Explain the report of William Adam related to the education in the districts of Bengal and Bihar? Plase give me the answer.
1) In the 1830s William Adam, a Scottish missionary toured the districts of Bengal and Bihar. He had been asked by Company to report on the progress of education in vernacular schools
2) Adam found that there were over 1 lakh pathshalas in Bengal and Bihar. These were small institutions with no more than 20 students each. These institutions were set up by wealthy people or local community.
3) The system of education was flexible There were no fixed fee, no printed books, no benches or chairs, no black boards, no roll call registers, no examinations etc
4) In some places, classes were held under a banyan tree while in other places, classes are conducted in guru’s home or in a temple etc. Fee depended on the income of parents i.e, the rich had to pay more than the poor.
5) Guru or the teacher interacted with students as groups at different levels of learning. Moreover, Adam discovered that this system of education suited the needs of local people.
6) For instance, classes were not held during harvest time when rural children often worked in the fields. Once the harvest is complete, these pathshalas started once again thereby enabling the children of peasant families to study without any disruption