hospital work in India 47 women
+medicals of the first grade (including English women), 92 assistant
+surgeons, and 67 hospital assistants, practitioners, etc. <i>Cf.</i>
+<i>Report of the Countess of Dufferin’s Fund</i>, 1911.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_140" href="#FNanchor_140" class="label">[140]</a> <i>Quinquennial Report</i>, vol. i.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_141" href="#FNanchor_141" class="label">[141]</a> Founded in 1884, the total value of hospital buildings
+connected with the Fund is now 50 lakhs. 90 students are in receipt of
+stipends. <i>Cf.</i> Report.</p>
+
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_142" href="#FNanchor_142" class="label">[142]</a> <i>A Problem and its Solution</i>, E. M. Brown, M.A.,
+M.D. (Procurable from 36 Fairfield Road, Bromley, Kent.)</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_143" href="#FNanchor_143" class="label">[143]</a> Further hospital practice might be available in
+Ludhiana.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_144" href="#FNanchor_144" class="label">[144]</a> The Y.W.C.A. has student branches in these hostels.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_145" href="#FNanchor_145" class="label">[145]</a> <i>Bombay Public Instruction Report</i>, 1910.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_146" href="#FNanchor_146" class="label">[146]</a> Exceptions exist in the Diocesan College, Calcutta, in
+the case of non-residents.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_147" href="#FNanchor_147" class="label">[147]</a> <i>Indian Ladies’ Magazine.</i></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_148" href="#FNanchor_148" class="label">[148]</a> Alice Zimmern on the aims of the Girton pioneers in
+<i>Renaissance of Girls’ Education</i>.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_149" href="#FNanchor_149" class="label">[149]</a> <i>Position of Women in Indian Life</i>, by Her Highness
+the Maharani of Baroda.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_150" href="#FNanchor_150" class="label">[150]</a> <i>Renaissance of Girls’ Education.</i> A. Zimmern.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_151" href="#FNanchor_151" class="label">[151]</a> <i>Unrest and Education in India.</i> Wm. Miller, D.D.,
+LL.D., C.I.E.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_152" href="#FNanchor_152" class="label">[152]</a> Despatches on Christianity in India—Sir John Lawrence
+(<i>Times</i> Reprint).</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_153" href="#FNanchor_153" class="label">[153]</a> Despatch of the Secretary of State, 1859.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_154" href="#FNanchor_154" class="label">[154]</a> “King George and the Hindoos,” <i>XIX Century</i>,
+January 1912.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_155" href="#FNanchor_155" class="label">[155]</a> <i>Allahabad Conference Report</i>, 1911.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_156" href="#FNanchor_156" class="label">[156]</a> G. K. Gokhale.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_157" href="#FNanchor_157" class="label">[157]</a> <i>Indian Unrest.</i> Sir Valentine Chirol.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_158" href="#FNanchor_158" class="label">[158]</a> The quotation is from a verbal translation given during
+the visit to the school.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_159" href="#FNanchor_159" class="label">[159]</a> <i>Quinquennial Report</i>, vol. i. p. 257.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_160" href="#FNanchor_160" class="label">[160]</a> <i>Unrest and Education in India.</i> Wm. Miller, D.D.,
+LL.D., C.I.E.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_161" href="#FNanchor_161" class="label">[161]</a> <i>Allahabad Conference Report</i>, 1911.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_162" href="#FNanchor_162" class="label">[162]</a> <i>International Review of Missions</i>, January 1912.
+Article by T. Gairdner.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_163" href="#FNanchor_163" class="label">[163]</a> The Aim of Educational Missions. <i>East and West</i>,
+January 1912. W. E. S. Holland.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_164" href="#FNanchor_164" class="label">[164]</a> <i>Student Movement</i>, 1911, Article by S. K. Rudra.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_165" href="#FNanchor_165" class="label">[165]</a> Cp. on this <i>The Renaissance in India</i>, C. F.
+Andrews.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="p0 hang"><a id="Footnote_166" href="#FNanchor_166" class="label">[166]</a> <i>Christianity and the New Idealism</i>, Rudolf Eucken.</p>
+
+</div>
+</div>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78894 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+
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+
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+[Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for eBook [#78894](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78894)
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