c 



Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal [N.S., XII f 



since adopted this, with the result that admissions have considerably 

 increased. While the Department will beneBt by an increase of recruits 

 for filling its subordinate posts, it has yet to be seen how far the education 

 of the cultivators will be influenced by the change. It is unlikely that 

 these colleges as instruments for education will accomplish very much for 

 the simple reason that they are ahead of the times and that there can be 

 no real demand on the part of the youth of the country for an ad tranced 

 agricultural course until considerable progress has been made in primary 

 and secondary education and in the improvement of agricultural methods. 

 Not until the industry is more highly developed and the standard of 

 living has been raised, will there arise a demand for higher education 

 amongst the agricultural classes. 



The creation of agricultural colleges, however, is by no means the 

 only effort that has been made to improve the education of our agricul- 

 tural youth. Agricultural schools under the supervision of the Agricul- 

 tural Department have been started in some provinces which were 

 commended by the Board. They give considerable promise of success 

 and deserve every encouragement. Also, there have been attempts in all 

 provinces to set up a system of rural education by imparting instruction 

 based upon the agricultural surroundings of the children, and endeavours 

 have been made to use nature study as a means to that end. 



But there is a form of education which is not included in those I 

 have mentioned and is unknown in India. It is a form of education 

 which has been adopted in certain parts of America and which has of late 

 attracted a considerable amount of attention. It is applicable to the 

 conditions existing in India and offers opportunities in which officers of 

 the Agricultural and Educational Departments could profitably combine 

 to make the problem of education of the masses easier and more efficient. 

 Ten years ago great interest had arisen in the upraising of the Southern 

 States whose industrial and educational conditions had fallen very much 

 behind those of the Northern States. Conditions in the Southern States 

 resemble in many particulars those which obtain in rural India. About 

 80 per cent of the population is agricultural, depending for its livelihood 

 almost entirely on the produce of the soil. There was great backwardness 

 in both educational and industrial progress. Unfavourable economic 

 conditions existed which were mainly the result of rural poverty. While the 

 average annual earnings of agriculturists in the Northern States were more 

 than 1,000 dollars, those in the Southern States were as low as 150 dollars. 

 Under the auspices of the General Education Board an enquiry was set on 

 foot to study the educational conditions in the Southern States and to devise 

 the ways and means for improving them. Surveys were planned State 

 by State, Conferences were held, Monographs were prepared, dealing 

 with the various points on the organization of education. The conclusions 

 which resulted from this enquiry are peculiar. To quote from the Report 

 it "convinced the Board that no fund, however large, could, by direct 

 gifts, contribute a system of public schools ; that even if it were possible 

 to develop a system of public schools by private gifts, it would be a 



positive disservice The public school must represent community 



ideals, community initiative, and community support, even to the point of 

 sacrifice." The Board therefore resolved that assistance should be given 

 not by foisting upon the Southern States a programme of education from 

 outside, but by aiding them and co-operating with them in educating 

 themselves. When, however, it proceeded to apply these principles it 

 was faced with the following initial difficulties. They found the people 

 had not enough money, M that adequate development could not take 

 place until the available resources of the people were greatly enlarged. 

 School svstems could not be riven to them, and they were not prosperous 



1 General Educate 

 Broadway, New York. 



