India, its administration & progress / Sir John Strachey.

  • John Strachey
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: India, its administration & progress / Sir John Strachey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    think that they had not had the dues of their rank unless they passed through the course of a University. This expectation has not been fulfilled. The upper classes, even where no religious objections have existed, have for the most part kept themselves aloof. India being a country where the influence of birth and position is great, this has been unfortunate, but it is not surpris- ing. The princes and chiefs and great landholders of India have seldmpUbeen educated. To be absolutely illiterate involves, even at the present time, no discredit; sometimes, indeed—but it may be hoped that this is ceasing to be true—it is held to be honourable, because to be anything else would be a violation of immemorial custom. Native chiefs and nobles had, with rare exceptions, no disposition to send their sons to our colleges, not only because they cared little for education, but because they were afraid of loss of social dignity, or contamination of caste. To meet these difficulties an excellent beginning was made when Lord Mayo was Viceroy, by the establish- ment of special colleges. The Mayo College at Ajmir was founded by Lord Mayo for the education of the sons and relatives of the chiefs, nobles, and principal families of Rdjputana. Many of them sent their sons to the college. It was liberally endowed by the chiefs, and received a grant-in-aid from our Government, and boarding-houses for their cadets were erected by all the principal States. Similar colleges were afterwards estab- lished at Indore, Lahore, and Rajkot. English and Oriental languages, mathematics, history, and geography are among the studies. “ It is not desired,” the Educa- tion Commission wrote, “ to make these young chiefs great scholars, but to encourage in them a healthy tone and manly habits.”
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