Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

EDUCATION

"In presenting this subject to your Lordship, I conceive myself discharging a solemn duty which I owe to my countrymen, and also to that enlightened sovereign and legislature which have extended their benevolent care to this distant land, actuated by a desire to improve the inhabitants, and therefore humbly trust you will excuse the liberty I have taken in thus expressing my sentiments to your Lordship." STUDY OF ENGLISH Elphinstone, Governor of Bombay , in his minute of 1823 urged the establishment of schools for teaching English and Euro- pean sciences. In a communication to the Commissioners for Indian Affairs, he wrote, " I conceive it is far more important to impart a high degree of education to the upper classes than to diffuse a much lower sort of it among the common people. The most important branch of education is that designed to prepare natives for public employment. If English could at all be diffused among persons who had the least time for reflection, the progress of knowledge by means of it would be to accelerate in a ten-fold ratio since every man who made himself acquainted with a science through English would be able to communicate it in his own language to his countrymen Elphinstone proposed the establish- ment of a school in Bombay where English might be taught "classi- cally" and instruction given in that language in history, geography, and science. In 1833 he set up a similar school in Poona. In 1834 the Elphinstone College was started in Bombay " to train a class of persons qualified by their intelligence and morality for high em- ployment in the civil administration of India." At this time the demand for the study of English had increased tremendously. English books were in great demand. There was practically no demand for Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic books. There was a controversy as to whether instruction should be given through English or through Sanskrit, Arabic or Persian. The Anglicists maintained that all instruction should be given through English. The Orientalists insisted on teaching through the oriental languages. When Thomas Babington Macaulay, the new Law Member, was appointed President of the Committee of Public Instruction in 1834, it was divided equally between the "Anglicists" and the "Orientalists". The former were for imparting training and education in English to Indians to Conduct the clerical work of the company. The latter feared that a switchover to English would wound Indian sensibilities and lead to a rebellion. Macaulay came down in favour of the Anglicists with all the knowledge and eloquence at his command. Lord Macaulay in his famous minute which argued the case for English said that "neither as the languages of law nor as the languages of religion have Sanskrit or Arabic any peculiar claim to our encouragement. It is possible to make natives of the country thoroughly good English scholars. "Are we to keep the people of India ignorant in order that we may keep them submissive? Or do we think that we can give knowledge without awakening ambition? Or do we mean to awaken ambition and provide it with no legitimate vent ? It may be that the public mind of India may expand under our system until it has outgrown that system, that by good government we may educate our subjects into a capacity for better government, that having

become instructed in European knowledge, they may, in some future age, demand European institutions. Whether such a day will ever come I know not. Whenever it comes it will be the proudest day in English history ......... The sceptre may pass away from us, victory may be inconstant to our arms. But there are triumphs which are followed by no reverse. There is an empire exempt from all natural causes of decay. These triumphs are the pacific triumphs of reason over barbarism ; the empire is the imperishable empire of our arts and our morals, our literature and our laws. " The question before us is simply whether , when it is in our power to teach this language- English- we shall teach languages in which by universal confession, there are no books on any subjects which deserve to be compared to our own ; whether , when we can teach European science, we shall teach systems which, by univer- sal confession, whenever they differ from those of Europe, differ for the worse ; and whether, when we patronise sound philosophy and true history, we shall countenance at the public expense, medical doctrines which would disgrace an English farrier, astron- omy which would move laughter in the girls at an English boarding school, history abounding with kings thirty feet high and reigns thirty thousand years long, and geography made up of seas of treacle and seas of butter." Lord William Bentinck, the Governor-General, approved of the minute of Lord Macaulay. A resolution was passed on March 7th 1835 that "while the colleges of oriental learning were not to be abolished ........ all funds at the disposal of the Government of India would henceforth be spent in imparting to the Indians a knowledge of English literature and science." English education received an impetus when the Governor- General, Lord Hardinge, introduced a regulation that all public posts would be filled by an open competitive examination, prefer- ence being given to those with a knowledge of English. English education became the passport to higher appointments for Indians. But little was done to improve the system of primary education in vernacular schools for the masses. Disproportionate attention was paid to the middle-class gentry. The vernacular schools were in a miserable condition. A more ominous result was the effect of the new system on relations between Hindus and Muslims. The advantages of English education were reaped mostly by the middle class Hindus, who flocked to the government and missionary schools. The Muslims remained aloof. They resented the displacement of Per- sian by English as the language of government and administration. As time passed the cultural and economic gap between the two communities widened. Although the momentous decision of 1835 marked the begin- ning of English education, the evolution of a comprehensive and co-ordinated system of education took place only in 1854 during the revision of the company's charter. A parliamentary committee that was appointed to examine the whole subject resulted in the memorable Despatch of Sir Charles Wood, President of the Board of Control, to the court of Directors in 1854 which has been described as the "Magna Carta of English education in India." It laid the foundation on which the educational system in British India subsequently developed.