to it. The son of a zamindar, after he has been for years mastering the curriculum of village schools, on going to court finds himself out of his clement, he sees that all his labour has been wasted, he finds himself as ignorant as his forefathers were, and cannot understand the hierogly- phics used in amladom. If the son of a poor man wishes to secure a livelihood by his knowledge, he must knock at the door of the Education Department. The other department will send him away as ignorant. There are instances of the big landholders or zamindars of the Khastriya or Brahmin caste not wishing to educate the sons of their ryots of the lower orders, with a view to profit by ignorance. But such cases are very rare. The time has not yet arrived when the Government should depend on private exertions for the diffusion of elementary education in rural districts. The withdrawal of Government, even if it be in an indirect manner, would certainly be a death-blow to the cause of education. The natives of this country have for a long, long period been under the despotic rule of Hindu Rajas or Musalman Emperors, and have acquired a habit of dependence and slavery which is engendered in their very nature, and it will take a very long time before the benign rule of the English Government can inspire their nature with free thoughts of independence. India, where in it is but the dawn of civilization such a step would be too early and premature, especially when we see that in England and other European countries, which are far ahead of us in all that appertains to civilization, elementary education is compulsory we turn to the returns of the Education Department we shall be able to see what progress has been made by this country in education by direct Government interference. People of this country, although they pay for primary education in the shape of local rates, care little whether a school situated in their village is opened or abolished. They pay education cess because they consider it a tax imposed on them by Government and not with any regard to their own good. It is by direct Government interference alone that this country can prosper. It is rather difficult to answer the question, what is our vernacular language? In India it is a saying-nay, an established fact that language varies every yojana (eight miles). In the North Western Provinces alone there are seveal dialects. The vernacular of these provinces, though it can be divided, owing to its various intricate and manifold forms, into a hundred sub-heads, has four main features-(1) Purbi, as spoken in Benares and its bordering districts; (2) Kannauji, the dialect spoken at Cawnpore and the adjoining districts : (3) Brajbhasha, as spoken in Agra and its neighbourhood; (4) Kaiyan or Khariboli, as spoken at Saharanpur, Meerut, and the neighbouring districts. In the city of Benares alone, if you have to ask any man "how he is
शिक्षा आयोग के समक्ष गवाही १०५५
