Education in Bihar (An Old And Rare Book)

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The present monograph, Education in Bihar, originally formed a Ph. D. dissertation in history of Patna University in 1961, under the guidance of Professor Dr K. K. Datta. The inspiration for working on the subject came from the then Education Secretary to the Government of Bihar, the late lamented J. C. Mathur, I. C. S., who took great personal in- terest in the affairs of the K. P. Jayaswal Research Institute. The central aim in the dissertation is to trace closely the changes brought about by the Government of the East India Company (in Bihar) in the relationship between education and society, which may be characterised as "the unpopularity of the new education". This has necessitated cataloguing the growth of particular schools in Bihar and the politics behind the new educational policy, depicting at the same time Indian (Bihari) reactions to British rule and policy.

During the period (1813-1859) Bihar comprised two commissionerships-Patna and Bhagalpur. Chotanagpur was then a non-regulation territory and was known as "South-East Frontier Agency". It was governed by one Agent and four Assistant Agents to the Governor General in Council. They were later on designated as Commissioner and Principal Assistant Com- missioners respectively. In the present work Bihar stands for the territorial area as it existed in 1955.

For preparing the present monograph the Government archives have been the principal sources of information. It is well known that education did not form a subject of administration in the early days of the British Rule in this country (before 1813). Some enlightened British officers were, of course, there even during those days who took interest in the education of the Indians.