Burma: Census of India 1901 Vol. I - Khamkoo

The
REPORT ON THE CENSUS OF BURMA. &3
88. Under conditions so different it is obvious that to embark upon a minute
'. -""?'•' '-'-
Al and detailed comparison of the i8qi and iqoi edu-
Actual . increase . in literacy ob- -• _!.:_' •
n u 1 , t
scuredby • t i
increase of Census catlon figures
area.-
would be mere waste of ink and paper.;
;
:i
'
;x;iL -* There is nothing,
;
.however, to be urged' against our
learning what we can from a few of the most salient points that strike the eye
when the data for the two enumerations are placed side-by side. " Compared with
other provinces and even with some of the countries of Europe " writes Mr. Eales in
paragraph 1 46 of his. Report " Burma takes a very high place in the returns of those
able both to read and write." The 190 1 literacy figures for the whole of India
are not yet available for reference, but such of the provincial data obtained at the
last enumeration as are to hand give every indication that Burma will, as it did in
1891, head the list in point of education. The actual total of literates in the
province on the 1st March 1901 was not much below that returned by the Madras
Presidency, which has a population more than three times as numerous as Burma.
In Madras the figure was 2,436,743. In this province it was 2,223^962, and of
this total 1 ,997,074 were males and 226,888 were females. This means practically
that on an average in every five persons then living in Burma one individual
would have been found who was able to read and write. At the 1891 Census there
were only 1,516,304 literates of the former and 89,393 .of the latter sex. It is true
that, in addition to these literates, there were 227,498 males and 18,226 females
under tuition,. but, however we decide to treat these learners of 1891 for the purposes
of comparison, we cannot but acknowledge that there are unmistakeable signs
of a general advance in culture during the past decade, for if we look upon those
under tuition as literate, the increase since 1891 is one of 20 per cent., while, if we
treat them as illiterate, the percentage of increase during the decade mounts up to
no less than 39. We car. accordingly say in general terms that there are-clear indications
of progress. Unfortunately we cannot go a step further and indicate the
precise measure of advance, for the extension of the Census area precludes us from
claiming even the lesser increase of 20 per cent, as a net gain due solely to the
labours of our local instructors of youth during the interval of ten years. The Shan
States showed only 1,239 literates and learners in 1891. It by no means follows,
because in March 1901 there were 41,409 literates in the two Superintendents'
charges, that anything like 40, 1
70 new literates have been called into existence
within that area during the decennium that is just over. A considerable proportion
of the 40,170 persons concerned must have possessed the necessary qualifications
in 1 891, but, as their owners were not enumerated, these qualifications went un J
recorded. When we look away from actuals to the proportional figures for education
in Burma this fact that allowance has to be made for the extension of the
Census area becomes more than ever apparent. . percentage of literates to
the total population is still high in relation to the rest of British India, but it is by
no means as high as it was ten years ago. In 1891 the Census Commissioner for
India pointed out that an examination of a proportional abstract of literacy in India
as a whole demonstrated the facts, first that " only 58 persons in every thousand
can read and write or are learning to do so, and secondly that of those 58, 53 are
males and five of the other sex." Had he then been writing of Burma only instead
of the whole Indian Empire he would for 58 have substituted 243 for 53 he would
;
have written 229 and for five, fourteen, and the merest glance at what he did write
side by side with what he would in the latter event have written will suffice to show
generally how extraordinarily forward Burma was in the matter of education as
compared with the- rest of India ten years ago. Had the date of writing been
shifted oh' a decade, Mr. Baines would have given the proportion of Burma literates
per thousand as 215, of whom 193 were males and 22 females. The last
figures would seem to show a falling off,
but there is nothing really discouraging
in them. There is little to surprise us in an apparent diminution of even .28 per
thousand when it is remembered that the vast tracts included for the first time in
1 90 1 within the sphere of Census operations were exceptionally backward and
uncultured, and added to the provincial figures nothing approaching their fair share
of literates. If we assume that some of the 189 1 "learners" would have failed
to pass muster as" "literates " had the classification been twofold instead of three?
fold, we shall see that the falling off is not quite so marked as 28 per thousand,