Sri Aurobindo

Early Cultural Writings

(1890 — 1910)

Appendix One
Opinions. Written as
Acting Principal, Baroda College. 1905

Resolving a Problem of Seniority in the High School

College Office
Baroda 3rd. May 05.

Mr. Nag was appointed in the Baroda High School by His Highness the Maharaja Sahib but being on leave has not yet joined his appointment. I believe that His Highness the Maharaja Sahib while reserving to himself the full right to make appointments on other weighty grounds, is always willing to give the utmost consideration to the claims of seniority of old and deserving servants. Moreover the position and prospects of Mr. Nag if he is to enter the Educational Service permanently need clearer definition.

In forwarding this application,¹ therefore, I take the opportunity to state fully my opinion on the matter.

The course suggested by the teachers to meet the difficulties of the case is of course quite impracticable. Mr. Nag is a graduate of the Cambridge University and has spent many years in Europe at great expense in order to acquire higher qualifications and a wider culture and experience, and to expect that he would be willing or ought to be asked to serve on Rs 65 in the last place of a Bombay graduate in this Department and with the prospects of a teacher of the second grade in the High School is to lose all sense of proportion. The precedent of Mr. Manishanker Bhat does not apply to such a case. Mr. Nag has accepted Rs 150 the lowest pay at present possible to a man of his qualifications with corresponding prospects and it is not possible to cut him down now from Rs 150 to Rs 65 with practically no prospects at all. Even apart from this the expedient of turning part of the regular salary into personal pay is one which in my opinion ought not to be too freely used, as it tends to turn transference from one Department to another into an unmerited punishment.

On the other hand there are strong grounds for the rest of the representation; the work of the High School staff has been admirable and judged by examination results compares well with any other school in the Bombay Presidency, while the prospects are very poor and limited, and the introduction of a well paid outsider stops promotion far more effectually than can be the case in larger and more highly paid Departments.

Under these circumstances I suggest as the course which will as far as possible meet both sides of the question that Mr. Nag may be employed in the High School in a special grade like the Head Master and Mr. Dorabji Patel, and the rise in grade opened up by the appointment of Mr. Chunilal may be granted to Mr. Naravane although he will continue to work in the sixth standard. This would introduce the least disturbance in the chances of the High School staff and at the same time make it more convenient for His Highness to utilise Mr. Nag’s services in any way in future either in this Department or elsewhere without any disturbance to the regular grades of the English Schools.

Aravind. A. Ghose
Ag. Principal
Baroda College

¹ A printed representation by the graduate teachers in the second grade of the Baroda High School, requesting “that the claims of senior men may not be passed over while making appointments in the higher grade”. — Ed.

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