( 63 ) up to and including the fifth class, I have not been very favourably im pressed about the boys' knowledge of English in these schools. Nor is this circumstance unaccountable. Boys taught from their early boyhood to study the English Language in a more extended form than is now required of the Middle English students, must, as far as their general progress in education goes, be necessarily more thoroughly well grounded in it than otherwise. I mean the deterioration in knowledge of English referred to has been, in a considerable measure, due to the use of Vernacular text books in all subjects other than English Language, though there may be other causes, not quite tangible at present, that have operated towards this result. I am not, therefore, in favor of instruction by Vernacular text books, even in the lower forms of High English Schools, not to speak of the introduction of such a mode of teaching up to the Entrance Class. The argument, that much energy is wasted away by Indian boys in learning History, Geography, and Mathematics, through the medium of a foreign tongue, does not appear to have much force when it is remembered that the teachers are natives of the country who, in the case of young boys, explain every thing in their own Wernacular, while the use of English text books helps the boys in acquiring, at every step on ward in their education, a wider acquaintance with English words and modes of expression than they could expect to gain from one single text book in English Literature. To the other proposal of requiring students at the F. A. and B. A. Examinations to translate to and compose in their mother language, I see no special objection, although, considering that the study of the Vernaculars is not necessary to the fulfilment of the objects of High education, it would not seem to be quite right to include this in the compulsory parts of the courses for these examinations. To make any Vernacular, whether in the form of translation and composition, a part of the corresponding classical second language would mean So much attention drawn away from the study of the classic itself, and many boys, if they can hope to obtain the pass-mak in the subject by the Wernacular part of the test, will neglect the classic altogether. Yours faithfully l oKENATH CHUKRAWARTI.
