ELEMENTARY EDUCATION.

15

was not till the year 1902 that this serious error of policy was
rectified.
The establishment of Government schools was only a
small part of the work of the new Department founded in
1869. The system of grants in aid was put on to a new
footing, all sectarian regulations were abolished, and, provided
 that a certain number of hours were devoted daily to
secular work, the Mission bodies were left free to give what
religions instruction they wished during the remainder.
The result has been that side by side with the new Government
 schools there lias been a much more rapid growth of
aided schools. This growth has been accelerated by the
fact that the non-sectarian policy of Government left it open
to non-Christian bodies to enter into competition with the
Christian organizations. Among the Buddhists,aided by the
Theosophical Society, a centralized organization has been
formed which manages a large number of schools in the Sinhalese
 provinces. The Tamils have no organizition of this
kind, but a considerable number of Sivite schuols under
private management have applied for and received registration.

The following table will give some idea of the progress in
Government and aided schools during the last three decennial
 periods :—

Government,
Schools Scholars
200n Nn"

1872
1882 PE
1892 eee 453
1902 EY

Fu

“lt

£0 B1y

Aided.
Scholars
25,443
2,842
» 637
129 891

These figures include all registered schools, higher as well
ag elementary, A few remarks will now be male on the
present state of thines nnder these two heads separately.

Elementary Education.

Two questions suggest themselves: Does it include the
whole population of school-going age? Is it good of its
kind ?
The first of these is easily answered. The number of
children of school-going age depends of course on the
duration assigned to the school-going period. In Ceylon
six years may perhaps be assumed as a desirable average.
The Census for 1901 shows that if every child attended
school for an average of six years there would be about
590.000 children at school. The total number of those