পাতা:সাহিত্য পরিষৎ পত্রিকা (দ্বিতীয় ভাগ).pdf/২৪৩

( 3 ) cular, begin their study of those subjects in a foreign tongue, is one at the chief causes of the large number of failures at the Entrance Examinatia and of rote-learning and want of accuracy and thoroughness which are characteristics of the Successful candidates at that examination. I have seen that boys who join an English School after having received some sort of instruction in their own vernacular, turn out in the majority of cases, to be the best boys in the school in the long run. Not only the Wernacular and the Middle English Scholars, but those who come with a pass certificate also are generally found to be the best boys of the class everywhere. The supposed advantage of the system of imparting instruction in English, that it facilitates the acquisition of a knowledge of that language by studying all subjects through its medium, is far outweighed by the evils it produces by putting an undue strain upon the minds of the learners. This is the only country where the experiment of teaching boys the rudiments of their language in quite foreign tongue is being tried. But although advocate the advisability and the necessity of substituting vernacular text-books in all subjects of study, I think there are some obstacles in the way of carrying out the desired change. The vernacular at present recognised by the Calcutta University are Bengali, Hindi, Urdu Urya, Assamese and Parbattia in the province of Bengal. If all these vernaculars are to be recognised, then it is desirable to preserve uniformity of standard, that the same text-books written in all these languages should be prescribed. But that is not practicable considering the present stage in which some of these languages are. The second part of your proposal, therefore, seems to be the only practicable one, viz. to impart instruction in History, in the vernacular of the student up to the Middle English standard. I beg to differ from the opinion of the Parishad as regards the proposal to make the Vernacular language a part of the curriculum in the F. A. Examination in addition to Sanskrit or any other classical language. This would make the study of both for the purpose of Examination a great burden to the learners and will prevent the attainment of thoroughness in either of them. In my humble opinion Vernacular language should be made an alternative branch of study with a classical language in the F. A. examination, such a change will necessarily involve a corresponding change in the curriculum of the Entrance Examination and, by removing the disadvane tage under which those who now take up a vernacular language for the Ene trance Examination labour, will give a greater scope to its study in the High English school. A vernacular language may be made an additional subject of study for the Arts course of the B. A. Examination for which both a verna cular as well as a classical language may be prescribed. But the difficulty of finding suitable text-books in some of the vernaculars recognised by the