§ SIR W. WEDDERBURNI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether his attention has been drawn to a recent circular of the Government of India in the Educational Department, under which unaided schools are required to make use of text books approved by the Director of Public Instruction under penalty of the exclusion of their pupils from public examinations; whether he has sanctioned this new departure; and whether he will state what advantage is obtained from limiting the free choice of text books by schools receiving no grant from Government.
§ LORD G. HAMILTONThe resolution of the Government of India, to which the hon. Member refers, has not yet come before me officially for sanction, though I am officially cognisant of its contents. It is there stated that in the opinion of the Government of India the State, while it does not undertake to prescribe text 383 books for unaided schools, is justified in excluding from the examinations for certificates and for Government scholarships the pupils of schools which use test books disapproved by Government, and that this is done on the ground that the State has a direct interest in the course of instruction given in all schools, whether aided financially by the State or not.