The book is about what exactly it's name suggests. It starts with the review of State of Education in British India in the early 19th century as revealed by the surveys carried out in Madras Presidency at the instance of Governor Munro and far more detailed surveys carried out in some districts of Bengal and Bihar by Adams. Contrary to generally held popular notion that British led the foundation of education; the system of primary education was pretty widespread and robust, though it had already fallen to bad times. In fact, the method of pedagogy, use of senior students to coach junior students, was so economical and useful that it was imitated in England. The primary education was essentially community organized and private tutoring played a big role, where persons of means in villages made it possible for other children to learn along with their own. Syed Nuruallah and J P Naik were well known educationists and published the book in 1943. Naik even started the well known Indian Institute of Education [http://iiepune.org/] in Pune. The pages from 14 to 35 deal with the surveys of indigenous system of primary education and later pages delves into what the British did to education in India.