Progress of Education in India, 1912-1917. By H. Sharp. (Calcutta
: Superintendent of Government Printing. 5s. 6d.)— This interesting Report deserves to be noted. Education is a plant of slow growth among the masses in India, barely six per cent. of whom can read and write; but, as Mr. Sharp points out, in the figures for secondary and higher education India compares not unfavourably with Japan and some European countries. He deplores the tendency of most Indian students to be content with passing literary examinations for Government posts, but he think that if Indian industries were developed many young men would devote themselves to technical studies. He remarks on the almost complete illiteracy. of Indian women, of whom only one per cent. can read and write, and on the deaden- ing effect that this must have on the educated or partly edu- cated men. The Report is well worth reading. It shows that progress is being made, and that the Indian peoples are taking more interest in education.: But it also shows the complex nature of the stupendous task which faces the Indian Education Department, and does not justify any facile optimism.
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