Chota Nagpore School. TWELFTH YEAR. Local Committee on the 30th September 1851. NAMES OF MEMBERS. J. H. CRAWFORD, ESQ., ... ... DESIGNATION. Governor General's Agent S. W. Frontier. Establishment as on the 30th September 1851. For 21 days in Oct. 1850. Head Master, First Asst. Teacher, Cost for Building or 1200 0 3 8 6 6 6 120 0 0 83 9 6 000 22 13 0 250 0 o 1828 14 6 + Received 1 rupee 8 annas for 9 days in Oct., at 5 rupees per mensem, besides his usual allowance of Co.'s Rs., 2-8-0 receives an allowance of Co.'s Rupees 5 from Nov. 1850. As stated in the former reports of this school, it is divided into two departments, an English and a Hindee, the former containing 29 pupils, the latter 37. There is no fixed limits of age for each class in either of the departments, boys of 14 and 16 being put together in the last classes, while others of 9, 10, and 12 compose higher ones. The two oldest pupils of the school are 22 years of age; one of them has been on the rolls since 1839, the other since 1836. The studies are yet elementary, no candidate for a junior scholarship having even appeared. The following is the report of the Local Committee: "The progress made during the past year by the first three classes is very satisfactory. "The boys appear well grounded in their studies as far as they have proceeded. The result of the examination in English and Hindee is creditable both to the teacher and pupils. The boys who have most distinguished themselves in the English department are Kishenchunder, Tilooa, Goendaram Seeb Churna, and Ram Kissen Banerjee. In the Hindee department Kissen Chunder, Seeb Churna, and Deenoo Chowdoory, and they are recommended for prizes. It is suggested that a prize should also be given to Kalychurn Mookerjee for his great progress during the short time he has been in the school. The head master of the school gives a favorable account of the general conduct of the pupils of the Chota Nagpore school. The examiners beg to add that the result of the examination speaks well for the manner in which the masters have discharged their duties." The following is the report of the Local Committee: Thirty-two boys have entered the school, and twenty-four have been struck off for irregular attendance, during the session. The school was in charge of the assistant English teacher from 5th to 30th September in consequence of the absence of the head master on sick leave. "Hitherto English instruction has been considered of the greatest importance, and in consequence chiefly attended to, but this is, in our opinion, an error. The difficulties the Coles have to encounter in learning English, from the absence of an instructor acquainted with their language, are so great, that there is at this time but one single Cole in the English department, and we do not think he is likely to acquire any useful knowledge of the language; with the exception of this lad, the whole of the English students are foreigners to the district, or the sons of foreigners who have settled in the bazar here. The Coles, however, show no unwillingness to learn Hindee, of which many have a decidedly useful knowledge. In the latter department the study of Arithmetic and Geography has been introduced under orders of the assistant governor general's agent during the year. "No subscriptions or donations to the school have been received during the year. "With reference to the result of the examinations, the committee have to remark that though the progress of the school does not appear great, they are quite satisfied with the zeal and attention of the head master, now absent, who has been laboring under ill health for some months. The boys are generally dull in intellect and below the average standard of boys in the Bengal schools; added to this the school master has to contend with the difficulty of a great mixture of dialects, which seriously interferes with the conveyance of instruction to the minds of the boys. The senior member of the Committee with pleasure notices a very marked improvement since his first acquaintance with the school in 1847. "The school books generally are in tolerable order, but there is no means at this place of repairing binding when damaged. "The school house is in good condition, merely requiring the usual annual repairs." In forwarding the above reports to the Council of Education the Agent to the Governor General makes the following observations: "The state of the Chota Nagpore School does not appear to call for any special remarks. The Institution is well conducted, and the advantages of it are appreciated by a large class. It is true that this class is composed chiefly of aliens; persons from Behar and Bengal, whose vocations have caused them to settle with their families at the Head Quarters of the Agency. But, apart from the claim they have to consideration as an important section of the community, their example will, it may be hoped, gradually bring to the School in larger numbers than heretofore the children of the Dangah Coles, for whose benefit it is expressly designed. Entertaining this hope, I see no reason to recommend any change in the present arrangements of the Institution. "The circumstances of the Chybassa School, however, are different. This Institution was specially intended for the improvement of the Lurka Coles; but the experience of a course of years has shewn, not only that this object has not yet been attained, but also that it is not likely to be, through the means hitherto employed. At the same time Chybassa is a very small place, containing no other class whose interests can be weighed against those of the Coles, or by whose example they can be expected to benefit. Considering that the latter have no written language, I regard the appropriation to an English department of the chief funds of a school designed for their instruction, as a mistake, which should remain no longer uncorrected. "I accordingly submit for the consideration of the Council of Education the expediency of the constitution of educational arrangements at Chybassa being entirely remodelled. The cost of the present Institution is rupees 110 monthly, the greater proportion being chargeable to the English department, and a small sum only to that of Nagree. I suggest that both be abolished; and as many Bengali Schools as the above sum would suffice to maintain be established in their stead. "I consider Bengali preferable to Nagree, because the latter is as much a foreign language as English is to the Coles, and the bulk of the people of Singbhoom, of which Chybassa is the sudder station; whereas Bengali is the vernacular of Dhulbhoom, (a portion of Singbhoom itself,) and of the more civilized districts contiguous. Moreover it is nearly akin to the Ooriya language, which is understood in many parts of the Colehan: and over which it has these advantages, that it is a common official language, and that books and instructors of it are readily procurable. "I believe that for the sum which is now expended on the English and Nagree School at Chybassa, five efficient Bengali Schools might be maintained; of which I would propose to locate one at Chybassa itself; two in other populous quarters of the Colehan; one at a large manufacturing town named Seraikela,' on the border of the Colehan; and one in a central situation in Dhulbhoom. Should any of the scholars educated at these schools have the desire to acquire English also, they would have an English school at no great distance, either at Chota Nagpore, or at Bancoorah, or at Midnapore. "I hope to be favoured with the sentiments of the Council of Education on this proposition." |