1 ( 45)
2 74. The Government have prescribed that this Section of the Report
3 should be sub-divided into the headings of English,
4 Vernacular, and Industrial. It is hoped that
5 in future Reports there will be the means of treating each of these
6 important headings with proper fulness, At the present initiatory stage,
7 however, the remarks upon each must be very brief. It would probably
8 be premature to direct any very strenuous efforts at present upon English
9 Education. The trials that have heretofore been made in the Punjab
10 have not been very successful. It may be better to rest awhile, until
11 a class of youths shall have arisen fit to receive the higher European
12 learning by means of the English language. At present English Educa-
13 . tion among Punjabees is little better than a forced exotic, ready td
14 wither under the influences of practical life. The great and immediate:
15 object for attainment is the imparting of sound. elementary knowledgé
16 in the Vernacular form. Let the mass of the
17 people be taught the plain elements of our know-
18 ledge in their own language. This is the first thing, and this, it is
19 hoped, can be done in the present age of translating. No pains will be
20 spared to establish Depéts of Vernacular books for the Punjab. The:
21 chief language to be used is the QOordoo with the Persian character.
22 The use of. this tongue is“rapidly spreading among all rank’, and is
23 becoming more than a lingua franca. It is most fortunate that the
24 - Punjab presents such peculiar facilities for the simplification of language,
25 As regards Industrial Education, the only Institu-
26 tion of this description is a School of Civil.
27 Engineering at Lahore, which has sixty scholars, all natives, and proves
28 useful and popular. It is not probable that much can be done in the
29 Industrial branch for some time to come.
30 - ° English Education.
31 Vernacular.
32 Industrial,
33 Section LD,
34 PUBLIC WORKS..
35 75, The last Punjab Report destribed the progress made in this
36 Reorganization of the Department up to May 1854; the present Section
37 Department, will carry on the narrative up to May 1856,
38 that is, for the two official years, 1854-55 and 1855-56, From the com-