Dr.
Ambedkar with the Simon Commission
______________________________________________________________________________________
STATEMENT
“B”
concerning
the state of education of the Depressed Classes in the Bombay
Presidency
submitted
by
Dr.
Bhimrao R. Ambedkar,
M.A., PH.D., D.SC., BAR-AT-LAW Member
of the Legislative Council, Bombay
on
behalf of the
(Depressed
Classes Institute of Bombay)
to
the
Indian
Statutory Commission
29th
May 1928
Damodar
Hall
Parel,
Bombay-12
INDIA
______________________________________________________________________________________
N.B.—In
this statement the expressions Backward Classes and
Depressed Classes are used interchangeably.
1.
From 1813 to 1854
1.
Education under the British Rule in the Bombay Presidency must be said to have begun with
the foundation of the Bombay Education Society in 1815. That Society did not continue its
efforts to the education of European children. Native boys were encouraged to attend its
schools at Surat and Thana
and at the beginning of 1820 four separate schools for natives had been opened in Bombay
and were attended by nearly 250 pupils. In August of the same year further measures were
taken to extend native education. A special committee was appointed by the Society to
prepare schoolbooks in the Vernacular Languages and to aid or establish vernacular schools. But the wide scope of the undertaking was
soon seen to be beyond the aims of a society established mainly for the education of the
poor; and in 1822 the committee became a separate
corporation, thenceforth known as the Bombay Native School-book and School Society which name was in 1827 changed
into the Bombay Native Education Society. The Honourable Mount Stuart Elphinstone
was the new Society's first President. The Vice-Presidents were the Chief Justice and the
three members of the Executive Council of the Bombay Government; and the managing committee consisted of twelve European and
twelve native gentlemen, with Captain George Jervis r.e., and Mr. Sadashiv Kashinath Chhatre as Secretaries. The Society started its work with a
grant of Rs. 600 per mensem
from the Government. As early as 1825 the Government of Bombay had along side begun to
establish primary schools at its own expense in district
towns and had placed them under the control of the Collectors. To co-ordinate the
activities of these two independent bodies there was established in 1840 a Board of
Education composed of six members, 3 appointed by Government and 3 appointed by the Native
Education Society. This Board was in charge of the Education Department till the
appointment of the Director of Public Instruction in 1855.
2.
On the 1st March 1855 when the Board was dissolved there
were in the Presidency of Bombay under the charge of the Board 15 English Colleges and
schools having 2,850 students on the Register and 256 vernacular schools having 18,888
students on the Register. In the same report it is stated by the Board:
"24.
In August [1855] we received a petition from certain inhabitants of Ahmednagar, praying for the establishment of a school for the education of low castes and
engaging to defray one-half the teacher's salary, in
accordance with the terms of the late rules. A schoolroom had been built by the
petitioners and the attendance of boys was calculated at thirty. The establishment of such
a school was opposed to the prejudices of the richer and higher castes, and there was some
difficulty in procuring a teacher on a moderate salary, but as the application was made in
strict accordance with the conditions stated in the late notification on the subject, we
readily complied with the request, and the school was opened in November. We merely mention the subject, as it is the first
occasion on which we have established a school for these
castes." (Italics not in the original).
3.
The statement by the Board that this was the first occasion when a school for the low castes was established in this
Presidency naturally raises the question what was the policy of the British Government in
the matter of the education of the Depressed classes before 1855 ? To answer this question it is necessary to have a peep into
the history of the educational policy of the British Government in this Presidency from 1813 to 1854. It must be admitted that under the Peshwa's Government the Depressed classes were entirely out of
the pale of education. They did not find a place in any idea of state education, for the
simple reason that the Peshwa's Government was a theocracy based upon the canons of Manu, according to which the Shudras
and Atishudras (classes corresponding to the Backward
classes of the Education Department), if they had any right to life, liberty and property, had certainly no right to education.
The Depressed classes who were labouring under such disabilities naturally breathed a sigh
of relief at the downfall of this hated theocracy. Great hopes were raised among the
Depressed classes by the advent of the British Rule. Firstly because it was a democracy
which they thought believed in the principle of one man one value, be that man high or
low. If it remained true to its tenets, such a democracy was a complete contrast to the
theocracy of the Peshwa. Secondly the Depressed classes had
helped the British to conquer the country and naturally believed that the British would in
their turn help them, if not in a special degree, at least equally with the rest.
4.
The British were for a long time silent on the question of promoting education among the
native population. Although individuals of high official rank in the administration of
India were not altogether oblivious of the moral duty and administrative necessity of
spreading knowledge among the people of India, no public declaration of the responsibility
of the state in that behalf was made till the year 1813 when by section 43 of the Statute
53 George IV chap. 155, Parliament laid down that " one of the surplus revenues of India a sum of not less
than one lakh of rupees in each year shall be set apart and applied to the revival and
improvement of literature and the encouragement of the learned natives of India, and for
the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of sciences among the inhabitants of British
territories in India etc." This statutory provision however did not result in any
systematic effort to place the education of the natives
upon a firm and organized footing till 1823. For the Court
of Directors in their despatch dated 3rd June 1814 to the Governor-General in Council, in
prescribing the mode of giving effect to section 43 of the statute of 1813 directed that
the promotion of Sanskrit learning amongst the Hindus would fulfil the purposes which
Parliament had in mind. But what a disappointment to the Depressed classes there was when
systematic efforts to place the education of the natives upon a firm and organized footing
came to be made ! ! For the British Government deliberately ruled that education was to be a preserve for
the higher classes. Lest this fact should be regarded
as a fiction, attention is invited to the
following extracts from the Report of the Board of Education of the Bombay Presidency for
the year 1850-51 :
"
Paragraph 5th.
System adopted by the Board based on the views of Court of Directors
Thus
the Board of Education at this Presidency having laid down a scheme of education, in
accordance with the leading injunctions of Despatches from the Honourable Court, and
founded not more on the opinions of men who had been attentively considering the progress
of education in India, such as the Pearl of Auckland, Major Candy and others, than on the
openly declared wants of the most intelligent of the natives themselves, the Board, we
repeat, were informed by your Lordship's predecessor in Council that the process must be
reversed.
"Paragraph
8th.
Views of Court on the
expediency of educating the upper classes
Equally
wise, if we may be permitted, to use the expression, do the indications of the Hon. Court appear to us to be as to the quarters to which
Government education should be directed, and specially with
the very limited funds which are available for this branch of expenditure. The Hon. Court write to Madras in 1830 as
follows : ' The improvements in education, however, which most effectively contribute to elevate the moral and
intellectual condition of a people, are those which concern
the education of the higher classes—of the persons possessing leisure and natural influence
over the minds of their countrymen. By raising the standard of instruction amongst these classes you
would eventually produce a much greater and more beneficial change in the ideas and the
feelings of the community than you can hope to produce by acting directly on the more
numerous class. You are, moreover, acquainted with our
anxious desire to have at our disposal a body of natives qualified by their habits and
acquirements to take a larger share and occupy higher
situations in the civil administration of their country than has been hitherto the
practice under our Indian Government.' Nevertheless, we
hear on so many sides, even from those who ought to know better of the necessity and
facility for educating the masses for diffusing the arts and sciences of Europe amongst
the hundred or the hundred and forty millions (for number count for next to nothing) in
India, and other like generalities indicating cloudy notions on the subject, that a
bystander might almost be tempted to suppose the whole resources of the State were at the
command of Educational Boards, instead of a modest pittance inferior in amount to sums
devoted to single establishment in England.
"
Paragraph 9th.
Retrospect
of Principal Educational facts during the last ten years necessary.
The arguments adduced in the few last paragraphs
appear to show that a careful examination of the real
facts, and an analysis of the principal phenomena which have displayed themselves in the course of
educational proceedings in the Presidency, would not be without their uses, if made with
sufficient industry and impartiality to ensure confidence, and with a firm determination
to steer clear of bootless controversy and all speculative inquiries. The present epoch,
also, appears especially to command itself for such a retrospect, as in 1850 the second
decennial period commenced, during which the Schools of the Presidency have come under
exclusive control of a Government Board; and it is obvious that as a considerable body of information
ought now to have been accumulated, and as the majority of the present members have bad
seats at the Board during the greater portion of that time, they would fain hope that by
recording their experience, they may shed some light on certain obscure but highly
interesting questions, which are certain to arise from time to time before their
successors at this Board.
"
Paragraph 10th.
A
Uniform system developing itself spontaneously both in Bengal and Bombay
We
now proceed to give as minute a detail as comports with our limits, of the principal
educational facts which have forced themselves upon our notice, and we think it will
clearly appear, when those facts are duly appreciated, that many of the disputed
questions, which arise in the Indian field of education, will be seen to solve themselves,
and that a system is generally evolving itself in other Presidencies as well as in Bombay,
which is well suited to the circumstances of the country, and which, as the growth of
spontaneous development, denotes that general causes are at work to call it forth.
Paragraph
11th.
Statistics
of education in Bombay
In
the return on the following page, a comparative view is given of the number of schools and
of pupils receiving education under Government at the period when the Establishments first
came under the control of the Board, in 1840 and in April
1850. It shows, in the latter period, an addition of four English and 83 vernacular schools and a general increase in pupils of above a
hundred per cent. The total number receiving Government education at present is 12,712 in
the following proportions :—
English
Education |
1,699 |
Vernacular
Education |
10,730 |
Sanskrit
Education |
283 |
[comparison
from tables : in 1840 there were 97 schools ; number of
pupils 5,491. In 1850, number of schools 185 and number of
pupils 12,712.]
"
Paragraph 12th.
Same
subject
But
the population of the Bombay Presidency is now calculated by the most competent
authorities to amount to ten millions. Now on applying the rule of statistics deduced from
the Prussian census as noticed in a former Report (1842-43, page 26) a population of this
amount will be found to containing fewer than 900,000 male children between the ages of
seven and fourteen years and of course, fit subjects for school. It follows, therefore,
that Government at this Presidency has not been able to afford an opportunity for
obtaining education to more than one out of every sixty-nine boys of the proper school
going age.
"
Paragraph 13th.
Same
subject
Further,
it is admitted that education afforded in the Vernacular
School is far from efficient. A great portion of the strictures of Mr. Willoughby's Minute is directed against the defective
character and insignificant results of these schools. The Board, not only acknowledge this
fact, but they have been studious to point it out prominently for many years past, and
indeed, in the opinion of some competent observers, have drawn too unfavourable a picture
of the vernacular schools. But what are the obvious remedies for the defects indicated ? Mr. Willoughby describes them
very correctly : ' a superior class of school masters,
normal schools, more efficient supervision, additions to the vernacular literature.' These are all subjects, however, which have occupied the
attention of the Board for many years past, and as to which not a step can be made in
advance without additional expenditure. But we are given to understand from the letter of
your Lordship in Council that ' it is not probable the Government will have the power, for
a considerable time to come, to afford the Board additional pecuniary assistance.'
"
Paragraph 14th.
Conclusion
that no means exist for educating
the masses
It results most clearly from these facts, that if
sufficient funds are not available to put 175 vernacular
schools into a due state of organisation, and to give
a sound elementary education to 10,730 boys, all question as to educating ' the
masses ', the ' hundred and forty millions ', the 900,000 boys in the Bombay Presidency
disappears. The object is not one that can be attained or
approximated to by Government ; and Educational Boards ought not to allow themselves to be
distracted from a more limited practical field of action by the visionary speculations of
uninformed benevolence.
"
Paragraph 15th.
Views of Court of Directors as to the best method of operation
with limited means.
The
Hon. Court appear to have always kept the conclusion which
has been arrived at in the last paragraph very distinctly in view. Perceiving that their
educational efforts to improve the people could only be attempted on a very small scale,
they have deemed it necessary to point out to their different Governments the true method of producing the greatest results with limited
means. We have already cited their injunctions to the Madras Government on this head (Para 7) and their despatch to the Government on the same date
enforces sentiment of exactly the same import : ' It is our anxious desire to afford
to the higher classes of the Natives of India the means of instruction in European sciences and of access to the literature of
civilized Europe. The character which may be given to the classes possessed of leisure and
natural influence ultimately determines that of the whole
people.'
"Paragraph
16th.
Inquiry
as to upper classes of India
It
being then demonstrated that only a small section of the
population can be brought under the influence of Government
education in India, and the Hon'ble court having in effect decided that this section
should consist of the ' upper classes ', it is essential to ascertain who these latter
consist of. Here it is absolutely necessary for the European inquirer to divest his mind of European analogies which so
often insinuate themselves almost involuntarily into Anglo-indian speculations. Circumstances in Europe, especially
in England have drawn a marked line, perceptible in manners, wealth, political and social
influence, between the upper and lower classes. No such line is to be found in India,
where, as under all despotisms, the Will of the Prince was all that was requisite to raise
men from the humblest condition in life to the highest station and where, consequently
great uniformity in manners has always prevailed. A beggar, according to English notions,
is fit only for the stocks or compulsory labour in the work-house ; in India be is a respectable character and worthy indeed of
veneration according to the Brahminical
theory, which considers him as one who has renounced all the pleasures and temptations of
life for the cultivation of learning and undisturbed meditation on the Deity.
"Paragraph
17th.
Upper
classes in India
The
classes who may be deemed to be influential and in so far
the upper classes in India, may be ranked as follows :
1st.
The landowners and jaghirdars, representatives of the
former feudatories and persons in authorities under Native powers, and who may be termed
the Soldier class.
2nd.
Those who have acquired wealth in trade or commerce or the commercial class.
3rd.
The higher employees of Government.
4th.
Brahmins, with whom may be associated though at long interval those of higher castes of
writers who live by the pen such as Parbbus and Shenvis in Bombay, Kayasthas in
Bengal, provided they acquire a position either in learning or station.
"
Paragraph 18th.
Brahmins the most influential
Of
these four classes incomparably the most influential, the most numerous, and on the whole
easiest to be worked on by the Government, are the latter. It is a well-recognised fact
throughout India that the ancient Jaghirdars or Soldiers class are daily deteriorating
under our rule. Their old occupation is gone, and they have shown no disposition or
capacity to adopt new one, or to cultivate the art of peace. In the Presidency the attempts of Mr. Elphinstone
and his successors to bolster up a landed aristocracy have lamentably
failed; and complete discomfiture has hitherto attended all
endeavours to open up a path to distinction through civil honours and education to a race
to whom nothing appears to excite but vain pomp and extravagance, of the reminiscences of
their ancestors' successful raids in the plains of Hindusthan,
nor among the commercial classes, with a few exceptions, is there much greater opening for the influences of
superior education. As in all countries, but more in India than in the higher civilized ones of Europe, the young merchants or trader
must quit his school at an early period in order to obtain the special education needful
for his vocation
in the market or the counting house. Lastly the employees of the state, though they
possess a great influence over the large numbers who come in contact with Government, have
no influence, whatever, with the still larger numbers who are independent of Government; and, indeed, they
appear to inspire the same sort of distrust with the public as Government functionaries in
England, who are often considered by the vulgar as mere hacks of the state.
"Paragraph
19th.
Poverty of Brahmins
The above analysis,
though it may appear lengthy, is nevertheless,
indispensable, for certain important conclusions deducible
from it. First, it demonstrates
that the influential class whom the Government are able to avail themselves of in
diffusing the seeds of education are the Brahmins and other high
castes Brahmannis proxmi. But the Brahmins and these high castes are for the
most part wretchedly poor; and in many parts of India the
term Brahmin is synonymous with ' beggar '.
"Paragraph
20th.
Wealthy
classes will not at present support superior education
We
may see then, how hopeless it is to enforce what your Lordship in Council so strongly
enjoined upon us in your letter of the 24th April 1850,—what appears, prima fade, so plausible and proper in itself—what
in fact, the Board themselves have very often attempted, viz. the strict limitation of
superior education ' to the wealthy, who can afford to pay for it, and to youths of
unusual intelligence.' The invariable answer the Board has
received when attempting to enforce a view like this, has been, that the wealthy are
wholly indifferent to superior education and that no means of ascertaining unusual
intelligence amongst the poor exist until their faculties have been tested and developed
by school training. A small section from among the wealthier classes is no doubt
displaying itself, by whom the advantages of superior education are recognised, it appears
larger in Bengal, where education has been longer fostered by Government, than in Bombay,
and we think it inevitable that such class must increase, with the experience that
superior attainments lead to distinction, and to close
intercourse with Europeans on the footing of social equality;
but as a general proposition at the present moment, we are satisfied that the academical
instructions in the arts and sciences of Europe cannot be based on the contributions
either of students or of funds from the opulent classes of India.
"
Paragraph 21st.
Question
as to educating low castes
The
practical conclusion to be drawn from these facts which
years of experience have forced upon our notice, is
that a very wide door should be opened to the children of the poor higher castes, who are
willing
to receive education at our hands. But here, again, another
embarrassing question arises, which it is right to notice : If the children of the poor are admitted freely to
Government Institutions what is there to prevent all the despised castes—the Dheds, Mhars etc., from flocking in numbers to their walls ?
"
Paragraph 22nd.
There is a little doubt that if a class of these latter were the
to be formed in Bombay they might be trained under the guiding influence of such Professors and
masters as are in the service of the Board, into men of superior intelligence to any in the community; and with such
qualifications, as they would that possess, there would be nothing to prevent their
aspiring to the highest offices open to Native talent—to Judgeships, the Grand Jury, Her Majesty's Commission of the
Peace. Many benevolent men think it is the height
of illiberality and weakness
in the British Government to succumb to the prejudices which such appointments would excite info disgust
amongst the Hindu community, and that an open attack should be made upon the barriers of
caste. "
Paragraph
23rd.
Wise observations of the Hon. Mount Stuart Elphinstone cited.
But here
the wise reflections of Mr. Elphinstone, the most liberal
and large-minded administrator who has appeared
on this side of India, point out the true rule
of action. ' It
is observed; he says, that the missionaries find the lowest
castes the best pupils; but we must be careful how we offer
any special encouragement to men of that description; they
are not only the most despised, but among the least numerous of the great divisions of
society and it is to be feared that if our system of education first took root among them, it would never spread further, and we might
find ourselves at the head of a new class, superior to the
rest in useful knowledge, but hated and despised by the castes to whom these new
attainments would always induce us to prefer them. Such a state of things would be
desirable, if we were contented to rest our power on our army or on the attachment of a
part of the population but is inconsistent with every attempt to found it on a more
extended basis.' "
5. It is, therefore, obvious that if no
schools were opened for Depressed classes before 1855 in the Bombay Presidency it was
because the deliberate policy of the British Government was to restrict the benefits of
education to the poor higher castes chiefly the Brahmins. Whether this policy was right or
wrong is another matter. The fact, however, is that
during this period the Depressed classes were not allowed by Government to share in the
blessings of education.
II.
From 1854 to 1882
6.
In their Despatch No. 49 of 19th July 1854 the Court of Directors observed: " Our attention should
now be directed to a consideration, if possible, still more important, and one which has
hitherto, we are bound to admit, too much neglected, namely, how useful and practical
knowledge, suited to every station in life, may be best conveyed to the great mass of the
people who are utterly incapable of obtaining any education worthy of the name by their
own efforts; and we desire to see the active measures of
Government more especially directed, for the future, to this object, for the
attainment of which we are ready to sanction a considerable increase of expenditure."
This despatch is very rightly regarded as having laid the foundation of mass education in this country. The results of this policy were first
examined by the Hunter Commission on Indian Education in 1882. The following figures show
what was achieved during the period of 28 years:
Primary
Education
1881-82
|
No.
of scholars at
school |
Percent
of total |
Christians |
1,521 |
0.49 |
Brahmins |
63,071 |
20.17 |
Other
Hindus |
2,02,345 |
64.69 |
39,231 |
12.54 |
|
Parsis |
3,517 |
1.12 |
Aboriginal
and Hill Tribes |
2,713 |
0.87 |
Low
caste Hindus |
2,862 |
0.87 |
Jews
and others |
373 |
0.12 |
Secondary
Education
1881-82
|
|
Middle
Schools |
High
Schools |
||
|
|
No.of Scholars
at schools scholars a |
%
of total
no. of scholars |
No.
of scholars at schools |
%
of total
no. of scholars |
Christians |
|
1,429 |
12.06 |
111 |
2.26 |
Brahmins |
|
3,639 |
30.70 |
1,978 |
40.29 |
Other
Hindus |
Cultivators |
624 |
5.26 |
140 |
2.85 |
Other
Hindus |
Low
castes |
17 |
.14 |
|
|
Other
Hindus |
Other
castes |
3,823 |
32.25 |
1,573 |
32.04 |
Mohammedans |
|
687 |
5.80 |
100 |
2.04 |
Parsis |
|
1,526 |
12.87 |
965 |
19.66 |
Aboriginal
and Hill Tribes |
6 |
.05 |
|
|
|
Others
(including Jews etc.) |
103 |
.87 |
92 |
.86 |
|
|
Collegiate
Education
1881-82
|
|
No.
of scholars |
P.c.
on total No.
of scholars |
Christians |
|
14 |
3 |
Brahmins |
|
241 |
50 |
Other
Hindus |
Cultivators |
5 |
1 |
Other
Hindus |
Low
castes |
0 |
0 |
Other
Hindus |
Other
castes |
103 |
21.3 |
Mohammedans |
|
7 |
1..5 |
Parsis |
|
108 |
21.5 |
Aboriginal
and Hill Trioes |
|
0 |
0 |
Others
(including Jews etc.) |
|
2 |
0.4 |
7.
What do these figures show? They show that although mass education was the
policy of the Government the masses were as outside the pale of education as they were
before the year 1854 and that the lowest and aboriginal
classes of the Hindus still remained lowest in order of education; so much so that in 1881-82
there was no student from that community either in the High Schools or in the Colleges of this Presidency.
What can this failure to bring the Depressed classes to the level of the rest in the
matter of education be due to ? To answer this question it
is necessary again to go into the history of the educational policy of the Government of this Presidency.
8.
The Despatch of the Court of Directors of the year 1854, for the first time recognised
after a lapse of full 40 years that the duty of the state was to undertake the education
of the great mass of the people. But there were still die-hards who had great misgivings
as to the wisdom of the principle laid down in that Despatch and who were agitating for a
reversal of that policy. The fears of dire consequences to the British Rule arising from
elevating the Backward classes above their station in life still haunted men like Lord Ellenborough, President of the Board of Control who in a
letter to the Chairman of
the Court of Directors dated 28th of April 1858 did not hesitate to strike the following
note of caution :
"
Gentlemen : Many letters have been lately before me
reviewing the state of education in different parts of India under the instructions sent
by the Court of Directors in 1854, and I confess that they have not given me the
impression that the expected good has been derived from the system which was then
established, while all the increase of charge which might have been expected appears to be
in progress of realisation.
"Paragraph
II. I believe we rarely, if ever induce parents of the lower class to send their children
to our schools, and we should practically, if we succeeded in extending education as we
desire, give a high degree of mental cultivation to the labouring class, while we left the
more wealthy in ignorance.
"Paragraph
12. This result would not tend to create a healthy state of society. Our Government could not offer to the most educated of the lower class
the means of gratifying the ambition we should excite.
"Paragraph
13. We should create a very discontented body of poor persons,
having, through the superior education we had given to them, a great power over the mass
of the people.
"Paragraph
14. Education and civilisation may descend from the
higher to the inferior Classes, and so communicated may
impart new vigour to the community, but they will never
ascend from the lower classes to those above them; they can only, if
imparted solely to the tower classes, lead to general convulsion, of which foreigners would be the first
victims.
"Paragraph
15. If we desire to diffuse education, let us endeavour to give it to
the higher classes first.
"Paragraph
16. These are but two ways of doing this — by founding colleges to which the higher
classes alone should be admitted, and by giving in the reorganisation of the army,
commissions at once, to such sons of native gentlemen as may be competent to receive
them."
9.
This antipathy of the European officers towards the untouchable classes was finally
corrected by the Secretary of State for India in his despatch of 1859 which again
reiterated the responsibility of Government for mass education.
10.
Singular as it may appear the recognition by the Government of its
responsibility for mass education conferred upon the Depressed classes a benefit only in name. For, although, schools were
opened for the masses in the various districts the question of the admission of the
Depressed classes to these schools had yet to be solved. Such a question did practically
arise in the year 1856. But the decision of the Government
was not favourable to the Depressed classes
as will be seen from the following extracts from the Report of the Director of Public
Instruction for the Bombay Presidency for the year 1856-57 :
"Paragraph
177. Schools for Low castes and wild tribes.
There arc no low class schools established directly by Government, and the supreme
Government has expressed disapproval of such schools. The ordinary schools entirely
supported by the state are in theory open indifferently to all castes. In the course of
observation of my Report 1855-56 the Government issued the following order :
" The only case
as yet brought before Government in which the question as to the admissions of the pupils
of the lowest class to Government schools has been raised, was that of a Mahar boy on whose behalf a petition was submitted in June
1856, complaining that though willing to pay the usual schooling fee, he had been denied admission to the Dharwar Government School.
"On
this occasion Government felt a great practical difficulty which attended the adjudication of a question in which their convictions of
abstract right would be in antagonism to the general feelings of the mass of the natives,
for whose enlightenment, to the greatest possible extent, the Government Educational
Department has been established; and it was decided as will appear from the Resolution[f1]
passed at the time with some hesitation, that it would not be right for the sake of a
single individual, the only Mahar who had ever come forward
to beg for admission into a school attended only by the
pupils of castes and to force him into association with them, at the probable risk of
making the institution practically
useless for the great mass of natives."
The
proceedings of the Government of Bombay in this matter were noticed in the following terms
by the Government of India, in a letter No. Ill dated 23rd
January 1857 :
"
Governor-General in Council thinks it very probable that the Bombay Government has acted wisely in the matter; but it desires me (i.e. Secretary to the Government of
India) to say that the boy would not have been refused admission to any Government school
in the Presidency of Bengal.”*[f2]
On
receipt of this letter it was resolved that Government of India should be assured that
this Government would be most unwilling to neglect any means of rendering the schools
throughout the country less exclusive than they practically are in the matter of caste; provided this could be effected without bringing the
Government school into general disrepute, and thus destroying their efficiency and defeating the object for which they were
intended. It was also determined that an enquiry should be made as to the practical
working of the principle which was said to prevail in Bengal as affecting the general
usefulness of the Government schools.
11.
Inquiries as to the practice prevalent in Bengal revealed that the Bengal authorities
contrary to the supposition of the Government of India had left it to the District
Committees of Instructions to grant or refuse admittance to candidates of inferior castes,
with reference to the state of local native feeling in each case. The result of this was that the Depressed classes
were left in the cold because the touchable classes would not let
them sit at the fire of knowledge which (he Government had
lit up in the interest of all its subjects.
12.
Under these circumstances mass education as contemplated by the Despatch of 1854 was in
practice available to all except the Depressed classes. The lifting of the ban on the education of the Depressed classes in 1854 was a
nominal affair only. For, although the principle of non-exclusion was affirmed by the
Government its practical operation was very carefully avoided ;
so that we can say that the ban was continued in practice as before.
The
only agency which could take charge of the education of the Depressed classes was that of
Christian missionaries. In the words of Mount Stuart Elphinstone
they " found the lowest classes the best peoples ". But the Government was
pledged to religious neutrality and could not see its way to support missionary schools,
so much so that no pecuniary grant was made in this Presidency to any missionary school in the early part of this period although the
Educational Despatch of 1854 had not prohibited the giving of grants to missionary
schools.
13.
To find a way out of this impasse the
Government adopted two measures : (1) The institution of
separate Government schools for low caste boys, and (2) The extension of special
encouragement to missionary bodies to undertake their education by relaxing the rules of
grants-in-aid. Had these two measures not been adopted the education of the Depressed
classes would not have yielded the results, most meagre as they were, at the stock-taking
by the Hunter Commission in 1882.
III. From 1882 to 1928
14.
After the year 1882 the year 1923 forms the next landmark in the educational history of the Bombay Presidency. That year
marks the transfer of primary education from the control of Provincial Governments to the
control of local bodies. It will therefore be appropriate to take stock of the position as
it stood in 1923. The position of the different communities in the Bombay Presidency in
1923 in the matter of educational advancement may be summed up in a tabular form as
follows :
Classes[f3]
of Population in
the Presidency |
Order
in respect of population |
Order
in respect of education |
||
|
|
Primary |
Secondary |
Collegiate |
Advanced
Hindus |
4th |
1st |
1st |
1st |
Intermediate
Hindus |
1st |
3rd |
3rd |
3rd |
Backward
Hindus |
2nd |
4th |
4th |
4th |
3rd |
2nd |
2nd |
2nd |
|
15.
From this table one notices a great disparity in the comparative advancement of these
different communities in the matter of education. Comparing these classes of people
according to the order in which they stand in respect of their population and according to
the order in which they stand in respect of their educational progress, we find that the Intermediate class, which is first in order of population is
third in order of college education, third in order of secondary education and third in
order of primary education. "The Depressed classes who
are second in order of population, stand fourth i.e., last in order of college education,
last in order of secondary education and last, in order of
primary education. The Mahomedans who are third in order of
population are second in order of college education, second in order of secondary
education and second in order of primary education; while
the " Advanced Hindus "
who occupy the fourth place in order of population stand first in order of college
education, first in order of secondary education and first in order of primary education.
From this we can safely say that in this respect there has been no improvement over the
situation as it stood in 1882 relatively speaking.
16.
The above statement which is based upon the Report of the Director of Public Instruction,
Bombay Presidency for the year 1923-24 merely reveals the
disparity that exists in the educational advancement of the different communities. But the
disparity in the level of education among the different communities would be a very small matter if it be not very great. We can
form no important conclusion unless we know the degree of disparity. To make the position
clear from this point of view the following table is presented:
Table
Classes
of population |
Primary
education students per 1,000 of the
population of the class |
Secondary
education students per 1,000 of the
population of the class |
College
education students per 1,000 of the
population of the class |
Advanced
Hindus |
119 |
3,000 |
1,000 |
Mohammedans |
92 |
500 |
52 |
Intermediate
class |
38 |
140 |
14 |
Backward
class |
18 |
14 |
Nil(or
nearly one if at all) |
17.
The above figures give the lengths as it were by which each community is ahead of the rests
in the matter of primary, secondary and collegiate education. They reveal a range of
disparity between the different communities in this Presidency which shows that the
position of some of the communities in the matter of education is most shocking. From the statistics as given above two
facts stand out to be indisputable. (1) That the state of education of the Backward classes in
this Presidency is deplorable. In the matter of population they occupy a place as high as
second. But in the matter of Education they occupy a place which is not only last but which also is the least;
(2) That the Mohammedans
of the Presidency have made enormous strides in education;
so much so that within the short span of 30 years they have not only stolen a march over
other communities such as the Intermediate and the Backward class,
but have also come close to the Brahmins and allied castes.
18.
What can this be due to? To the policy of unequal treatment adopted by the Government
must. again be our reply to this ever present question. How unequal was the treatment of
the two classes will be evident from the following extracts
from the Quinqueinnial
Reports on Education. With regard to the treatment of the Mohammedan
in the matter of education the following observations in the third Quinquennial Report
(1892-96) are noteworthy:
"Concerning
the figures for Mohammedan Education in Bombay............. the Director remarks that the increase would
have been larger 'but for adverse circumstances'. It has
long been recognised in Bombay that Mohammedan make a larger use of Public Institutions
than the rest of the population............ On the general
question of what has been done to encourage Mohammedan education, the Director writes :
'
In the first place, a Mohammedan officer is appointed to every District, either as Deputy
or Assistant Deputy Inspector; and we have three Mohammedan
graduates as Deputies, at Kaira, Sholapur
and Hyderabad, while a fourth has been drafted into the higher grades of the Revenue
Department. There is thus not a District where the staff is out of touch with the
Mohammedan population. Again at Bombay, Karachi and Junagadh [a
Mohammedan State in Kathiawar], special efforts have been
made to provide High Schools for Mohammedan with low fee
rates, and smaller schools have been opened by other Anjumans
(Mohammedan associations) elsewhere. The Department also provides for their benefit
special standards and maintains special schools in certain localities, and reserves for
them one-third of the Provincial and Local Boards scholarships. Then, there are the
special scholarships founded by Khan Bahadur Kazi Shahbuddin [at one time Diwan of Baroda]; and in Sindh a certain number of food scholar-ships have been given by the heir of the Native State of Khairpur for students attending in Arts College. (I had great
difficulty in filling these up last year, though they are of the value of Rs. 25 a month). In Primary schools, Mohammedan are very
leniently treated in the matter of fees. They are encouraged to come to the Training
Colleges by special rules which require from them an easier test than from Hindus;............... The Joint
Schools Committee at Bombay has lately made special efforts to encourage Mohammedan
education by the appointment of a Mohammedan Deputy Inspector...................
' "
19.
Compare with this the observations regarding the education of the Depressed classes in the
fifth Quinquennial Report (1902-07) :
"
959. Bombay—In the Central division of Bombay the low
caste children are admitted free into schools and receive presents in the form of books,
slates etc............ In
Kathiawar only three children of the Depressed castes are receiving education. In the
Southern division there are 72 special schools or classes
of them, most of which are under unqualified teachers."
20.
This unequal treatment has its origin in the recommendations of the Hunter Commission. How
partial was the Hunter Commission to the Mohammedans will be evident if we compare the
recommendations it made in their behalf to those it made in the interests of the Depressed
classes. With respect to the Mohammedans the Commission
made seventeen recommendations of which the following are worthy of note :— (1) that the special encouragement of Mohammedan
education be regarded as a ligitimate charge on local, on
Municipal, and on Provincial funds.
(7)
that higher English education for Mohammedans, being the kind of education in which that
community needs special help, be liberally encouraged.
(8)
that where necessary graduated system of special scholarships for Mohammedans be
established to be awarded (a) in primary schools and
tenable in middle schools ; (b) in middle schools, and tenable in high
schools; (c) on the results
of Matriculation and First Arts examinations, and tenable in colleges also.
(9)
that in all classes of schools maintained from public funds a certain proportion of free
studentship be expressly reserved for Mohammedan students.
(10)
that in places where educational endowments for the benefit of Mohammedans exist and are
under the management of Government the funds arising from
each endowment be devoted to the advancement of education among the Mohammedans
exclusively.
(11)
that where Mohammedans exist, and are under the management of private individuals or
bodies, inducements by liberal grants-in-aid be offered to them to establish English
teaching schools or colleges on the grant-in-aid system.
(12) that, where necessary, the Normal
Schools or classes for the training
of
Mohammedan teachers be established.
(14)
that Mohammedan inspecting officers be employed more largely than
hitherto
for the inspection of primary schools for Mohammedans.
(17)
that the attention of Local Governments be invited to the question of the proportion in
which patronage is distributed among educated Mohammedans and others.
21.
Everyone of these recommendations made by the Hunter Commission was necessary in the
interests of the Depressed classes also. But when we come to analyse the recommendations
made by the Commission in the interests of the Backward classes we do not find them
directing that education of the Backward classes be regarded a legitimate change on
Government funds, that scholarships and proceedings be reserved for them, that special
inspecting staff be kept to look after their educational needs or that public patronage be
given to them by way of encouraging the growth of education amongst them. All that we find
the Commission saying is that (1) the principle that "
no boy be refused admission to a Government College or
School merely on the ground of caste," be now reaffirmed as a principle and be
applied with due caution to every institution, not reserved for special races, which is
wholly maintained at the cost of public funds, whether provincial,
municipal or local, (2)-that the establishment of special schools or
classes for children of low castes be liberally encouraged in places where there are a
sufficient number of such children to form separate schools or classes and where the schools already maintained from public funds do not
sufficiently provide for their education. As a matter of fact the recommendations made by
the Commission for the Mohammedans were far more necessary
in the interests of the Backward classes than in the interests of the Mohammedans. For even the Hunter Commission, presided as it was by a
chairman of pronounced sympathies for the Mohammedans, had to admit that " the inquiries made in
1871-73 went to prove that except in the matter of the higher education there had been a
tendency to exaggerate the backwardness of the
Mohammedans." Notwithstanding this the only recommendations made by the Hunter
Commission were the two mentioned above. Even these two recommendations made by the
Commission regarding the Depressed classes were not
calculated to do much good. They were bound to be futile. The reaffirmation of the
principle even if it be for the fifth time was useless. For under the proviso inserted by
the Commission the enforcement was to be avoided in practice. Similarly the opening of the separate schools for the Depressed classes was
hardly possible which again was bound to be sterile. Separate schools involving additional expense could hardly be acceptable to
a Government to which primary education was a task. Besides the proviso that such schools
should be opened where Backward classes were in large numbers was sufficient to negative-the
recommendations simply because in rural parts the Backward classes can seldom be found to
be living in one locality in large numbers.
22.
It is difficult to understand why the Hunter Commission paid such a scan attention to the
educational needs of the Backward classes. If it felt necessary to be generous towards the
Mohammedans, it should have at least seen that it was just
to the Backward classes who were far behind the Mohammedans in education, wealth and social status. Once
the Hunter Commission had thrown the Depressed classes into the background they remained
there and the Government never paid any attention to them. As an example of this neglect,
attention may be drawn to the Resolution of the Government of India in the Department of
Education dated Delhi the 21st February 1913. It was one of the most important resolutions
ever issued by the Government of India in which they decided "
to assist local Government by means of large grants from imperial revenues as funds became
available, to extend comprehensive systems of education in the several provinces ". In that Resolution they were particular to point out
to the Provincial Government the educational needs of " Domiciled community " and
the Mohammedan community. But they had not a word to say in the whole Resolution about the Backward classes.
The Bombay Government readily accepted the suggestion and appointed in 1913 a Mohammedan
on Education Committee to make recommendations for the promotion of education among the
Mohammedans. One feels
righteous indignation against such criminal neglect on the part of the Government
particularly when it is realised that the large grants given by the Government of India
after 1913 were given by way of fulfilment of the declaration made by His most Gracious Imperial Majesty the King Emperor in replying to
the address of the Calcutta University on the 6th January 1912 in which he said :
"
It is my wish that there may be spread over the land a network of schools and Colleges,
from which will go forth loyal and manly and useful citizens, able to hold their own in
industries and agriculture and all the vocations in life. And it is my wish too, that the
homes of my Indian subjects may be brightened and their labour sweetened by the spread of
knowledge with all that follows in its train, a higher level of thought, of comfort and
health. It is through education that my wish will be fulfilled, and the cause of education
in India will ever be very close to my heart.'"
IV.
From 1923 and after
23.
The Reforms Act came into force in 1921. Education was made
a transferred subject in charge of a minister and a rapid advance in education was
naturally expected at his hands. The Backward classes had, however, their doubts as to
whether any benefit would accrue to them from the transfer of education to the control of
the ministers. Already they had suffered in the matter of education at the hand of the
bureaucracy. In the first period of existence the bureaucracy did not permit them to
receive the benefits of education. In the second period the bureaucracy did not help them
to get education. All the same the bureaucracy was too much
enlightened to deny the principle that the Backward classes had a right to education. The
Backward classes were not prepared to predicate the same enlightenment of the Indian
intelligentsia which was struggling to replace the bureaucracy. As the Indian
intelligentsia had its roots in the part in which the Backward class had no recognised
rights, the latter were apprehensive that the past may again be made to live in the present.
24.
Unfortunately their doubts came true and it may be truly said that under the Reforms the
Backward classes in the Bombay Presidency have fallen from purgatory to hell. This may
appear to be a very strong commentary on the existing situation. But the situation for in
Backward classes of the Bombay Presidency created by the Compulsory Primary Education Act
(Bombay Act No. IV of 1923) can hardly be described in any other words. The Compulsory
Primary Education Act is in a very important sense a "
fraud ". It was claimed for the Act, it was calculated
to change the character of the primary education from being voluntary to compulsory. The
Act does nothing of the kind. A reference to section 10 of the Act is sufficient to expose
the " fraud ". The
system is as voluntary as it was before and will remain so indefinitely. For, not only
there is no obligation to make it compulsory, but there is even no time limit fixed within
which to fulfil the obligation. Apart from this the Compulsory Primary Education Act has
made a most extravagant change in the administrative
machinery for the control of Primary Education. Hitherto the control and management of
Primary Education was entrusted to the Provincial Government
and the whole of the expenditure on primary education was defrayed out of Provincial
revenues except a small grant by the Local Boards amounting to one-third of their revenue
from certain defined sources. Under the Compulsory Primary Education Act the position is
reversed. The control and management of Primary Education is now entrusted to District
School Boards (which are committees of District Local Boards) and instead of the Local
Boards giving grants to the Provincial Government the Provincial Government is required to
give a grant to the District School Board. Such extravagant and wild was the spirit in
which this change was conceived that the Act gives to these School Boards power to appoint
its own executive officer— a privilege which is denied even to such an advanced
Corporation as the Municipality of Bombay.
25.
The Sabha think that this change is a most revolutionary
change and is bound to be detrimental to the best interest of the Presidency and
particularly of the Backward classes. It must be borne in
mind that the vital necessity of education has not been
realized by all the classes of the population. The popular belief is that education is
nobody's concern except that of the Brahmins. It is only a few, who have taken to
politics, that care for the spread of education. The School Board must be drawn from the
many uniformed villagers who being brought up in the tradition that education is the concern of the Brahmins only must
be indifferent to it and are bound to be opposed to make it compulsory. Education if it is
to be efficiently administered must for some time to come, remain with the Provincial
Government under the direct control of the Legislative Council where the few politicals
who know the necessity of education are likely to be. The transfer of education from the
Education Department to the School Boards, therefore, means transfer from well-trusted
quarters to unworthy hands. But if the transfer is harmful to the progress of education in
general, it is detrimental to the interests of the Backward classes in particular. It must
be borne in mind that although there may be some doubts as to whether the generality of
the people do or do not believe in education, one thing is certain that they do not
believe in the education of the Backward classes. As to the attitude of the higher classes
towards the extension of elementary education to the lower classes of the community the
Hunter Commission observed : "
Several witnesses have replied that positive hostility is shown to the admission of low
caste boys to school. A Madras witness mentions the case of a school for Cherumans, the ancient slave caste, being established at
Calicut, but the Nayars and Tiyas
used to waylay the boys as they went to school and snatch their books out of their hands
............ In our discussion on this subject it was brought to our notice that in some parts of the Central Provinces
and of Bombay special objections
were entertained by the rural communities to the
instruction of low castes on the ground that education
would advance them in life and induce them to seek emancipation from their present servile
condition. In his report for the year 1896-97 the Director of Public Instruction,
Bombay quoted a case in which the action of the Local Officers of the Kaira District in requiring the admission of low caste pupils
led to five or six large schools being closed for years and to the huts and crops of the
low caste people being burnt in one village and to the
imposition of a heavy punitive post on that village for two years."
26.
Such being the attitude of the rural communities, how can it be expected that the School
Boards drawn as they largely will be from the rural communities will discharge,
faithfully, their trust in the matter of the education of the Depressed classes ? To give the School Boards the control over the education of
the Backward classes is to make the prosecutor the ruler. No wonder that Resolutions are
passed by the Backward classes condemning the transfer of the control of Primary Education
to the School Boards. It would have given some relief if the School Boards were manned by
representatives of the Depressed classes in adequate numbers. But that is not the case.
The representation of the Depressed classes in self-governing
bodies from the Council down to the Local Boards has been planned by the Government after
the manner of a curator who is not anxious to keep more than one specimen of each species
in his Museum. Government nominates one member from the Depressed classes to the District
Local Board out of some forty members and the School Board is directed to co-opt one
member from the Depressed classes. In the principle of co-option there is always the
danger of the wrong man being co-opted—a danger which the Depressed classes of East Khandesh have had to face in the recent School Board
elections. But supposing the right man is co-opted, what can a single individual do in a
hostile group of 15 which is the maximum strength of a School Board ?
27.
If Government is sincere in the matter of promoting the
education of the Depressed classes then there are certain measures which Government must
adopt. The Sabha has its own convictions as to what
Government should do in this connection and would like to state the same in the form of
proportions as follows :—
(1)
Unless the Compulsory Primary Education Act is abolished and the transfer of Primary
Education to the School Boards is stopped, the Sabha fears that education of the Depressed
classes will receive a great set-back.
(2)
Unless compulsion in the matter of Primary Education is made obligatory and unless the
admission to primary schools is strictly enforced, conditions essential for educational
progress of the Backward classes will not come into existence.
(3) Unless the recommendations made by the Hunter Commission regarding the education of the Mohammedans are applied to the
Depressed classes their educational progress will not be an accomplished fact.
(4)
Unless entry in the public service is secured to the Depressed classes there will be no
inducement for them to take education. 28. In making these comments upon the management of
the educational affairs of the Presidency under the Reform in their bearing upon the
Depressed classes the Sabha is not oblivious to the special
provisions made for the education of the Depressed classes in the form of a few hostels
and a few scholarships for higher education. But the Sabha begs to point out that it is
useless to make provision for higher education of the Depressed classes unless steps are taken to ensure the growth of Primary
Education. Besides there is no guarantee that such concessions will continue. On the other
hand they that depend a great deal upon the policy of the particular Minister in charge of
Education and upon the voting strength of the Depressed classes in the Legislative
Council, both of which are uncertain factors and cannot be
depended upon.