Finances of the Education Department for 1852-53, and to communicate the following observations in reply. 2. The Statements which accompany your letter under acknowledgment show an income, from all sources, of rupees 5,49,657, an outlay of rupees 5,15,812, and a consequent surplus of rupees 33,845. This sum added to the balance of the preceding year, gives a balance of rupees 99,471, of which Rupees 50,000 has since been invested in Government Securities. The capital of the fund invested in 4 and 5 per cent. Government Securities (exclusive of that belonging to particular Institutions) is rupees 7,21,300. His Honor considers this a very successful and gratifying result of the efforts lately made by the Council, under the direction of the Government, to reduce the expenditure of the Department and bring it within authorized limits. The Schooling Fees have risen in ten years from rupees 35,604 to rupess 75,445. 3. From the Returns prepared in the Office of the Accountant to the Government of Bengal, and from information in their possession, the Council have prepared a Statement showing the amount assigned for for the support of each College and School, the amount actually expended on each Institution, and the amount by which the latter exceeds or falls short of the former. To this Statement the Council attach much value, and they propose, as a matter of convenience, that it be prepared in this Office. His Honor directs me to state that this will be done. 4. It is shown that while the expenses of the Presidency Colleges and of nearly all the Schools fall short of their Assignments, that of the Mofussil Colleges invariably exceeds them. The excess, in one case, it is true, is available to meet deficiency in another, but the Council seem to wish that the Assignments should be revised so that the limit of expen diture on account of each Institution may be at least approximately known. This, His Honor directs me to state, can be d one next year. 5. The Assignment for a Mofussil College was fixed in 1845 at rupees 20,000, which amount, together with the Schooling Fees, would, it was supposed, suffice for its support. Experience has, however, shown that the annual expense of a Mofussil College is about rupees 30,000 exclusive of house rent, building and other contingencies, while the Schooling Fees will scarcely amount to rupees 5,000. 6. The Council therefore propose that the Assignment for each Mofussil College should be rupees 30,000. In the case of the Dacca and Kishnaghur Colleges they propose to make up the difference by reducing the Assignments of other Institutions, where they are excessive; and, as respects the Berhampore College, an additional Grant for that Institution is requested. But, with a surplus income of rupees 33,000, His Honor considers this hardly necessary. There are other Assignments besides those which the Council propose to transfer, which, added to income from local sources considerably exceed the expenses to be defrayed from them, and from these Assignments His Honor thinks the deficiency in the Berhampore College Assignment may readily be made up. 7. It appears that about rupees 6,000 of the Education Funds income is expended upon Vernacular Schools. His Honor concurs with the Council in thinking that this ought not to be. The Government of India has promised a special Grant for Vernacular Schools, and when the plan for the Establishment has been matured, the Education Fund will be relieved from the expense of maintaining those already in existence. This, in His Honor's opinion, makes it the less necessary to apply to the Government of India for a further Grant for the Berhampore College. 8. The Council think that the expense of building new Colleges and Schools ought not to fall on the Education Fund, but that it should be made the subject of a separate Grant in each case. His Honor directs me to state that the expense of building Schools is almost always entirely defrayed by local subscription as a condition of their establishment; and the cost of building Colleges has been partly, and will be to a greater degree, met in a similar way. So long as there is a surplus income and a balance at credit of the Education Fund, the outlay necessary for such objects is a legitimate charge upon the Fund, and one for which the balance is perhaps more properly liable than for any other. If their be no surplus available when means are wanted for building purposes, the question of a special Grant, His Honor observes, may fairly be raised, but so long as the Department is under any liability for building, either actual, or in prospect, there should be no further investment of Capital. 9. His Honor approves of the intention of the Council to adopt an uniform plan for building school-houses. I have the honor to be, (Signed) Sir, Your most obedient Servant, Secy. to the Govt. of Bengal. Establishment of new Schools and Colleges. The following Notification was issued by the Government of Bengal, in October 1853. "The Most Noble the Governor of Bengal having sanctioned the foundation of a College at Berhampore, in the District of Moorsheda. bad, it is hereby notified for general information, that the College will open for the admission of pupils on the 1st of November 1853, and instruction will commence as soon after that date as possible. "All applicants will be admitted into the College without reference to religion or caste, provided they are within the prescribed limits as to age, and provided they agree to pay for their School Books, and to contribute a monthly sum towards the expense of their education. "No boy, whose age exceeds eight years, shall be admitted, unless he can read correctly and with a good pronunciation the Second Number of the English Reader of the School Book Society. "No boy whose age exceeds twelve years shall be admitted, unless he can read, parse, and explain any passage in the Fifth Number of the English Reader of the School Book Society. He must also know the Simple Rules of Arithmetic; the form of the Earth: its great divisions, and their sub-divisions into countries; the names of the capitals and principal cities of each country, and of the principal mountains and rivers. He must be able to translate correctly from Bengalee or Hindustani into English, and from English into Bengalee or Hindustani, any passage from the Fifth Number of the English Reader. "No boy shall be admitted whose age exceeds sixteen. "The course of study will be precisely the same as that pursued at the Hindu College at Calcutta and the College of Mahomed Mohsin at Hooghly. "At the end of every year, a general examination will take place, when Scholorships, of which eight Senior, at 30 and 40 rupees a month, and twelve Junior, at 8 rupees a month, are attached to the College, will be awarded to those students who are able to pass the required test; and prizes will be given to the more deserving boys in the lower classes. "The Governor of Bengal has also authorized the establishment of Zillah Schools in the Districts of Beerbhoom, Rungpore, Shahabad and Pubna, of which the first is already open, and the others will open, for the admission of pupils, on the 1st of November 1853. To each of these Schools, as well as to the School already established at Bauleah, are attached four Junior Scholarships of 8 rupees a month each, tenable at the Central College at Berhampore, which, together with other prizes, will be awarded to the most successful pupils at each annual examination. "Sanction has also been given to the establishment on a similar scale of Zillah Schools in the under-mentioned Districts with Scholarships tenable at the Colleges specified opposite to each, viz. : "The course of study at these Schools will be precisely the same as that pursued in the School Society's School at Calcutta and in the Branch School at Hooghly. "Local Committees have been formed at the several Stations abovementioned, to whom candidates for admission into the College or School at those places will apply." By order of the Most Noble the Governor of Bengal, The School at Furreedpore which was established in January 1850, by private subscription, was taken under the auspices of Government in November 1853. AT a public Meeting held at Monghyr, on the 9th of June Monghyr School. 1854, the sum of Company's Rupees 18,000 was subscribed towards the establishment of a School at that station, Rajah Joy Mungle |