Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

GENERAL SYSTEM OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.

CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY.

THE University of Calcutta is, strictly speaking, an imperial rather than a provincial institution, exercising functions over the Punjab, the NorthWestern Provinces, Oudh, the Central Provinces, and British Burmah, as well as over Bengal; but its seat is in Bengal, and the majority of its students belong to these provinces.

Its functions.

The Calcutta University was constituted by an Act of the Legislature in 1857, and the preamble of that Act recited that the University was established "for the better encouragement of Her Majesty's subjects **** in the pursuit of a regular and liberal course of education," and "for the purpose of ascertaining, by means of examination. the persons who have acquired proficiency in different branches of literature, science, and art, and of rewarding them by academical degrees." The Calcutta University has no professors, or scholars, or colleges, or schools; its function is to examine and confer degrees. Its Fellows are for the most part Missionaries, Government servants, and others employed in education, or persons filling high Government posts in other departments; the Fellows form the Senate, and they elect six of their own number, who, with the Vice-Chancellor, form the Syndicate or governing body of the University. The four faculties (arts, law, medicine, and engineering) are usually represented in the Syndicate. Many of the "middle" schools, all the "higher" schools, and all the colleges of Bengal, educate their pupils with a view to the University examinations and degrees, which latter enable students to enter the professions of law, medicine, and engineering, and also the higher branches of the Native Civil Service (executive and judicial). The success of a college or a school is judged very much by the number of its students who pass the several University examinations. The University prescribes the languages, the science and other subjects, and even the text-books for all these examinations. It thus dominates and guides the course of instruction in all Bengal colleges and schools except the very lowest.

Its wide influence.

Its standards and degrees.

The several University examinations are the Entrance Examination, open to all boys above the age of 16 years; the First Arts Examination, open to all students who have attended for two years collegiate classes

[ocr errors]

in any college or high school affiliated to the University; the B.A. or Degree Examination, open to all students of four years' standing in any affiliated institution, who may have passed the First Arts Examination; and the M.A. or Honor Examination. For these examinations the prescribed subjects are

[blocks in formation]

In March 1872 it was decided that students for the First Arts Examination might take up "the Chemistry of the Metalloids" instead of Psychology.

[blocks in formation]

In April 1872 the University laid down certain alternative courses for the B.A. Examination which will enable candidates to take up Physical Geography and a Physical Science subject instead of Moral Philosophy and Metaphysics.

SPECIAL COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS.

Under the head of "special colleges and schools" come the Medical College, the Civil Engineering College, the Mahomedan Madrissas at Hooghly and Calcutta, the School of Arts and Design at Calcutta, and Artizan Schools in different parts of the country.

The Medical College educates native medical practitioners of different grades for the public service, and Medical College. it also carries private medical students through the courses required for the several examinations and degrees.

in medicine provided by the University.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

The medical examinations and degrees prescribed by the University are:open to all candidates who, after passing the University Entrance Examination, study medicine for three years, and attend prescribed courses of lectures in Anatomy, Materia Medica, Chemistry, Botany, and Physiology; the candidates must also have attended the dissecting room for three winter sessions. open to all candidates who, after passing the First Licentiate Examination, study medicine for two years, attend prescribed courses of lectures, and complete a specified routine of hospital practice.

is conferred af er examinations, open to all who, after passing the University First Examination, go through the course required for a First and Second Licentiate, and pass examination in Comparative Anatomy and Zoology.

is conferred on Second Bachelors of Medicine who, after a prescribed course of practice, pass a special examination.

Any student who passes

Medical graduates employed in the

the Second Licentiate Examination is qualified for the public service in the grade of Sub-Assistant Surgeon. But public service. the great majority of the students in the Medical College are youths or men who have never passed the University Entrance Examination, and therefore are not eligible for any of the University degrees in medicine. Some of the students are taught their profession through the medium of Bengali; and a three years' course of study in Materia Medica, Anatomy, Surgery, Chemistry, Medicine, Midwifery and Medical Jurisprudence, together with attendance at the hospital and dissecting-room, entitles students to appear at the Final Examination. Successful candidates at this examination receive certificates as Native Doctors or Hospital Assistants, and are qualified for the independent practice of medicine, or for the public service.

As Native Doctors.

Native Doctors are employed in the public service, or in charitable dispensaries established or aided by Government, but very many more passed students of the Medical College settle down to private practice in Bengal towns and villages.

The "Law" Colleges consist of classes wherein lectures on Indian Law are delivered to under-graduates of the several Government colleges in

Law Colleges.

Bengal.

Law, or it may be said the art of Indian litigation, is the only study in Bengal which in any way supports itself. The University has heretofore granted—

Law Degrees.

A degree of Licentiate of Law

A degree of Bachelor of Law

A degree of Honor in Law

A degree of Doctor of Law

[ocr errors]

{

{

to any student who, having passed the Entrance Examination, studied law at an affiliated college for three years.

to any student who passes the B.A. Examination and studies law for at least two years after taking his degree, and for one year before taking his degree

to any Bachelor or Licentiate of law who passes a prescribed examination.

to any Bachelor of Law who, after taking an Honor degree, writes a special essay to be approved by the President of the Faculty of Law.

The degree of Licentiate in Law will not be granted to any one who did not begin to study law before the 1st January 1871; the

T

conferment of this degree will therefore very shortly cease. The great majority of law students do not attempt to gain University degrees. A very great many students who obtain no University degree in law, however, take to the lower branches of the legal profession. The present rules require of candidates for pleaderships a certain number of years' attendance at Law Colleges, and do not insist upon candidates possessing a University degree in law.

Another most important special College, which has not hitherto

Civil Engineering College.

Engineering College.
Civil Engineering in

attracted nearly so many students as either Law or Medicine, is the Civil The subjects taught are Surveying, Drawing, all its branches, Mathematics, and the Use of Materials, as well as Chemistry and Physical Geography. Ordinarily, students do not join the Civil Engineering College until they have passed the University Entrance Examination; youths who have not Examination are, however, admissible on payment The degrees in Engineering conferred by the

C.E. Degrees.

passed the Entrance of a special fee. University are

Licentiate of Engineering

Bachelor of Engineering...

Degree of Honor in Engineering

open to every student of the Civil Engineering College who completes the three years' course and passes the final examination.

{ open to any Licentiate who has passed the First Arts Examin

}

ation of the University.

and Degree of Master of Engi- to Licentiates or Bachelors who pass a special examination. neering.

At the end of each of the three years of the Civil Engineering College course an examination is held, and students who succeed at these examinations receive certificates of qualification for employment in the Public Works Department. A student who completes one year's course and passes the final examination, gets a certificate as SubOverseer, while a student who passes the second year's course and examination obtains a certificate as Overseer. Students who obtain a Licentiate's certificate are, after a short probation, eligible for the grade of Assistant Engineer. In the educational chapter of the report for 1872-73, it will be found that the number of students at the Civil Engineering College has now more than doubled during the last twelve months. It may be hoped that the art and profession of Engineering will in time be popular among Bengal students.

The several branches of Public employment for Civil Engi

the Public Works Department have hitherto been able to provide employment for all, or nearly all, the students who pass the several Civil Engineering Examinations and adopt Engineering as a profession.

neers.

The Calcutta School of Art became a Government Institution in the year 1864. No examination of any School of Art. kind is required of candidates for admission, and none of the pupils possess any knowledge of art before they join the school. The subjects taught are drawing, wood-engraving, lithography, plaster-casting, and decorative art of all kinds.

Among "special" schools and colleges are ranked the Sanskrit College at Calcutta and the two Mahomedan Madrissas at Calcutta and

Sanskrit College. Hooghly. These two Madrissas were originally established as places

Calcutta Madrissa.

for the education of Mahomedans in Arabic, Persian, and Mahomedan law.

The Calcutta Madrissa was founded by Warren Hastings; the Hooghly Madrissa is attached to the Hooghly College, which is supported entirely by college fees and by Hooghly Madrissa. the bequest of a Mahomedan named Mahomed Mohsin, who left a large landed estate for religious and charitable purposes.

Three new Madrissas are now being organised at the chief centres of Mahomedan population. A description of those institutions, and of the funds from which their cost is met, will be found in the chapter which relates to the educational events of the year under report.

Artizan schools.

Artizan schools have recently been established at Dacca, at Burdwan, at Dehree on the Soane River, and at Darjeeling, and are aided by Government. The income of the Williamson bequest, about Rs. 4,600 a year, has been allotted for artizan classes either at schools or in workshops in Assam, and for surveying and mensuration classes in the Anglo-vernacular schools in that province.

There are in Bengal three classes of normal schools, namely, higher

Normal schools.

There

class, lower class, and female. are nine Government higher class, and nineteen Government lower class normal schools. The number of aided normal schools for boys is thirteen, and the number of aided female normal schools is two.

Vernacular only is taught at all normal schools; English instruction is excluded, because the object of the normal schools was to train up teachers for vernacular and primary schools, and it was feared that young men who had received a fair education and had learnt English would not be content with masterships in primary schools. The subjects taught at normal schools are arithmetic, composition, history, and geography, geometry and algebra, mathematics, surveying, natural philosophy and science, and the art of teaching. All these subjects are taught through the vernacular. Barely half of the youths who enter our normal schools go through the whole course and gain a final certificate; many pupils, however, who leave the normal schools and take masterships before they complete the full course derive much benefit from their normal school training. In the chapter relating to the current year will be found an account of the measures recently taken to establish a first class normal school in every division (Commissionership) and a lower class normal school in each district, for training primary schoolmasters. For primary schoolmasters the course will extend over one year; for a middle class teacher's certificate the course will be two years.

« ПредишнаНапред »