Group in convict school, Central Prison, Lucknow, Oudh

Photograph of a large group of convicts posed with books in the yard of the Central Prison at Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, from the Archaeological Survey of India Collections: India Office Series (Volume 46), taken by an unknown photographer in c. 1871. During the nineteenth century experiments to educate adults in prison were carried out, but by the turn of the next century education was limited to children and adolescents. Central jails were designed to house convicts sentenced to more than one year's imprisonment. The Imperial Gazeteer of India states, regarding boys in prisons: "Boy convicts are confined in special wards, and are divided into children and adolescents. The latter class are kept separate, sleep in cubicles, and are provided with schooling and industrial education." Reformatory schools, the alternative to jail for boys, were initially under the jurisdiction of the prisons, but in 1899 their administration was transferred to the Education Department and by 1903 there were seven such schools in British India.

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Studio portrait of three Parsees and a Parbhu, Bombay

Portrait of three Parsees and a Parbhu, taken by Hurrichund Chintamon, c. 1867. This photograph was commissioned by the Government of India for the Archaelogical Survey of India and was on show in the Paris Exhibition of 1867.

The group in this view are seated around a small table on which are placed books and writing implements, emphasising their intellectual interests and attainments. The Parsees, or Parsis, are descendants of Persians who fled to India in the seventh and eighth centuries to escape Muslim persecution. The Parsees practice Zorastrianism and their communities are concentrated in Maharashtra and Gujarat states, especially in Bombay. The Parsis are often described as fire-worshippers but they do not worship fire, instead they revere many aspects of nature as manifestations of the divinity of Ahura Mazdah. The Parbhu (Prabhu) is the man second from the right. The Prabhus were one of the oldest Mumbai communities, originally from Gujarat (north-west India) and the neighbouring areas. Most are Shaivas but some also worship Rama and Krishna. The common occupation of Prabhus was that of a clerk but some attained important posts in Government.

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Class with mistress in vernacular girls' school, Bombay, Maharashtra

Photograph of a class in the vernacular girls' school at Bombay in Maharashtra from the Archaeological Survey of India Collections: India Office Series (Volume 46), taken by an unknown photographer in c.1873. This image, showing the class grouped on benches around the teacher, was exhibited at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873 and is mentioned in John Forbes Watson's catalogue for the Indian Department. Female education in India grew dramatically in the latter part of the nineteenth century and vernacular education (in the local language) was considered a special obligation for the Government from 1854 when it was declared a concern by the Court of Directors. The vernacular course covered both primary and secondary education and was carried out in many different types of establishment depending on the resources of the area. In Bombay, for example, the complete course of vernacular education was delivered at primary school. The Imperial Gazetteer of India states, "The type of primary school varies from the primitive pathshala or maktab to the modern institutions in which the pupils are educated in accordance with approved European methods. The Bombay local rates schools are in general better built, equipped, and managed than the Bengal indigenous institutions."

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A government upper class Zillah or district school, Amritsar

Photograph of a government upper class Zillah, or district, school at Amritsar in the Punjab from the Archaeological Survey of India Collections: India Office Series (Volume 46), taken by an unknown photographer in c. 1870. The Imperial Gazetteer of India states, "There are three classes of secondary schools - the vernacular and English middle schools, and the high schools. The vernacular middle school course is a prolongation of the primary course, and completes the instruction of those who do not aspire to an English education. In most Provinces the course lasts for three years, and should be completed at about the age of thirteen...The English secondary school stage is divided into middle and high school sections, which really form portions of the same course...the English school education should ordinarily be completed by the time the pupil attained the age of sixteen...In English secondary schools the main course has hitherto led up to the matriculation or entrance examination of one or other of the Universities. There are other courses of a more practical character leading up to different examinations...A purely literary education has been more popular among both parents and students, as being in itself more attractive to them and as affording a better opening for remunerative employment. The matriculation has generally been accepted as a qualifying test by Government and private employers as well as by the Universities, and has been regarded as the common goal of the school career."

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