are Burmese. A large proportion of them are drawn from the Karens, who
occupy the tracts of hill country on the frontier of Lower Burma, in
Tenasserim, and in the Delta of the Irawadi. The gradual civilization
and raising of these tribes to the standard of the Burmese in general,
is on all sides attributed to the excellent work of the missionaries,
(the American Baptists and the Anglicans). Where Christianity comes its
special social results follow. There is a Chinese community numbering
over 40,000 and a strong Mohammedan section, not to speak of Hindu
immigrants from South India, Tamils and Telugus, while the variety of
the educational problem may be seen in the official enumeration of
the other races under instruction: “Karens, Talaings, Chins, Shans,
Danus and Inthas, Chinese, Indians, Palaungs and Taungthus.”
The interior of Burma is inhabited by about fifty-seven different
tribes speaking forty different languages. Feminine education however
is not as yet a matter of importance amongst the hill tribes; apart
from the Anglo-Indian (Eurasian) schools, which lie beyond the province
of this book, it affects mainly the Burmese, Karen, Chinese and
Mohammedan communities.
As regards general literacy, Burma ranks high in the provinces of the
Empire; the proportion of girls at school to girls of school-going age
was 9.6% in 1910,[53] as compared with 4% in 1907 in British India as
a whole. This distinction is however mainly in the Primary stages, for
the women graduates of Burma can so far be numbered on one’s fingers.
It is also entirely confined to those areas which have come into touch
with modern civilization. There are large tracts of hill country where
the women are totally uneducated, for the Burmese and Karen women alone
contribute to the high proportion. One would however naturally expect
to find a well developed system of female education throughout the
various stages, offering possibly an example to the other provinces,
and it is surprising to find that this is not the case. On the contrary
there is considerably less organization and no such definite policy
in female education as in Eastern Bengal. The real reasons for the
creditable proportion are the later age of marriage, the bright
temperament and ability of the Burmese girl, the complete absence of
_parda_, and the general social atmosphere, which permits girls
to study unhindered in boys’ schools throughout all the stages. Thus
there are more girls studying in boys’ schools than in separate ones,
viz. 73% as compared with 42% over India as a whole. The system seems
in many ways to work well. Of the three contributing factors, which are
found in every province, the work of Government, the spontaneous Indian
movement, and missionary effort, the last overwhelmingly predominates
in Burma, especially in the higher stages.
The policy of the Government, more especially as regards girls’
schools, has been to encourage, guide, and, to a certain extent,
finance private institutions while undertaking little direct work
of its own. As will be seen from the accompanying table, only four
institutions are directly under the Central Authority. A certain
proportion of girls may also be found in the Government and Municipal
Secondary schools for boys; the Primary schools for boys directly under
public control only number fifteen and the proportion of girls in
them is therefore a negligible quantity. No Inspectress or Assistant
Inspectress has as yet been appointed, partly because funds are lacking
and also because, apart from purely domestic subjects there does not,
seem such a crying need for it as in other parts of India.
+MANAGEMENT OF GIRLS’ SCHOOLS IN BURMA+[54]
+------------+-------------------+----------------------------------+
| | +UNDER | +UNDER |
| |PUBLIC MANAGEMENT.+| PRIVATE MANAGEMENT.+ |
| +---------+---------+-------+------+---------+---------+
| | | Munici- | Aided | |Number of|Number of|
| |Govern- | pal | by | Un- |Scholars | Girls in|
| | ment. | Boards. |Govern-|aided.| on | Boys’ |
| | | | ment | | Roll. | Schools.|
+------------+---------+---------+-------+------+---------+---------+
|College | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 12 |
| | | | | | | |
|High | .. | .. | 9 | .. | 1,523 | 502 |
| | | | | | | |
|Middle-- | | | | | | |
| English | .. | .. | 16 | .. | 1,968 | 1,086 |
| | | | | | | |
| Vernacular| 4 | .. | 48 | .. | 3,312 | 9,456 |
| | | | | | | |
|Primary | .. | .. | 619 | .. | 20,022 | 40,534 |
+------------+---------+---------+-------+------+---------+---------+
| | 4 | .. | 692 | .. | 26,825 | 51,590 |
+------------+---------+---------+-------+------+---------+---------+
_Note_.--Deducting the Anglo-Indian figures it leaves only 676 Indian
girls taking High School Education.
There are also 86 Private Institutions of an elementary character with
over four thousand pupils.
The spontaneous Indian element may practically be identified with
the Buddhist educational movement, except for one small Mohammedan
school in Rangoon where tiny girls learn the Koran. To Buddhism and
the Buddhist monks may be attributed the high standard of literacy
in Burma as a whole. Practically every Burmese boy knows how to read
and write, and he has learnt it at the monastery.[55] In the nature
of things girls are not admitted to these _Kyaungs_, but there
are apparently some parallel schools for girls, conducted by nuns.
“Besides the monastic public schools, there are private schools kept
by laymen and occasionally also by women, in which girls as well as
boys are taught.”[56] The private institutions which do not come under
inspection are mainly of this character. One fruit of the recent
Buddhist revival is the Empress Victoria Buddhist Girls’ School,
which owes its existence and tone to the energies of Mrs Hla Oung.
Her main idea is the combination of modern education with definite
instruction in Buddhism and in this the school differs from all the
other indigenous girls’ schools, where little beyond bare literacy
can be acquired. Excellent education up to “Anglo-Vernacular Standard
VII” can be obtained here under competent mistresses or masters. An
Anglo-Vernacular school has also recently been opened through private
generosity for the girls of the Chinese Colony in Rangoon. There is
naturally no spontaneous and independent effort for girls’ education
among the hill tribes, though in many cases they are ready to meet the
missionary more than half-way.
The missionary influence in the education of girls in Burma is thus a
most important one, and includes every stage from the Kindergarten to
Normal training. The chief agencies at work are the American Baptist
Mission, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and the
Methodist Episcopal Church of America. The Roman Catholic educational
schemes exist largely for the Anglo-Indians and the Tamil immigrants
from South India.
[Illustration: Ghurka Girl Boarder at S.P.G. Girls’ School, Mandalay]
The American Baptist Mission dates from the time of Judson (1810),
and has now in connection with it over 70,000 native Christians
speaking eight different languages. The educational scheme for their
Christian girls is very thorough, and leads up through a system of
small village schools to their Burmese boarding-school in Kemmandine,
a suburb of Rangoon, and to an excellent mixed Karen school, also in
Rangoon. There is a separate Normal school, and one or two especially
clever girls are to be found in the Matriculation class of the Baptist
Boys’ High School preparing to go to the Mission College. A large
proportion of the non-Christian girls are drawn into these schools by
the efficiency of the education offered. The centre of the S.P.G.
work is St Mary’s School, Rangoon, which dates back to 1865, and is
a first-class institution in every way. It is satisfactory to note
that several of the staff are former pupils who have returned to teach
here, after training in the S.P.G. Normal School. Some of the staff are
Anglo-Indian, but a good proportion are Burmese Christians. Two English
ladies are in charge. There are about one hundred boarders, mostly
Christian, but including some Buddhists, and nearly an equal number of
non-Christian day scholars. The school works under the Government Code,
and earns an excellent grant. There are three other good S.P.G. schools
for Burmese or Karen girls which lead up to St Mary’s. Those at Toungoo
and Mandalay have a considerable number of boarders. A few of these
are drawn from the immigrant population--as Kansi, the little Ghurka
girl in the accompanying illustration. Her father is a Christian, and
contributes regularly to her maintenance. The policy of the S.P.G.
Mission seems, so far, rather to concentrate on a few good schools
than to develop much village educational work. The Methodist Episcopal
schools, like those of the S.P.G., are partly for the Anglo-Indian
community, and partly for the indigenous population. In Rangoon they
have two good High schools, one of each type, and other schools in the
country. The educational work done by other societies in Burma is not
extensive; but, where every unit counts, it has its own contribution
to make. There are large tracts of hill country round Burma which are
still waiting for missionary advance, and where the women are totally
uneducated.
The pioneer work to be done would be of the type usual amongst
primitive peoples, and might produce the same magnificent results as
amongst the Karens.
Passing from the organizing agencies to the actual pupils, the
religious classification as seen in the accompanying table is of
interest.
The Anglo-Indian pupils pass through the various stages of their
education in the High School, hence their absence in the statistics
of the Primary schools. The proportion of Mohammedan girls in the
High schools is striking, and is possibly due to the fact of mixed
parentage; Buddhist freedom to a certain extent influences Mohammedan
customs in Burma. By the new regulations only 15% of the places in
the “European” schools are available for Burmese or Indian girls, and
these vacancies are eagerly sought after. The curriculum pursued in the
various schools is laid down in the Government Code, and there are no
schools of any importance which stand apart and develop an experimental
curriculum of their own, as occasionally happens in other provinces.
Burma has, as yet, no University of her own, and the curriculum of
the schools with the corresponding departmental examinations is to a
certain extent determined in relation to the Calcutta Matriculation.
Schools are classified as “High” in which after a good vernacular
foundation, the pupils are taken up to Matriculation, English
being used as a medium of instruction in the higher forms; “Middle
Anglo-Vernacular,” in which English is taught orally from the Primary
stages and as a written language from the fourth class, instruction is
given only up to the test of the seventh standard, and in the latter
stages English is used as a medium; “Middle Vernacular,” in which
pupils are taken up to the seventh standard, but no English instruction
whatever is given; and “Primary,” where vernacular education is only
carried to the fourth standard.
+CLASSIFICATION BY RACE OR CREED OF BURMESE SCHOOL GIRLS+[57]
+------------------+------+-------+-----+-------+------+----+----+
| |Euro- |Native |Hin- |Moham- |Buddh-|Par-|Oth-|
| |peans |Christ-|dus. |medans.|ists. |sis.|ers.|
| | |ians. | | | | | |
+------------------+------+-------+-----+-------+------+----+----+
|High School |1,349 | 14 | 9 | 23 | 31| 25 | 72 |
| | | | | | | | |
|Middle | | | | | | | |
| Anglo-Vernacular| 470 | 453 | 6 | 28 | 1,001| 2 | 8 |
| Vernacular | 4 | 543 | 38 | 114 | 2,938| .. | 1 |
| | | | | | | | |
|Primary | 128 | 1,121 | 77 | 208 |18,481| .. | 7 |
+------------------+------+-------+-----+-------+------+----+----+
| |1,951 | 2,131 | 130 | 373 |22,451| 27 | 88 |
+------------------+------+-------+-----+-------+------+----+----+
The curriculum is in many respects very similar to that found in
schools at home, and is open to the usual criticism that its influence
is denationalizing. A recent order limits the teaching of English in
the first three classes to simple conversation lessons, in order that
more stress may be laid on correct vernacular. The advantages of the
oral method in the hands of a skilled teacher are undoubted, but it
is a question whether the Department have not been somewhat premature
in this respect. The Kindergarten classes are excellently conducted
in some schools, and every effort is made to keep them as Burmese as
possible in character. In drawing, a complete series of copies based on
Burmese design and ranging from the most simple to the most elaborate,
has been prepared and is in extensive use. It is when the stage of
optional and alternative subjects is reached that the denationalizing
element enters more strongly. In one High school visited, only about
25% of the girls were taking Burmese, in some forms only one pupil did
so, while many of them take Latin, and a preponderating proportion
choose English history as being an easy examination subject. The number
of Anglo-Indian girls partly explains this choice. Indian history is
a compulsory subject throughout, and the Government Code offers ample
scope for vernacular and classical Oriental study. It is the choice
of the individual pupil or parents which is at fault. Sewing is not a
subject which carries a Government grant, and excepting at a few of
the European schools, it is at a low ebb. The Principal of the S.P.G.
High school acted as Inspectress for the Department in this subject
during 1910 in some twenty-six schools, and through her efforts the
standard has been to some extent raised, but there is a crying need
for a properly appointed Inspectress, who will develop this subject as
well as a sound system of instruction in hygiene and domestic economy
adapted to Burmese conditions. The tendency is for the girls to drop
off in the higher forms at about sixteen years of age, so that very few
really go up for the Matriculation examination, and these mainly with
intent to teach. Others pass after Standard VII. straight to the Normal
school.
In outer circles a strong destructive criticism is directed against
the anglicizing tendency of education in Burma, but amongst the
missionaries actually engaged in it there is not the same realization
of a possible need for change as is found amongst certain sections of
missionary educators in other parts of India. The reason for this may
partly lie in the fact that the Western education of girls--indeed
education at all beyond the mere rudiments--is of later date in Burma
than elsewhere, and that consequently its full effect cannot yet be
traced. Moreover, among the Burmese there is not the same “nationalist”
spirit as exists in India proper, and this directly influences the
educational problem. It must be remembered, too, that there is not the
same gulf between the woman’s life and the man’s as in other parts
of India, and that the system used for boys may in many respects be
excellent for girls. But whether we have here in its early stages a
problem which is destined to become more acute, is a subtle question
and one worthy of close inquiry. At any rate, no constructive theory
has as yet been put forward by any mission school. The general public,
however, criticize, and taking that criticism for what it is worth,
there is a general indictment on the ground of the education given
being mere “cram,” and not really a training of mind and character.
A Burmese Deputy Commissioner writes: “If women have become more
educated, many have also become more frivolous, spending their time in
reading songs, _zats_,[58] and useless trash, instead of doing
more useful work.”[59] A special accusation is also directed against
the general atmosphere of the school, which is too reminiscent of
English to be the natural one for a foreign country.
Both these criticisms are apparently concerned more with the problem
of the teacher than with that of the curriculum. The Government Code
is elastic, the trouble is the lack of emphasis laid on Oriental
subjects. A British or American missionary may often enter at once into
school life in Burma without any opportunity of knowing the people
or the language, and be thus unable to give the Burmese tone, which
in theory she may or may not value. I observed the special case of a
young American at the head of a large Anglo-Vernacular Middle school
who was obliged to interview her new pupils through an interpreter, and
had no means of supervising the instruction given in the vernacular
throughout her school. The educational problem translates itself here
into the mission problem of under-staffing. It may doubtless be argued
that the denationalizing influence in the mission schools is that of
a religion presented in its Western aspects but it is interesting to
note that the same atmosphere is felt in the Empress Victoria Buddhist
Girls’ School,[60] which is constantly under the personal influence
of Mrs Hla Oung, a leading Buddhist. The definite statement, “We wish
to be English in everything except our religion,” affords a striking
contrast to the care with which some missionaries seek to preserve all
that is good and right in national tradition and custom.
Passing from the dominant influence to the staff, through which the
Head-mistress must transmit her ideals, what opportunities of training
have these teachers had? As regards the Normal schools the whole work
is practically in the hands of the missionaries. There are four Normal
schools for girls all under mission management. These included in
1910 eighty-eight pupils, of whom sixty-nine were native Christians.
There are also a few girls in the Government Normal schools for men,
notably two Mohammedan girls in the Mandalay school. The criticism in
the Government Report is that the literary work demanded of the female
students is too severe, especially if they do not aim at teaching
in any institution higher than a Primary school. Some alteration in
the curriculum is suggested. Moreover, many teachers cannot afford
to defer the opportunity of an immediate salary, and do not pass
through the Normal school. Most of those in charge of the mission
schools, however, insist upon Normal training for their teachers.
The type of teacher produced is not, according to general opinion, a
very high one; she is intellectually weary, and looks upon her career
mainly from a pecuniary point of view. There are, of course, marked
exceptions. Teachers’ Associations do not exist, and it is questionable
whether these would be advisable owing to the heat and strain of
the necessary hours of teaching. The material, therefore, with which
the Head-mistress has to shape her school is not of the best quality,
and it is all the more necessary that she should have leisure from
routine for personal contact with both pupils and staff. This is just
what she does not get. A very large proportion of her time is often
taken up by work on Government schedules, and in personally teaching
the higher English classes. In mission schools, which frequently have
non-Christian teachers on their staff, she may also have to teach the
Scripture lessons throughout. So far, we look in vain for Burmese
women who have passed up to the University to train as leaders. Of the
twelve women Arts students in Rangoon, only one is Burmese. She is a
Christian. Even the Anglo-Indian community, from which many of the
teachers are drawn, rests content with the qualification of First Arts
(a two years’ University course), and no graduates have, as yet, to the
writer’s knowledge, taken Secondary training. The ideal for women’s
education in Burma is the production of some fully qualified Burmese
Head-mistresses, who will be able to impress their individuality on
the whole system, and thus make it contribute to the beauty of their
national characteristics.
It will thus be seen that the day of foreign and missionary educators
in Burma has in one sense only begun; they are needed for pioneer work
amongst the untouched hill districts; for the even more difficult task
of guiding the course of higher education into the right channels; and
for the work of training those who will prove in the future its best
interpreters to their own people.
IV
EASTERN BENGAL AND ASSAM
“A woman’s place in the National life will now best be filled by the
realization of herself; she must grow to her full stature, taking
as her due her share of God’s light and air, of the gifts of the
Earth-Mother.”
+C. SORABJI.+
To pass from the sunny smiling country of the Burmese to Dacca, the
capital of Eastern Bengal and Assam,[61] is to enter a scene of strange
contrast, and one marked by monotone and inertia. The brilliant Eastern
sun shines down, but its rays are caught by no golden roofs and domes;
sombre grey stone meets the eye, with here and there traces of the
carving and colouring left by the alerter men of centuries ago; there
are no smiling happy groups of women busy with the day’s work, their
gay garments bright against the background of tropical green, but
only here and there ghostly figures clad in _burqas_,[62] or
some scantily draped “sweeper” women, little heeding, and as little
heeded. A strange town it is, with a strange mixture of civilizations,
and yet possessing withal a certain charm of latent capability. Relics
of a Hindu past are there, almost lost beneath the Moslem dominance
of the thirteenth century, which brought with it some of the glory
of architecture and the learning of Upper India, but seemed to take
on the colourlessness of the land to which it came, winning chiefly
the lower classes; now the new Western influence has come, and has
given to the Bengali, by means of education, a unity which repudiates
its source, thus creating a young India awake and alert. The diverse
characteristics of the capital are in a sense typical of the diversity
of the whole province and of the problems of its administration and
development. The new province created by the Partition in 1905 includes
the territories formerly administered by the Chief Commissioner of
Assam, to which have been added certain districts lying on the Eastern
side of the bay of Bengal, the river regions of the Padua and the
Jumna, and the Chittagong division which borders on the Burmese hill
district. It thus includes large city populations, such as Dacca with
over 90,000 inhabitants, and great river districts such as Sylhet, and
the Padua Meghna Delta, with its intersecting channels, which in the
rainy season multiply by the hundred till the country is a network of
waterways, and in which every brown boy is as much at home as he is
on land--a country of villages and of rich abundant harvests, where
the monsoon fails not, and famine is unknown. Then there are the hill
districts--the Khasi and Garo Hills, the native states of Manipur
and Tippera, and the country bordering on Burma, where a strong and
vigorous people, marked by a hardy independence, are only gradually
being touched by modern civilization. While the educational problem is
mainly a rural one--in 1901 only 2% were enumerated in the sixty one
towns--the urban minority, with its demand for higher education, cannot
be ignored.
[Illustration: A Hill School, Eastern Bengal]
Female education in Eastern Bengal has certain aspects which make
it differ from that in other provinces, and render it a peculiarly
interesting study. Whereas elsewhere we shall trace the development
of the three different influences--the spontaneous Indian movement,
missionary efforts, and the work of Government, the last, in varying
degrees, a unifying and co-ordinating agency--here we have one
well-organized Government Female Education Committee, on which all
these interests are represented, and by which a unified policy is in
process of being worked out. This Committee was appointed after the
Partition in 1907, to work under the Director of Public Instruction,
and consists of those officials directly concerned, of non-officials of
various creeds, of representatives of several missionary agencies, and
of a few Indian and British ladies selected mainly for their interest
in such matters. It is in no sense a popular body, and it has no
executive function; but it has done some extremely useful work.