142 



THE AGEICULTURAL NEWS. 



April 25, 1914. 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 



AN INDIAN REPORT 



II. 



The fo1lo^ving general conclusions arrived at by 

 I>r. Coleman as regards agricultural education in 

 Mysore are a continuation of those which were published 

 in the last issue of this journal. The view put forward 

 in the following discussion is, in the main, that for 

 a successful system of education in the elementary 

 schools there must be co-operation between Educational 

 and Agricultural Departments. It is perhaps of sufficient 

 interest to record the fact, that this has been appreciated 

 for some years in the West Indies. In St. Lucia, for 

 instance, the primary schools are examined in 

 agriculture by the Agricultural Department; and in 

 Antigua, a system of lectures to elementary school 

 teachers has been provided by the agricultural side of 

 the Grammar School. In St. Kitts, the supervision of 

 nature study work in the elementary schools by the 

 Agricultural and Science Master attached to the 

 Grammar School, was advocated in 1911, but although 

 it received the support of the Governor, the scheme, 

 for fioancial reasons, did not materialize. 



If we now consider the conditions prevailing in Mysore, 

 we can, I think, with safety say, that as regards higher 

 agrioiiltural education, we should guard against too ambitious 

 a scheme in the beginning. With that object in view, plans 

 have been sanctioned by Government for the opening of an 

 agricultural school at Bangalore, for which the present build- 

 ings with a few additions are to be utilized. Futhermore, 

 an attempt will be made to model the course on those being 

 given in the American agricultural high schools or the 

 German agricultural high schools rather than on that of an 

 agricultural college. Especial stress will be laid on the 

 practical side of instruction, and no attempt will be made to 

 turn out men trained in biology, chemistry, etc., only so 

 much instruction in these being given as appears necessary 

 for an intelligent understanding of the various agricultural 

 proce.^ses. In addition to the regular course, short courses in 

 the vernacular on special practical subjects will also be 

 provided. 



This, however, should, in my opinion, be only 

 a beginning, and plans must be made for a great extension 

 of training in rural science if we are to make any real im- 

 pression on the agricultural population. Furthermore, some 

 system of vernacular instruction must be worked out. Before 

 this can be done, however, we must have a body of trained 

 men to carry on the work, and the training of such men 

 should be one of the functions of the central agricultural 

 school. It is, of course, perfectly evident that nature 

 study or agricultural training must depend upon and follow 

 the development of rural education as a whole. However, 

 the present — when the question of the extension of primary 

 education is receiving such sympathetic and practical consid- 

 eration at the hands of His Highness' Government, seems 

 to me an opportune moment for considering the possibilities 

 of rural education with reference to agriculture. It would 

 be well, therefore, to define carefully what is and what is 

 not feasible in this connexion. 



In the first place it is perfectly clear that the introduc- 

 tion of a vernacular course in agriculture into the primary 

 schools is quite out of the question, for the simple reason 



that, even were the teachers fitted to give the requisite- 

 instruction, the children would be unable to assimilate it. But 

 as has already been pointed out, much can he done without 

 giving actual instruction in agriculture. It seems rather 

 unfortunate that the only term we have for elementary 

 instruction in the natural sciences is 'nature study' for, ia 

 the minds of many, the expression calls up the thought of 

 a mass of scientific twaddle and sentiment rolled into one 

 sickening whole. Personally, I can see no reason why such, 

 instruction as is suitable for the higher forms of a rural 

 primary school or the classes of a middle school should not be 

 designated as elementary rural science. 



It is interesting to note, in this connexion, that 

 wherever we find such instruction in rural science making 

 real headway there is the most cordial co-operation between 

 the Educational and Agricultural Departments in the work. 

 We find this to be the case in Germany, in Canada, in the 

 United States and also in Japan. In India, where of all 

 countries it seems most eminently necessary, such co-oper- 

 ation has been, in most cases, conspicuous by its absence. 



Any scheme for the introduction of the teaching of 

 elementary rural sciences into the higher classes of primary 

 schools, and into middle schools, should pos.sess the following 

 features to ensure a reasonable chance for its success: — 



(a) The teachers should have a special training in 

 agriculture, preferably in the agricultural school of 

 the State. 



(b) Facilities should be supplied in the way of 

 a suitable plot of ground for practical work. 



(c) Frequent (if possible, weekly) supervision of the 

 work by competent inspectors or supervisors should 

 be provided. 



Such supervising officers should, in my opinion, be 

 members of the staff of the Agricultural Department selected 

 from among the agricultural inspectors, for their knowledge 

 of the agricultural conditions and needs of those parts of the 

 State in which the schools are situated. In other words, the 

 work done by the Agricultural Department in educating the 

 adult agricultural population, and that done by the 

 Educational Department in educating the rising generation 

 should be as closely co-ordinated as possible. In this way, 

 I believe, would the eftectiveness of the work of both 

 departments be immensely increased. 



The suggestion with regard to the use of supervising 

 officers in the way described is by no means new. We find 

 in Germany that the itinerant teachers working under the 

 Agricultural Department are expected to give advice and 

 assistance to the teachers of rural continuation classes who 

 are working under the Educational Department. The same 

 idea is contained in the view expressed by Dean Bailey with 

 regard to the peripatetic teachers quoted on page 38 of this 

 report. I find also that a somewhat similar suggestion has 

 been made by a special committee of the Board of Agricul- 

 ture in India (see Proceedings of the Board of Agriculture in 

 India, 1910, Appendix F, page 65). This committee, among 

 other things, suggested that the Agricultural Department 

 might offer its services to the Education Department to take 

 part in supervising the courses of instruction given at the 

 training institutions to primary teachers, and might be invited 

 to make periodical inspections of the teaching in nature study. 



I would not confine the work of these itinerant officers 

 entirely to supervising elementary science classes in rural 

 schools. Their services might also be utilized for the holding 

 of evening classes in farm accounts, etc., for adults and, in 

 fact, I would have them employed very much as 

 the itinerant teachers in Germany are, except that, 

 instead of actually carrying on the work of a school. 



