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of the 'Madras University constitutes the final test of the work of 

 what may be designated Anglo- Vernacular schools. The number of 

 candidates who went up for this examination in 1891 was 7,002 as 

 against 1,358 in 1871, The number of pupils under instruction in 

 1890-91 in all the Anglo- Vernacular schools of the Presidency was 

 nearly 80,000. 



One of the recommendations of the Educational Commission was 

 that Grovemment should gradually retire from the field of higher 

 education. So far as the Madras Presidency is concerned, that recom- 

 mendation has already been carried out in the main. Of the 35 arts 

 colleges existing in 1890-91, 30 were private and aided institutions, 

 and of the 556 secondary schools for boys, only 26 were maintained by 

 Grovemment. Whether the highest or collegiate education could safely 

 be left wholly to private agency might be a question. There are various 

 reasons why it should not be, even if private agencies were financially 

 equal to the task. But experience shows that private effort with some 

 aid from Government is quite equal to the call of secondary education. 

 In this connection, we are bound to mention the incalculable service 

 rendered to the cause of Indian education by European Missionary 

 Bodies. They should justly be regarded as the pioneers of modern 

 Indian civilization. But how long this foreign help might be relied 

 upon is problematical. In the meanwhile, it is satisfactory to note that 

 native communities, Hindu and Muhammadan, are learning the lesson 

 of self-help in education as in other things and may, when the time 

 should come for it, be able to occupy the field that may be vacated by 

 Christian Missions. Another satisfactory feature in connection with 

 educational progress is the steady rise in the fee receipts in colleges 

 and schools. High and middle schools, in most parts of the Presidency, 

 are nearly self-supporting and need only a small percentage of grants 

 from provincial or local funds. Even in colleges the fees cover an 

 appreciable proportion of the total expenditure. In the Grovemment 

 College at Kumbakonam, which is one of the cheapest colleges in the 

 Presidency, the income from fees met in 1890-91 a third of the total 

 cost of the institution. In recent years a considerable share of educa- 

 tional work has devolved on Municipalities and Local Fund Boards. By 

 this means it has become possible to keep up middle and high schools 

 at stations away from capitals of districts where private agencies have 

 not sprung up. 



The most striking feature in the history of education between 

 1870-71 and 1890-91 is the great diffusion of elementary knowledge 

 among the masses of the population. A numerous agency is at work, 

 whose special mission is to carry the rudiments of vernacular education 

 to the simplest villager. Village schools have been organised in nearly 

 all parts of the country and are periodically visited and examined by 

 the inspecting staff of the Educational department. In the Educational 

 Eeport for 1890-91, Dr. Duncan remarks : " Of the lower primary 

 schools, 2,558 with 140,422 scholars were situated in municipal 

 towns. Omitting them, 19,470 schools with 503,472 scholars were 

 located in non-municipal towns and villages, which, according to the 

 census of 1881, numbered 52,592. Most of the small towns and large 

 villages contain more than one school each. But in many villages 

 the population is too small to maintain a- separate school. In view of 

 these facts, only one village in three can be said to be provided with 



