Monitorial System

[1] The 'monitorial system' which made such striking progress in England in the early part of the 19th century, received its foundational inspiration from village schools in south India.

Dr. Andrew Bell, whose name is associated with the 'monitorial system', was an Army chaplin in India, and from 1789 to 1796 held the position of superintendent of the Male Orphan Asylum in Madras.

The methodology was adopted by the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales,[citation needed] and later by the National Schools System.

[citation needed] The basic teaching and learning process used in the Monitorial System has been used in passing knowledge between people in many cultures because of its low cost to benefit ratio.

There have been many observations regarding its efficacy, in 35 AD in Rome, Seneca the Younger, in an epistle to his friend, Lucillus, noted: Docendo discimus – we learn by teaching.

The floor should be inclined, rising one foot in twenty from the master's desk to the upper end of the room, where the highest class is situated.

Lancaster described his system as to produce a "Christian Education" and "train children in the practice of such moral habits as are conducive to the welfare of society."

"After observing children in a native school, seated on the ground, and writing in the sand, he set a boy, John Frisken, to teach the alphabet on the same principle... Bell was consequently led to extend and elaborate the system."

[citation needed] The school was arranged in forms or classes, each consisting of about 36 members of similar proficiency, as classified by reading ability.