Education System In India During British Rule
Historical Analysis and Impact of British Education System in India
by Meenakshi Sarin*,
- Published in Journal of Advances and Scholarly Researches in Allied Education, E-ISSN: 2230-7540
Volume 2, Issue No. 2, Oct 2011, Pages 0 - 0 (0)
Published by: Ignited Minds Journals
ABSTRACT
Thecurrent system of education, with its western style and content, was introduced& founded by the British in the 20th century, following recommendations byMacaulay. It was earlier originated by William Adam in 1813. He came toCalcutta to know about the structure of Indian education started by ChristianMissionaries. British records show that indigenous education was widespread inthe 18th century, with a school for every temple, mosque or village in mostregions of the country. The subjects taught included Reading, Writing,Arithmetic, Theology, Law, Astronomy, Metaphysics, Ethics, Medical Science andReligion. The schools were attended by students representative of all classesof society. But scholars have questioned the validity of such an argument. Theyargue that proponents of indigenous education fail to recognize the importanceof the widespread use of printed books in the West since the sixteenth century,which led to a remarkable advancement of knowledge. Printed books were not usedin Indian schools till the 1820s or even later. There were institutions such asGresham's college in London that encouraged scientific learning. In fact, therewere a number of such academic and scientific societies in England, oftensupported by Puritan and non-Conformist merchants, the like of which probablydid not exist in India. The entire claim of indigenous education proponents isbased on the thesis advocated by Dharampal which says that there was a generaldecline in Indian society and economy with the coming of British rule. In theprocess, indigenous education suffered. This, however, is too broad ageneralization, and the exact impact of British rule on different regions atdifferent times has to be studied more carefully before we conclude that thecurve everywhere steadily declined. He argues that pre-British schools and collegeswere maintained by grants of revenue-free land. The East India Company, withits policy of maximizing land revenue, stopped this and thus starved the Indianeducation system of its financial resources. Again, we need more detailedevidence to show how farinam lands were taken over by the government. Moreoften, military officers, zamindar and talukdars were deprived of revenue-freeland rather than temples, mosques, madras as. Recent research has revealed thatimam lands continued to exist well into the nineteenth century, much more thanwas previously suspected. The educational ideas of Lord Macaulay are known asMacaulay’s minute. Lord Macaulay comes to India on 10 June, 1834 as a member oflaw East India Company. He was a learned scholar ad good orator. Bentickappointed him head of Public information Committee. He agreed with his ideas ofCharles Grant. He, too, believed that only English education can provideknowledge of Indian people. Before discussing Macaulay’s Minute lets discussthe factors responsible for it.
KEYWORD
education system, British rule, indigenous education, printed books, financial resources, Lord Macaulay, Macaulay's minute, Indian people, East India Company, British rule impact
INTRODUCTION:-
The government of India drew its attention towards thedevelopment –plan for India in the post –world war-II
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context. In relation to setting up a plan for development of education of India, was asked John Sargent, Educational Advisor to Government of India, was asked to prepare a report on this. He submitted his report before Central Advisory Board of Education in 1944. The board accepted its recommendations and recommended its implementation.
RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING PRIMARY OR BASIC EDUCATION
1. Universal, Compulsory and Free Education. 2. Type of instructions. 3. Types of Basic schools. 4. Based on Craft. 5. Teacher-Student Ratio. 6. Women Teacher. 7. Medium of Instruction. 8. Teaching of English 9. Corporate Living. 10. Internal Examination. 11. Improvement of Standard.
RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING SECONDARY EDUCATION:
1. Duration. 2. Admission through Selections. 3. Entry Age. 4. General and Technical Schools. 5. Fees. 6. Scholarship. 7. Curriculum. 8. Pay- Scales. 9. Aim. 10. Medium 11. Basis of University Education.
IMPACT OF BRTIISH COLONIZATION ON EDUCATION
When the Mughal Empire began to crumble, weakpolitical administration gave way to anarchy. Duringthis period of instability, Europeans began to visit India for trade and among the many, who visited, it was theBritish who made the most impact and the rest ishistory. The British who first came to India for tradeestablished The East India Company but soonexploited the prevailing political situation to establish themselves firmly as rulers. In the field of education theessay by Charles grant called “Observations “ becamefamous for creating a controversy between the oldIndian system of education and the occidental view ,which dismissed the Indian system , its literature andits languages and called for reforms in the Indiansystem. Though he was opposed by moreunderstanding British, such as Warren Hastings andLord Minto , Grant and his supporters( Lord Macaulay ) introduced the East India Company Charter , whichwas passed in 1813 and paved the way for the Britishsystem of education. The British were not primarily interested in theeducation of the hoi poli and introduced what wascalled “downward filtration “in education. This was ascheme to provide education to the Indian elite onlyand through them they expected the benefits ofeducation to filter down to the common citizens. In thetraditional pre British system of education, whichexisted, while there was diversity there was hardly any disparity in standards. The disparity of the educationalsystem, which was non-existent till then, appeared onlyafter 1835 because schools were started based on the English pattern of education. Schools offering Englishmedium education were given state recognition andthis automatically de-recognized the indigenoussystem. A gradual process of educational reformsestablished elite residential schools for the children ofthe British. Usually located in the cooler climate of thehill stations, it suited the British children unused to the heat and dust of the land their fathers had colonized. But such schoolseffectively started a system of education where thefaculty and the facilities offered were of a higherstandard, more expensive and available only to a few.Indian children who were educated in schools startedby the British were offered the British curriculum, whichwas often geared to serve British interests, to create a work force well versed in the English language andwho could then contribute their skills to the manyinitiatives the British established. Researchersreconstructing the history of education in the 18th and19th centuries in India have documented that India did have a sustainable system of education even as late asthe early years of the 19th century and that it was
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systematically demolished over the next fifty years by the British colonizers who put in place their own system of education. In 1931 Mahatma Gandhi made a statement at Chatham House in London, which made headlines in the British press. He said “today, India is more illiterate than it was a fifty or a hundred years ago because the British Administrators, when they came to India, instead of taking hold of things as they were, began to root them out. They scratched the soil and left the root exposed and the beautiful tree perished.” The beautiful tree Gandhi ji referred to was the tree of education. With the system of education practiced by the Buddhists, the Muslim and Mughal rulers giving way to the British system of education the need for a fresh look at the existing system of education in the country became apparent. Credit for introducing for the first time a well structured and graded system of education must go to Charles Wood, the Chairman of the Board of Control of the East India Company, who in 1854 made several recommendations (known as Woods Dispatch) resulting in the first ever educational policy in the interests of India, which became an integral part of the general policy of the Indian government. With the transfer of power from the East India Company in 1857 to the British, a Commission of Education was set up under William Hunter in 1882. (The Hunter Commission) and was the first ever commission to look into education in the country as national policy. .Whatever the motivation the fact remains that during the first three decades of the 19th century many changes were taking place and several initiatives are documented showing that the importance of educating the intellectually disabled as well as other disabled was well understood and efforts were being made constantly to provide for them. The first school for special education was begun in North India in 1826 by Raja Kali Shankar Ghosal who started a facility for the visually handicapped in Varanasi.. Some of them area Special School for the visually handicapped in Ambala, Punjab, the first institute for the deaf and blind in Mumbai made possible with the introduction of Braille in India in 1886 , a special school in Kurseong in Bengal for the intellectually disabled (1918 and in Travancore in Kerala ( 1931) , a separate school for “idiots “in Chennai making a clear distinction between the intellectually disabled and the mentally ill in 1936, in Ranchi in 1939 and in 1941 , a school for the intellectually disabled as a direct outcome of The Children’s Act and in 1944 another special school for intellectually disabled children started by Mrs Jai Vakil from her own residence in Mumbai.. A major contribution was made about this time by Srinivasan in 1954, who began the very first special class in a mainstream school and was the precursor of theconcept of integration in education. (The firstresidential institution for the mentally handicappedbegan in Switzerland by Hohann Guggenbuhl in 1816-1863) and the concept of special education and asystematic provision of services was begun by Jan –Marc Gaspard Itard in France (1774-1838).DisabilityAct in USA came into force in 1990 and in India 1995).
SECOND WORLD WAR AND AFTER
At the end of the second world war , Sir John Sargentwho was Educational Advisor to the Government ofIndia prepared what is called the Sargent Report in1944 .He recommended that provision for people withhandicaps form an essential part of the national system of education (Sargent Report 1944). After India’sindependence, education continued to be with theMinistry of Education and during this time the visionaryKothari Commission did recommend the inclusion of allchildren with disabilities in mainstream schools in theirplan of Action (Gupta 1984: Jangira 1995). Yet, in spite of the current system of education, with its westernstyle and content, was introduced & funded by theBritish in the 19th century, following recommendationsby Macaulay. Traditional structures were notrecognized by the British government and have beenon the decline since. Gandhi is said to have describedthe traditional educational system as a beautiful treethat was destroyed during British rule. The British established many colleges like St. Xavier'sCollege[disambiguation needed], Sydenham College,Wilson College and Elphinstone College in India.According to Prof. Emeritus M.G. Sahadevan, F.R.C.P.(London), the first medical college of Kerala wasstarted at Calicut, in 1942-43, during World War II. Dueto shortage of doctors to serve the military, the BritishGovernment decided to open a branch of MadrasMedical College in Malabar, which was under MadrasPresidency then. After the war, the medical school atCalicut was closed and the students continued theirstudies at Madras Medical College.
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