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CHAPTER XXII.
an alien people. Moreover the bulk of the plantations are situated
far from any Government educational facilities. Nor does the provision
of land for a school site or the cost of erection of a suitable building pro-
vide any of the initial difficulties in respect of scarcity of floor space and
bigh costs of construction which often characterise the problem in a big
city. The Central Government have been able to insist on the provision
for the children of the Indian worker who emigrates to the plantations of
Malaya and Ceylon of suitable educational facilities up to the legal
minimum age of employment; d.e., 10 years, and experience has shown
that, in the comparatively brief time these requirements have been in
operation, the response of the parents, though in the first instance
modest as was to be expected, is very gradually improving and a
slowly increasing percentage of children of school age are reported
year by year as benefiting from the facilities provided. Although
compulsion can be exercised both on employees and parents, there has
been throughout a sympathetic administration, which hasshowna true
understanding by Government of the difficulties to be encountered and of
the fact that the initial progress must necessarily be slow if the founda-
bions are to be securely laid. The evidence given before us in India con-
vinces us that the spirit of goodwill on both sides and the readiness
bo co-operate are there, if only the impetus to make the start can be given,
and thus obviate the difficulty created by the present tendency of both
local Governments and the industry each to look to the other to make
the first move.
Co-operation between Government and Planters.

We therefore recommend that the local Governments concerned
should convene a representative conference of both parties at an early
date with a view to surveying the ground and deciding the particular con-
tribution of each to the desired end. Thereis the example in Ceylon of a
scheme whereby the estates make themselves responsible for the build-
ing, maintenance and equipment of suitable schools, whenever there
are resident on the estates 25 or more children between the ages of 6 and
10 years, the Government contributing the salary of the teacher and
general supervision of the curriculum and organisation. We are aware
that in Assam and the Dooars the supply of teachers and the decision
as tothe vernacular to be taught present problems which give rise to
practical difficulties ; but we believe that, with the inauguration of a
general scheme of this kind throughout the industry, these difficulties
will be found capable of gradual elimination. Co-operation between
the industry and the local Governments could be further extended by
agreement from the very outset on a curriculum suited to the type of
worker to be found on the plantations. We do not suggest that the
normal syllabus, which in some cases is possibly too urbanised for the
type of pupil concerned, should necessarily be introduced, but rather
one having a definite agricultural bias likely to instil into the pupil a
greater keenness and aptitude for the work that lies before him. The
three R’s and elementary hygiene should form the basis of the
syllabus.