HC Deb 30 March 1911 vol 23 cc1513-4
Sir JOHN JARDINE

asked the Under-Secretary for India whether he has now received any information as to religion or morality being made subjects of tuition in schools in Burma under State control; and whether the Government of Bombay is taking any measures to supply text books on morality for the use of its schools?

Mr. MONTAGU

As an experimental measure facilities are being afforded for the imparting of religious instruction in those Government and local board schools in Burma where parents and guardians ask for it. Such instruction may be given in the school building out of school hours by teachers selected by the parents, subject to a veto by the inspectors of schools in the case of undesirable persons. No member of the school staff may be employed to teach religion. I may add that no preference is given to any particular religion; that pupils can only be taught religion at the request of their parents; that public funds do not contribute to the cost, and that no ceremony or ritual is permitted on the school premises. As regards Bombay, the subject has been discussed at a conference over which Sir George Clarke presided last April, and a handbook of moral lessons for the use of teachers is in course of preparation.

Captain MURRAY

May I ask whether the educational system in Burma is not similar in almost every detail to the system proposed by the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary for Ireland in the Education Bill of 1906?

Mr. SPEAKER

Hon. Members can form their own opinion about that.

Sir J. JARDINE

Considering that Indian morality is based upon religion, may I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether, in the Bombay text book officially to be used, precautions will be taken to avoid anything that could annoy any of the religious communities on such matters as capital punishment, the remarriage of widows, polygamy, and child marriage?

Mr. MONTAGU

I think in reply to the hon. Member I had better read an extract from the right hon. Sir George Clarke, Governor of Bombay:— What is needed are books of this kind in which the moral lessons should be drawn wholly from Indian life, history, biography, mythology, and literature.