Education and British rule Class 8 Notes

Education and British rule Class 8 Notes

•Education System in Pre-India

In pre-British period, education in India was fairly widespread and indigenous education was thriving. Education was imparted through a network of Pathshalas and Madrasas. Vernacular schools called Pathshalas imparted elementary education to Hindu children across the country. These Pathshalas wereset up by a guru or some wealthy people or the local community. Elementary schools for Muslims were called maktabs and were usually attached to a mosque. The elementary schools taught the basic three R’s - reading, writing and arithmetic.

Up to the mid-nineteenth century, the local pathshalas continued the same way as they were doing in pre-British period since the East India Company was concerned with only the higher education. It was only in the latter half of the nineteenth century that the British tried to regulate the school education.

•Beginning of Westeren education during British Period

When the East India Company came to India, they were not interested in the education of Indians. As they conquered more territories they needed educated Indians to help them run the country. They had to figure out what kind of education should be imparted to the Indians. In the 18th century, a group of British thinkers strongly felt that Indians should be taught about their ancient culture and civilization. Those who held this view were called Orientalists.

A prominent Orientalist, William Jones came to Calcutta in 1783. He was a linguist. He had studied Greek, Latin, French and English. He knew Arabic and had also learnt Persian. His interest in oriental languages made him learn Sanskrit in Calcutta. William Jones had a deep respect for ancient cultures, both of India and the West. He studied ancient texts and translated many of them so that others could read it too.

Jones along with other like-minded people like Henry Thomas Colebrook set up the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784 with the following aims :
• It would help Indians rediscover their own heritage and understand the lost glories of their past.
• It would help the British learn from Indian culture.
• The British would become the guardians of Indian culture as well as its masters. Influenced by these Orientalists, many

Company officials argued that the British should promote Indian rather than Western learning :
• Indians should be taught what they were already familiar with, and not the subjects that were alien to them.
• Institutions should be set up to encourage the study of ancient Indian texts and Indians should be taught Sanskrit and Persian literature and poetry.
• It will also help the British to win a place in the hearts of the natives and earn their respect.
• The study of the ancient Indian texts could form the basis of future development in India.

With this object in mind, a madrasa was set up in Calcutta in 1781 to promote the study of Arabic, Persian and Islamic law. The Hindu College was established in Banaras in 1791 to encourage the study of ancient Sanskrit texts that would be useful for the administration of the country.

•Anglistic View

From the early nineteenth century James Mill and other Anglicist British officials attacked the Orientalists. They said that knowledge of the East was ‘full of errors’ and was ‘unscientific’. So they argued that it was wrong on the part of the British to spend so much effort in teaching what the natives wanted, or what they respected. The aim of education should be to teach what was useful and practical. Indians should be made familiar with the scientific and technical advances that the West had made, rather than with the poetry and sacred literature.

Anglicists strongly believed that the British government in India should stop wasting public money in promoting Oriental learning, for it was of no practical use. To make the education system in India useful to the needs of the British, Lord Macaulay was appointed to look into the matter. Macaulay emphasised the need to introduce western system of education. He argued that :
• The knowledge of English would allow Indians to read some of the finest literature the world had produced.
• It would make them aware of the developments in Western science and philosophy.
• It would encourage rational thinking and scientific research.
• Teaching of English would ‘civilise’ the native people and change their tastes, values and culture.

•Charter Act, 1813

The first step taken by the British government towards development of education in India was the Charter Act of 1813. It laid the foundation of western education in India. Charles Grant who introduced the Act is also considered as Father of modern India.

By this Act the British took upon themselves the responsibility of providing education to Indians and sanctioned an amount of one lac rupees annually for the spread of education. This Act however did not mention :

• Whether the Indians should be imparted traditional education or the western education.
• What should be the language of instruction in the schools?
• Who should receive education - everybody or selected few.

The matter of how the government funds on education were to be utilized led to a heated debate between the Orientalists and the Anglicists. These issues were resolved by the Act of 1835.

•English Act of 1835

English Education Act introduced in 1835 by Lord Macaulay put an end to the debate between Orientalists and Anglicists. On the basis of recommendations of Macaulay’s Minute, it declared that :

• The money allotted for education would be spent on promoting western education through the medium of English,
• The promotion of Oriental institutions like the Calcutta Madrasa and Banaras Sanskrit College would be stopped.
• It abolished Persian as court language, replacing it with English.
• Teaching of English could thus be a way of civilizing people, changing their tastes, values and culture.
• To encourage the use of English, English language books were distributed free or at very low prices all over India.

•Woods Despatch -1854

Introduced in 1854 by Charles Wood, this document covered a complete plan for spread of education in India. Wood’s dispatch outlined the practical benefits of western education :

• Western education would create a class of civil servants and develop in the people the skills required for administration. It would ensure a continuous supply of people to work at the lower levels of government.

• It would enable Indians to recognise the importance of expansion of trade and commerce, and developing the resources of the country.

• The company will save money as it will not have to hire so many people from England who have to be paid high salaries for working in India.

• People who receive western education will be dependent on the British for jobs. They would want British rule to continue and will remain loyal to the British.

• It would introduce them to European ways of life, change their tastes and desires so that they begin to appreciate and buy things that were produced in Europe.

• European learning would improve the moral character of Indians. It would make them truthful and honest, and thus supply the Company with civil servants who could be trusted and depended upon.

Main provisions of the Wood’s Despatch were :

• The medium of instruction at the primary level was to be vernaculars and at higher levels, English was to be the medium of Instruction.

• It provided for spreading education from Primary to University level. It led to the opening of many schools and colleges. In 1857, Universities were to be set up in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras on the model of London University.

• Departments of education were to be set up in Bengal, Madras, Bombay, Punjab and North Western provinces. They were to supervise education and grant financial aid to educational institutions in the province.

• It supported female education and professional education.

• Teacher-Training institutions were to be set up all over the country.

•Merits of Wood Despatch

• It made the Government realise the importance of education for people.
• It gave a comprehensive scheme of education for primary, secondary and higher education.
• It encouraged the promotion of mass education.
• Grant-in-aid system encouraged private organisations to open new schools.
• Universities were established in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras for higher education.
• It emphasized the necessity of vocational education and teacher training institutes.
• Regional and classical languages were taught in the schools.
• English emerged as a common language for Indians irrespective of class and regional differences.
• English education introduced Indians to the idea of nationalism, freedom and justice.

•Reformers as Educators

Indian reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Swami Vivekananda and Swami Dayananda Saraswati supported the cause of education. There were two groups of thinkers. Reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy strongly felt that western education would help in modernizing India. They wanted the government to open more schools and sanction more money for education of Indians.

Reformers like Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi were not in favour of western education and wanted to end it. Mahatma Gandhi argued that colonial education created a sense of inferiority among Indians. It destroyed the pride they had in their own culture. ‘There was poison in this education’, said Mahatma Gandhi, ‘it was sinful, and it enslaved Indians’.

According to Rabindranath Tagore, English system of education did not foster creativity in the students. He wanted education to combine the best elements of both - the western and the Indian concepts. In 1901, he started the Visva Bharati University at Shantiniketan (the abode of peace). In Shantiniketan children were taught art, music and dance along with science and technology. In many ways Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi had similar views about education.

•National Education

Studying western education brought many Indians in touch with the writings of some of the great thinkers of the world who wrote about liberty and freedom of all nations and equality of all. This developed a spirit of nationalism in the minds of educated Indians.

The spread of Swadeshi and Boycott movements motivated many Indians to stop going to English medium schools and colleges.

Rabindranath Tagore and Raja Ram Mohan Roy realized that British system had failed to educate the masses. They planned to set up a new system of education on the national level and decided to set up a National Council of Education. It raised funds and opened many schools and colleges to spread education. SNDT women’s university, National Muslim University in Aligarh and Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth were some of the important colleges started by the National Council of Education.

Rabindranath Tagore and Raja Ram Mohan Roy realized that British system had failed to educate the masses. They planned to set up a new system of education on the national level and decided to set up a National Council of Education. It raised funds and opened many schools and colleges to spread education. SNDT women’s university, National Muslim University in Aligarh and Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth were some of the important colleges started by the National Council of Education.

•Growth of Science

Enlightened Indians believed that India had neglected science for too long and that is the reason of our backwardness. They urged to set up Departments of Science in the National Universities. In 1876 Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science was set up in Calcutta. In 1920, Indian Science Congress Association was set up where scientists from all over India gathered to exchange views.