courses a boy throughout the High School course The defects observed by the Commission in the Arts Colleges of Bengal are also noticeable in this Presidency. The immense number of students to be dealt with by the University, the meagre staffing and equipment of many of the Colleges, the absence of variety in the courses and of provision for training in technical subjects, the unwieldy size of the classes and the absence of individual guidance to students, the inadequate pay and prospects of teachers in private Colleges and the difficulties of co-operation between Colleges owing to their widely scattered location are defects with which we are familiar. One main remedy proposed by the Commission for the improvement of the system of secondary education is that the intermediate examination should qualify for admission to the University course. suggestion is quite sound and must commend itself to all who have any knowledge of the products of our Secondary School system. Their proposal that the Honours course should be one of three years has already been anticipated in Madras. Whether the length of the pass course should also be extended to three years is a matter which deserves consideration. The recommendations of the Commission that there should be at least one intermediate college in every district and that the courses of the intermediate Colleges should be framed so as to prepare students not only for the degree courses of the University in Arts and The Science but also for the Medical, Engineering, and teaching professions and for careers in Agriculture, Commerce and Industry must also commend themselves for acceptance. The intermediate classes must serve as a sorting station where boys will be picked up and given the preliminary training to prepare for different vocations according to their special tastes and aptitudes. By far the most urgent problem in the organisation of our educational system is the provision of adequate facilities for higher technical training for a sufficiently varied number of callings. The problem of variety of technical training and the problem of economic and especially industrial development are closely interdependent. But unless and until new openings are provided for our young men, it is hopeless to expect them to be diverted from the more or less literary courses which now dominate the University. The Commission's suggestions for the alterations of the University structure are largely modelled upon the report of the London University Commission. The Commission rightly insists upon the need for the creation of new Universities wherein the teaching function can be assured its due predominence. Taking our own Presidency into consideration, the numbers now dealt with are far too large and there is ample need and justification for at least three more, a University for the Southern group of districts at Trichinopoly, one for the Telugu districts at Waltair, which is bound to grow in importance with the construction of the Vizagapatam harbour, and one for the Western districts in Coimbatore or Calicut. If the demand for education in the Ceded districts is sufficiently large, Bellary may prove a convenient centre. The creation of new Universities or, for the matter of that, the improvement of the existing Universities is almost entirely a question of funds and unless the Government are prepared to incur the necessary expenditure, there is little or no prospect of any real improvement. To put it shortly, the pressing needs of the day are the provision of training for various walks of life and a liberal budget for a comprehensive educational programme broad-based upon compulsory elementary education and carried through a varied course of secondary education to the highest University ideals. The recommendations of the Commission for the abandonment of the service system of recruitment, for the restriction of Government interference, and for the conferment of autonomy in the Universities are bound to meet with general approval. HE five heavy volumes which are now under circulation are very interesting reading. The prevailing note of the report is dissatisfaction: dissatisfaction with the machinery of instruction; dissatisfaction with the students; dissatisfaction with accomodation in Colleges and in the hostels; dissatisfaction with the Government regarding contribution; dissatisfaction with the University, and dissatisfaction with other Educational authorities. Since the introduction of British rule in India and since the resolve to give education in English to Indians, there has been no pronouncement so condemnatory of the process employed for imparting that education as that contained in the report under review. For a long time I have been of opinion that the nature of education given under the guidance of our Universities stands in need of great Reform. I have made no secret of it in my speeches outside the Senate Chamber and inside it. But the revelation which has been furnished by the unqualified censure which has been passed by the University Commission has taken even my breath away. There are two considerations which render the work of the Commission somewhat incomplete. The first is the rather undue importance attached to the details connected with school and college life in Bengal. No doubt the Commission was prima facie constituted for overhauling educational ideals in that Presidency. Still it was no secret that the main labours of that body were to be directed towards furnishing the Government of India with materials for a reconstruction of educational problems all over India. Therefore the somewhat lurid picture drawn of school life in the mofussil of the Presidency of Bengal, and the anxiety exhibited to provide a remedy for the evils which the Bengal student is suffering from, detract from the greater usefulness of the recommendations as a whole. The second consideration, if one may venture to say so, is the incompleteness of the recommendations. What I mean is this. The cures suggested are not calculated to radically put an end to the various disappointing features which have been catalogued in the Commission's report. It may be that the Commission felt that a process of repair rather than of reconstruction should be adopted in dealing with this great problem. But in some matters at least one would have thought that the cancer was too deep and that a more thorough operation was necessary to remove it. These ideas passed through my mind as I was reading the Report. But as may be pointed out it is easier to criti cise than to construct; and I gladly confess that in some directions the Reforms suggested are of a character which should satisfy public opinion throughout India. On the question of the unduly literary character of the education given the Commission speak out very clearly. I believe it was President Wilson who said that there should be no water tight compartments in the progress of a student's career from primary to higher education. This catching statement is subject to limitations, and I am glad to find that the Commission has recognised it. It is one thing to say that every student should have such an equipment in the lower classes as would enable him, if he is so minded, to climb to the top of the ladder in any branch of knowledge which he chooses. But it is a different thing to suggest that the opportunities afforded to students must be of the same character as would enable the lowest and the highest among them to tread the same path. The Commission has rightly pointed out that with the Intermediate classes the system of general education should stop. As I have not read through the report fully, I am not in a position to say whether the Commission agrees with one of my cherished views that until this stage is reached there should be as little of specialisation as possible. The Commission has rightly held that the education ending with the School Final is not sufficient to enable a student to enter public life or to carve out for himself a career of usefulness on the strength of the education thus far imparted. It may be that in Madras the course which ends with the School Final is not so ill-adapted career as in Bengal. For not sure that the English Final student is taught in Madras is not far superior in quality than what is taught to him in Bengal. Even granting that it is so, the character of the subjects taught and the mode of teaching them and the way in which the students are housed and brought together are common both to Bengal and to Madras. I do not want to go into particulars. But I cannot help saying that there is as much need for Reform in Madras in this direction as in Calcutta. for a useful example I am which a School The recommendations of the Commission aim at turning the attention of the student from seeking the career of a quill driver in a public office into a citizen who can improve the industrial condition of the country and contribute to its material wealth. It is in this direction that very urgent Reform is necessary at once, and with regard to which every Local Government should take immediate steps to give effect to the recommendations of the Commission. In Madras more than even in Bengal the necessity for starting more Universities is urgent. To one who has been accustomed to the kind of discussion that is going on in the Senate Chamber, and who has been privileged to know the heavy and incessant work that is being done by the members of the Syndicate in Madras, it would be clear that if the present state of affairs do continue any longer there will be a break-down in the near future. No doubt so long as the functions of the University are only to examine (because I do not consider the provision for University lectures as at present arranged has really made the University a teaching one) the pressure of work may not be felt very much. But as has been pointed out by the Commission the type of University which has been foisted on India after the model of the London University has long outstayed its time. While London has changed completely, true to our conservative instinct, we have been going even further than what the London University was at its start. This can no longer go on. There are centres of Education in Madras which cry out for the establishment of more Universities. This is another matter on which prompt action is necessary. The Commission has rightly pointed out that what is being done by the University is only to prepare students for examination and not to make them good citizens. This is a reproach which nobody who has studied the problem can regard as unmerited. No attempt is being made to instil into the minds of the coming generation ideas which would in course of time, enable them to work out the salvation of the country and to spread among the unregenerate classes the duties of civic life. Wherever you go among a group of students you hear nothing of what they discuss in common which would enable them in future life to work together for the amelioration of the people of the country. What they share in common is the dictated note-book of the teacher. They are not taught that their life in school is a preparation for nobler ends. The result is when they take to thinking for themselves on these questions, they exhibit a want of balance and a waut of judgment which bas earned a great deal of censure. So long as the root of the evil which engenders this state of mind is not eradicated, it would be idle to declaim against it. Put the school and the teacher in order, then the student will feel higher responsibility and observe greater decorum. I agree that there is good reason for the complaint that political demagogues lead away the students from the right path-but these unthinking men who play with fire are themselves products of a system of education which at least in later years has not conduced to impress them with the proper ideals of life. Those of the older generation who had the good fortune to sit at the feet of the great teachers of the past learnt a great deal more from these teachers than are imparted in these days. There is a want of fellow-feeling in these days-a feeling that the work is done by the mechanical delivery of set lectures-a feeling that the development of the character of the taught is not within the province of the professor. This conception of a teacher's duties is not calculated to remove the grievance complained of. I have naturally not gone into the details. I have confined myself to making some general observations on the report. I would earnestly commend to all persons who are interesting themselves in the cause of education a careful and close study of the volumes issued by the Commission. One of the most delicate problems of the Peace settlement is that relating to the future of the Ottoman Empire. Mussalmans all over the world are bound together by one common brotherhood and whatever attitude they may take in regard to any question cannot be lightly treated as merely sentimental. The sentiments of 300,000,000 of people ought to count for much in any polity and the League of Nations will incur a grave responsibility if it should blunder into a false step prejudicial to the interests and traditions of so large and powerful a community as the Mahomedans. There is no doubt that considerable numbers of muslim people have been fortified by the pledges of President Wilson and the British Premier when they gave assurances in regard to the independence and integrity of the Ottoman Empire; and it would indeed be a grievous disappointment if anything is done to thwart the hopes of the Muslim World. During the War, the loyalty of the Mahamadan peoples all over the Empire was put to a severe strain-and Britain is the Greatest Mahamadan power in the world-and Indian Mahamadans in particular loyally co-operated with the allies in their fight for freedom. It is not therefore surprising that the proposals for the dismemberment of the Turkish Empire should fill the minds of Indian Mahamadans with grief and resentment; and the Hindu subjects of His Majesty cannot withhold their sympathy from their fellow countrymen. It is gratifying to know the deep concern, with which Mr. Montagu, Lord Sinha Maharaja of Bikaner have been representing the cause of the Muslims at the Peace Table and and His Highness the it is hoped that no efforts will be spared by the British representatives to mete out justice to the claims of Turkey. The following views of representative leaders will be read with interest.-(Ed. I. R.) H. H. Damad Ferid Pasha. Grand Vizier and head of the Turkish Delegation. (Our aim is the) rehabilitation of the Ottoman nation. Thus rehabilitated in the eyes of the civilised world our mission will henceforward be that of devoting ourselves to an intensive economic and intellectual culture in order thus to become a useful factor in the League of Nations. This The Ottoman people hope that the chaos in the East, bolstered as it is by this abnormal state of affairs which is neither war nor peace, may at last be replaced by order, and it likewise desires to see the end of the continued occupation of its territories in spite of the Armistice. occupation has in fact resulted at Smyrna in the most deplorable excesses which have been committed to the hurt of the defenceless Moslem population. It desires with equal earnestness the maintenance, on the basis of the status quo ante bellum, of the integrity of the Ottoman Empire, which, during the last forty years, has been reduced to the least possible limits. It lastly wishes to be granted in Thrace, to the North and West of Adrianople, where the Mahomedan population is in an overwhelming majority, a frontier line which will render possible the defence of Adrianople and Constantinople. What we ask for this is, moreover, completely in conformity with President Wilson's principles, which we invoked when requesting an armistice, being convinced that they would be evenly applied in the interests of the peace of the world. On the other band, a fresh parcelling-out of compact block, and its disintegration would be Sir Abbas Ali Baig. We venture to appeal to you for the sake of the fair name of Great Britain and the tranquil development of Asia, that Turkey proper and Thrace with Constantinople as its capital should be left intact and uninterfered with under the sovereignty of the Sultan, that his temporal power over the Turkish state should not be attempted to be reduced or diminished by any sort of mandate and that the principle of self determination which has been applied to the Christian peoples of Europe should be made applicable to the Moslem peoples, and that in the interests of the peaceful development of western Asia the suzerainty of the Caliph over the non-Turkish provinces of the Ottoman Empire be left undisturbed. (From the memorial addressed by the Moslem Community in Kugland to the Frime Minister on June 14, 1919. it It is signed by H. H. the Aga Khan, Mr. Ameer Ali, Sir Abbas Ali Baig and others). The Aga Khan & Mr. Ameer Ali. We consider it, our duty to urge, for the fair name of England, nay of the British Empire, that the pledge our Prime Minister in the name of England gave to the world, and in particular to the world of Islam, should be maintained; and that the Turkish sovereign, as the Caliph of the vast Sunni congregation, should be left in absolute possession of Constantinople, Thrace, and Asia Minor stretching from the north of Syria proper along the Ægean coast to the Black Sea-a region "predominantly Turkish in race." It would, in our opinion, be a cruel act of injustice to wrench any portion of this tract from Turkish sovereignty to satisfy the ambitions of any other people. Instead of bringing peace to Western Asia, such a settlement will sow the seeds of con. stant wars, the effect of which cannot be expected to remain confined to the country where they happen to be waged. ** We submit that the maintenance of the Ottoman sovereign's spiritual suzerainty in those countries, whilst maintaining his prestige and thus conciliating Mussulman feeling, would be the means of making the position of the Mussulman rulers or governors of those countries unimpugnable. But so far as Thrace, Constantinople, and the homelands of the Turkish race are concerned Mussulman feeling from top to bottom is absolutely opposed to any interference under any shape with the Sultan's sovereignty. (the Times). President Wilson. The Turkish portions of the present Ottoman Empire shall be assured a secure sovereignty. Rt. Hon. Mr. Lloyd George "Nor are we fighting to deprive Turkey of its capital or of the rich and renowned lands of Asia Minor and Thrace, which are predominantly Turkish in race. While we do not challenge the maintenance of the Turkish Empire in the homelands of the Turkish race with its capital at Constantinople the passage between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea being interna. tionalised and neutralised, Arabia, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine are in our judgment entitled to a recognition of their separate national condition. (From a Speech.) Hon. Mr. Yakub Hasan. Any attempt to take Constantinople from the hands of Mussalmans would be regarded as a deliberate blow aimed at Islam by Christendom, and will embitter the feelings of Mussalmans against all the Christian nations so deeply that it will be rendered impossible ever to bring about harmonious relations between the East and West. This contingency is specially fraught with danger to the British Empire which owes her importance and greatness as world Power to her empire in the East, for not only the Mussalmans of India will become restive and discontended, but the martial races that inhabit the North-Western Frontiers of India and the peoples of Afghanistan, Khiva, Bokhara and Turkistan will be infuriated into a frenzy that cannot but bode ill to the peace and tranquillity of that part of Asia-the storm centre of the past-not to mention the serious misunderstanding that will be created in Java, Summatra and Malay Peninsula which possess numerous Muslim populations. We, Mussalmans, therefore, 'respectfully beg to submit that the position of Constantinople as the Capital of Turkey and as such the seat of Khalifate and Capital of Islam should not be interfered with. * The Muslim claim is that the Muslim races inhabiting the non-Turkish portion of the Ottoman Empire are not in any way inferior in intelligence, patriotism and organisation to Poles, Slavs, or Czecho Slavs, and they do not see any reason why there should be a mandatory for the proposed Muslim States while none is contemplated for the Christian State. [From a Memorandum to the Prime Minister]. |