THE UNTOUCHABLES AND THE PAX BRITANNICA 109
advancement of the different communities. But the disparity in the level of education among the different communities would be a very small matter if it be not very great. We can form no important conclusion unless we know the degree of disparity. To make this position clear from this point of view, the following table is presented:—
TABLE
College Education, Students per 200,000 of the population
Classes of Population
Primary Education, Students per 1000 of the population of the class
Secondary Education, Students per 100,000 of the population
Advance Hindus .. 119 3,000 1,000
Mahomedans .. 92 500 52
Intermediate class .. 38 140 24
Backward class .. 18 14 Nil (or nearly one if at all).
- The above figures give the lengths, as it were, by which each community is ahead of the rest in the matter of primary, secondary and collegiate education. They reveal a range of disparity between the different communities in this Presidency which shows that the position of some of the communities in the matter of education is most shocking. From the statistics as given above, two facts stand out to be indisputable. (1) That the state of education of the Backward classes in this Presidency is deplorable. In the matter of population they occupy a place as high as second. But in the matter of Education, they occupy a place which is not only last but which also is the least; (2) That the Muhammedans of the Presidency have made enormous strides in education ; so much so that within the short span of 30 years, they have not only stolen a march over other communities such as the Intermediate and the Backward class, but have also come close to the Brahmins and allied castes.