On 10 Mar 1826 Thomas Munro, the Governor of Madras Presidency, submitted a detailed Census and a Survey Report to the British government. The report was a ‘breaking news’ not only to the British government in India but also in England where it surprised the top brass.
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What was in that report that revealed certain unknown facts about India to the world?
The geographical dimensions of Madras Presidency was from Ganjam district of Orissa to entire South India. The population was 1,28,50,941. There were 12,498 primary schools.
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This is in spite of the fact that the collector of Mangalore did not send a report due to some reasons, and many hilly areas were not covered.
As per the report, on an average there was one primary school for one thousand population.
3.
Whereas England had a dismal average of primary education record. In fact, Britain didn’t have an education policy then. Another interesting fact even Indians were not aware of was – only 24% of students in these schools comprised of Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas.
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Shudras constituted a Lion’s share of 65%! The statistics are according to data presented in The Beautiful Tree.
So, that shattered the general impression that existed that the Brahmins dominated the education field.
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