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Report On The Inspection Of Chiefs College 1937PDF 11
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6
Jp accordance with the instructions of the Hon’ble tl
Governor General, I carried owt the inspection of Aitchison ‘Gos te fhe
op the 25th January together with Sir George Anderson, Rat nel
oe ; the
Commissioner with the Govornment of Indie, and discussed matters nati onal
gt length. Mx. Barry, the Principal, rendered valuable assistance b
ing all the requisite statistics, He impressed me as one whose enthiune
foi raising the.standard of education in the College and for bringing its tono
1o the level of a roally first-class public school wns unbounded.
The Aitchison College possesses magnificent buildings and fi
playing grounds, which would not suffer-by comparison ith most of the
publie sehools in England, but it suffers fiom lack of mcdernity. The olass
‘Tooms are Tm yous’ featmo—dark and cheerless and hardly conducive to
studies, 6 Science Laboratory is very inadequate) i
library exists only in namo. . y a marey cauipped. ‘The
The College as et present constituted scems tc suffer trom six fundamental
defocts, the gradual, if not immediate, eliminetion of all cf which is neces ry
it the institution is to be placed oa a sound footing :—
(1) Paucity in number of pupils,
(2) The inadequacy ct instruction given in the College and its conso-
quent weakness as an educational institution in the proper
senso of the word. °
(3) The prohibitive cost of-education ia the College.
(4) The communal mess arranpements which have become o feature
of the institution. a
(5) The lack of community of interests between the Collego staft and
the studcnts. °
(6) Lack of funds.
(3) Tho number of boys in the College is 75. Out of this numbei 54 are
from British India and 21 from Indian States. Again, out of these Jatter 21,
ouly 1) are connected with Ruling Houses. Out of the Salute States there
areonly 8 boys whe are sonsof Ruling Chiefs and 2are being expacted* from
Bahawalpur.
It is, interesting to observe that out of.the total number of 75 boys, 26
are day pupils and 30 are scholarship holders.
Tho reascn for this small cnrolment is not far to seek. The College was
originally establishod for (a) 1¢latives cf Ruling Chiets, (6) sons of hereditary
Darbazis, (c) other boys ot high social rank. -
There isa very limited field in the Ruling Houses whence e large number of
boys.may be drawn, and in some cases whert eligible boys se available Chiefs
prefer to sond. them to; other colleges such as Mayo College, Ajmer, or
Dehra Dun,, perhaps on account of the present low standaid of education
imparted at Aitchison College or the gencral deterioration cf its tone:
It is possible that a fow boys will continue to-join the College, but it scems
doubtful whether enrolment: will he appreciably increased by additional hoys
from Indian States, and especially from among the familios and relatives: of
the Ruling Chiefs, in the near future.
Horeditary landlcrds do not exist in tho Punjab-in the‘ same senge as'in
England, for the law. of primogeniture is not-applied and property thus keeps
on diminishing by division at the death.cf each holder with the inevitable
result that holdings have been feducod in many casos to microscppic irag-
merta, the holders of which-are unable.to maintain their sons ir eollege.
(2), The lowering of the educational standard must algo affect the willing.
ness of parents to sond their sons to an institution .where the instruction
given is such as tounfit them for equal competition with the products of such
jducational institutions as Goyernment College, etc. Tho Punjab aristocracy
is not so happily, placed as to, be able to live merely tor shooting and Lmuse-
ment: infact, the opposite is the case. The large majority of the class for
La
*They havo since joined tho College.