Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1850495947

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-233603

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: His Majesty's Stationery Off.

Year of publication:: 1931

Scope:: xviii, 580 S.; graph. Darst., Kt.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XXI. - Wages on planatations

Collection:: Economics Books

£16 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.

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