By MRS. T. COA TMAN

THERE was recently held in Delhi one of the most interesting conferences it has ever been my lot to attend-the second annual All-India Women's Conference for Educational Reform. The first was held last year in Poona, and was a great success, as delegates attended from all over the country and some very useful discussions took place. But the conference this year was at once much more ambitious and much more successful. In preparation for it, conferences had been previously held in all provinces and in many Indian States, and from these constituent conferences, delegates were sent up to the main conference in Delhi. A maximum of ten delegates was allowed from each constituent conference, and yet the number of delegates at Delhi numbered over two hundred. So the number of provinces and states taking part in it must have been twenty-five at least,—a great triumph of organisation for so young a body. Each constituent conference had sent up previously a list of the points it wanted to be considered by the main conference, and from these the Subjects Committee drew its inspiration for the list of resolutions with which the conference dealt.

A very wide sweep of subjects was thus brought under discussion, dealing with all sorts of social questions, for, the conference did not limit itself to purely technical matters, rightly feeling that as social customs lie at the root of so much of the opposition to women's education in this country, they could not be disregarded by any body which wished to deal in a practical manner with the advancement of female education. And it was just in this way that the difference between an educational conference in England and in India was apparent. For, one of the first matters that claimed attention was the subject of child marriage, and the conference appointed a deputation to wait on the Government and on the leaders of the political parties to enlist their support for a private member's bill, which is before the Assembly, to raise the minimum age for marriage. It also happened that on the day on which the delegates attended the Assembly as visitors, the debate they heard was on Sir Hari Singh Gour's ‘Age of Consent Bill’, and this visit had the rather unexpected effect of making many of the women, who had not previously been in favour of pushing for the appointment of women as members of the Assembly, very anxious for this reform, as they felt that so much nonsense was talked by the men on this subject, that it was time they had some women to explain the real situation to them. So a resolution was passed calling on the Government to appoint one or more women as nominated members of the Central Legislature. (Women have already the right of election, but, though one woman has been returned to a provincial legislature, none have so far stood as candidates for the Central Legislature.)

Other matters that were dealt with were more purely educational, in the technical and limited sense of that word. There is a very strong feeling in all parts of India that education for women and girls should not be simply a slavish copy of boys’ education, but should strike out a line of its own, aiming more at making women better home-makers and better citizens than the present type of purely literary education seems able to do. This was the theme of many speeches, and a sub-committee was appointed to investigate the matter further and to report and make suggestions to the conference next year.

The training of teachers was another burning question. More facilities, better training, higher salaries, better status, all were demanded, but the difficulty which faced all the speakers was that, as education is now a provincial subject, there could be no systematic action all over the country, so that each province must meet the problem by itself and in its own way. Whether any concerted action could be taken ,was a matter which was again left to a sub-committee to investigate.

But the personnel and the atmosphere of the Conference were as interesting as the subjects of discussion. All the ordinary sessions were held in purdah, but the opening ceremony was public, special arrangements being made for such ladies as could not break their purdah. Delhi's largest cinema was packed to overflowing, and special invitations had been issued to all members of the Assembly and the Council of State, who came in scores and were obviously both impressed and astonished by what they saw and heard. The Chairman of the conference was that veteran in all good works, the dowager Begam of Bhopal, while Lady Irwin was the President and opened the conference in a wonderfully practical yet inspiring speech, laying down the broad lines of policy on which she hoped the conference would work, boldly facing the many and bitter difficulties, but urging courage and hope and high endeavour in this greatest of all great causes. To hear Mrs. Naidu’s magic eloquence from the same platform and in the same cause was a great delight, especially to those who, through differences in political outlook, rarely have the opportunity of hearing her speak. Here were Muhammadan, Englishwoman and Hindu, all enlisting themselves in the same crusade, for the cause of women's education is still a crusade in this country, and there was never any word or thought of any distinction of race, community, class or caste: all were united in the great endeavour to ‘build the City of God in the hearts and homes of this country’, to use Lady Irwin's own words. That was to me the outstanding feature of the whole conference—at a time when politics and communal differences are dividing the country into bitterly opposed camps, there was not the faintest shadow of disunion or distrust: all were eagerly straining together towards the common goal and were ready to help and not to hinder.

At a later session, the members of the conference showed the faith that was in them by starting, amid scenes of wild enthusiasm, a Fund for the Advancement of Female Education, and Rs. 30,000 was promised in about five minutes. If women from all over the country are willing, not only to sink the differences which divide their menfolk, but also to put their hands into their pockets to such good purpose, surely this is a hopeful sign?