297 



on too rapiclly, for, as observed by Dr. Duncan, the growing 

 cost of living and the difficulty of obtaining entrance into the 

 liberal professions will, of themselves, fix the saturation point 

 beyond which a literary education will not be absorbed in 

 the existing circumstances of the country. These consider- 

 ations apply with even greater force in the case of female edu- 

 cation, which is still in its infancy, for whereas 20 per cent, 

 of boys between the ages of 5 and 9 years are under instruc- 

 tion, only 4 per cent, of girls of the same ages are taught even 

 the three R's. The enormous disproportion in the advance 

 in education of Indian men and women is recognised on all 

 hands to be one of the most serious dfficulties in the way of 

 social progress. 



While higher and secondary education are required for 

 the higher and the middle classes who must lead industrial 

 movements and promote social progress, the salvation of the 

 lower classes lies in the diffusion of elementary education. 

 Owing to the bulk of the land in the country being held 

 in small farms by a poor peasantry, the adoption of im- 

 proved methods of cultivation with a view to raise food for 

 a growing population will be possible only if there is a general 

 quickening of intelligence among them sufficient to overcome 

 the spirit of routine and the tenacious hold which traditional 

 practices have over a proverbially conservative class. More- 

 over, the only effectual check to overpopulation is the im- 

 provement of the standard of comfort by the multiplication 

 of innocuous secondary wants and diffusion of a feeling of 

 self-respect among the masses which prevents this standard 

 of comfort being lowered — a result which can be brought about 

 by education alone. Elementary instruction must, therefore, 

 be pushed on as fast as funds and teachers can be provided. It 

 would doubtless be a mistake to adopt any scheme of compul- 

 sory State education, as is sometimes advocated, because the 

 margin of the earnings of a poor family in this country over 

 and above what is required for mere subsistence is so small 

 that it cannot afford to dispense with the wages of labour 

 earned by the juvenile members of the family. In fact, no com- 

 pulsory measures undertaken by the Sta,te for the benefit of a 

 large population can be successful unless a very large majority 

 of the population acquiesce in and feel the necessity for such 

 measures, and the aid of the State is invoked for the pur- 

 pose of enforcing the performance by recusant individuals of 

 duties recognised by public opinion. But there cannot be the 

 slightest doubt that the extension of elementary education 

 should be Recognized as being of prime necessity in the existing 

 situation, and as an essential pre-requisite for carrying out 



38 



