THE UNTOUCHABLES AND THE PAX BRITANNICA 103
COLLEGIATE EDUCATION
1881-82
No. of P. C. on total Scholars No. of Scholars
Christians .. .. .. 14 3
Brahmins .. .. .. 241 50
Other Cultivators .. .. 5 1
Hindus Low Castes .. .. 0 0
Other Castes .. .. 103 21.3
Mohammedans .. .. .. 7 1.5
Parsis .. .. .. 108 21.5
Aboriginal and Hill Tribes .. .. 0 0
Others (including Jews etc.) .. .. 2 0.4
What do these figures show ? They show that although mass education was the policy of the Government, the masses were as outside the pale of education as they were before the year 1854 and that the lowest and aboriginal classes of the Hindus still remained lowest in order of education; so much so, that in 1881-82, there was no student from that community either in the High Schools or in the Colleges of this Presidency. What can this failure to bring the Depressed Classes to the level of the rest in the matter of education be due to ? To answer this question, it is necessary again to go into the history of the educational policy of the Government of this Presidency.
The Despatch of the Court of Directors of the year
1954, for the first time recognised after a lapse of full
40 years that the duty of the State was to undertake the education of the great mass of the people. But there were still die-hards, who had great misgivings as to the wisdom of the principle laid down in that Despatch and who were agitating for a reversal of that policy. The fears of dire consequences to the British Rule arising from elevating the Backward Classes above their station in life, still haunted men like Lord Ellenborough, President of the Board of