1. Why was modern education system introduced in India? What was its impact on Indian social structure?
  2. Indian education before 1813 had always had a very classical and spiritual nature. The subjects taught included the scriptures, grammar, codes of law and scientific works. The priestly class or the Brahmins and maulvis, who monopolised education in India, imparted it mainly inSanskrit, Arabic or Persian. The officials of the East India Company were greatly influenced by the Oriental form of knowledge and used this for a better understanding and governance of the country. One aspect of Orientalism was the glorification of the ancient Indian period and that India was governed by a set of ancient laws. The Orientals were greatly attracted to this classical aspect of Indian culture and education and even took up the task of translating ancient scriptures andpatronizing Indian classical learning. Nathaniel Halhed wrote ‘A Code of Gentoo Laws’ in 1776 and ‘Bengali Grammar’ in 1778 while Charles Wilkins brought out his Sanskrit grammar in 1779. William Jones translated Persian poetry and established the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784 to pursue research in ancient learning, translation of manuscripts and bringing out the journal. The establishment of the Calcutta Madrassa in 1781 by Francis and the Sanskrit College at Benares in 1792 were also an outcome of the influence of Orientalism. But these were mainly individual enterprises and attempts for preserving ancient learning.It did not reflect a cohesive policy of the East India Company towards education in India as the company followed a policy of non-intervention in Indian social matters. These measures didhoweverdid manage to have some impact on a group of Oriental scholars who profoundly influenced Company policies in the future years.

In July 1813, the Charter Act was passed for the renewal of the Company’s privileges. This allowed the missionaries to proceed to India for the purpose of dissemination of education among the Indians. Clause 43 of the Charter, influenced by Oriental agitation for more funds for maintenance of institutions, laiddowndissemination of education as one of the tasks of the British Raj. It stated that a certain sum out of the total ‘surplus territorial revenues’would be appropriated by the government for revival of literature and promotion of European sciences. This was the first step taken by the British government towards formulating an education policy in India. In 1823, Holt Mackenzie, suggested establishment of new institutions for the instruction of Eastern and Western learning. He also proposed the establishment of a General Committee of Public Instruction for the implementation of his suggestions. While most of his proposals were rejected, the Governor General did accept the plan to establish a General Committee of Public Instruction to implement what was laid down in Clause 43. A ten member team of mostly Oriental scholars was constituted. The activities of the Committee included establishment of a Sanskrit College at Calcutta and several other Oriental Colleges, employment of Oriental scholars for the purpose of translation of English texts into Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit and recognition of the Calcutta Madrassa and the Benares Sanskrit College. Little emphasis was given to Western sciences because the Committee was afraid of hurting the sentiments of the natives and was constantly taking into consideration the religious prejudice of the people. Therefore, the education policy of the Committee degenerated by 1826 and most of its experiments remained incomplete.

The Clause 43 generated forces of resistance due to its orientation towards Orientalism. The first such resistance came from the growing influence of Utilitarian school of thought in Britain. The Utilitarians considered Indian society to be decadent and stagnant. Unlike the Orientals, they saw no good in Indian culture or values and wished to create a class of people who were ‘Indian in blood and colour but English in taste and opinion’. James Mill was the first to give the Utilitarian view of India and along with his sonargued that progress was possible only through introduction of Western knowledge. The second force of resistance came from the evangelists who believed that English education was the prelude to conversions to Christianity in India. They felt that the immoral systems of Hinduism and Islam would collapse with the introduction of western education. Missionaries in India opened charity schools it with compulsory study of the Bible. The third group was the free trading group. They demanded government intervention to free Indian economy from the restraints of tradition and to ensure free trade. These developments resulted in the emergence of a group of Indians that supported such ideas and reforms. The capital cities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras witnessed the rise of a ‘middle class’ that realised that English education was useful as it helped them materially. Some educated and liberal minded Indians like Raja Rammohan Roy, realised the futility pursuing of classical education as opposed to the possibilities afforded by Western education. These groups of Indians argued for a diffusion of European education and English language in Indian society.

The first attempt to move away from the Oriental way of learning and develop a modern education system was made by Charles Grant. He was the first to advocate introduction of English education for the purpose of introducing Christianity in India. Grant was appalled by the condition of Indian society in the late 18th century. Religion which had been a strong spiritual force had turned into a superstition and Brahmins were monopolising knowledge and were imposing their interpretation of the scriptures on people. Grant noticed that the social life had been infested with evils such as practice of infanticide, sati or self-immolation of widows, child marriage, polygamy, seclusion of women and the purdah system.He felt that the only way these evils could be removed was through introduction of Christianity and this could be done only through propagation of European science and literature in the English language.His suggestions, however, were rejected and the General Committee of Public Instruction went on with its promotion of Oriental learning in India.

In 1828, Lord William Bentinck was appointed the new Governor General of India. He was greatly influenced by the utilitarianism and at his suggestion English classes to the Sanskrit College and other Oriental institutions. He appointed Thomas B. Macaulay as president of the General Committee of Public Instruction. It was Macaulay who then drew up an elaborate minute championing the cause of English education. He argued that only adoption of English as a medium of instruction would make the promotion of European knowledge and science possible. He pointed out that the dialects of India were ‘poor and rude’ and this made the translation of valuable works into vernaculars difficult. He also argued that since English was the language of the ruling classes it was likely to become the language of commerce in the East. Giving the example of the overcrowding of the Scottish Church College as compared to the Hindu College, Macaulay reasoned that the Indians too preferred English education. He then suggested that the government should cut the expenditure it incurred on maintenance of Oriental institutions and promotion of Oriental learning. He advocated the abolition of all Oriental Colleges, discontinuation of stipends and that printing of Oriental works should be stopped.He argued for promotion of English education and the codification of Hindu and Muslim laws into English. His main aim was to consolidate the British Empire through English laws and culture.

After evaluating Macaulay’s proposal, Lord Bentinck passed a resolution on 7th March 1835. The resolution contained four orders. Thesestated that funds appropriated for the purpose of education would be employed in English education, western literature and sciences would be taught in English, Persian would be replaced by English as the official language and that available funds would be used to encourage higher education rather than elementary. It is often argued that Bentinck’s resolution was influenced by Macaulay’s Minute. Percival Spears on the other hand points to the fact that Bentinck was confronted with the task of economizing the task of administration. For this purpose, he wished to introduce a higher class of Indian subordinates in the judicial and the revenue divisions.Hence it was desired that the natives should be versed in English. He intended a ‘downward filtration’ of English education and his policy was not meant for the masses but for the rich and learned. Bentinck hoped that these men would then facilitate the percolation of English downward through regional languages. There was also a need felt to replace Persian as the official language and in educational institutions. Bentinck also saw English language to be the cure of all social evils that existed in the Indian society and the key to improvement.Spears is critical of the policy as he feels that the infiltration theory failed and that the policy was unable to ‘adapt its social means to its cultural end’.

Historians have questioned the importance of the minute introduced by Macaulay and it implementation. Edward Thompson in 1937, questioned the minute and argued that it was decisive consideration behind it was the financial economy and it was supplemented by wishes of the Indians. His argument was that it proved cheaper to teach Indians to read English than to subsidise translations. He says that Macaulay was only acting on the ideas promoted by Evangelicals and Utilitarians. Percival Spear argued that much before Macaulay arrived in India, Bentinck had already convince himself of the value of British language and that the minute only acted as an occasion for a change of policy that had been accepted in principle. Robert Frykenberg asserted that the minute didn’t reflect any radical change and he says that it’s a ‘myth’ that the minute was occasion for any change. This was supported by the observations of Cambridge historians like Sinha and Roselli. In 1969 D.P. SInha, pointed out that there was a sense of continuity in education, Lord Auckland accepted the logic of the resolution of 1835 by sanctioning abolition of stipends but then later restored modest scholarships. John Rosselli said that apart from cutting off funds for printing of texts, Bentinck didn’t touch existing institutions like Sanskrit College and the Madrassa.Nationalist historians like Syed Nurullah and J.P. Naik had accused Bentinck for imposing English education on ‘unwilling Indians’. This has been contradicted by A.F. Salahuddin Ahmed who pointed out that Indians willingly participated in the implementation of English education. he showed that Macaulay suggested the addition of two Indian members in the General Committee of Public Instructions. Frykenberg pointed to the contribution of Raja Rammohan Roy towards the introduction of modernisation in India. More recently John Clive argued that Macaulay himself believed that teaching English would require grammatical study of Indian vernaculars.

Despite such criticisms, one can’t ignore the impact that the impact of these policies. The resolution of 1835 signalled the advent of socio-economic and political changes in India. Most of these implications were felt in the long run but some of the most immediate results were that it paved way for the emergence of English as the most powerful language in India as it became the only medium of English language. It resulted in a large English speaking professional and secretarial class. While the resolution managed to depress Oriental learning, it also allowed for the development of vernacular languages. The Orientals accepted the importance of Western education but at the same time they emphasised the importance of Indian languages as medium of instruction. The General Committee of Public instructions tried to establish a system of vernacular instructions in the provinces and took into consideration the plan laid down by William Adam for the improvement of vernacular education.

Lord Auckland, who succeeded Bentinck in 1836, expressed his views on education in the minute of 1839 and attempted to resolve the Anglo-Oriental controversy. He restored the grants that had been previously been sanctioned to the Oriental colleges and stated that the funds should be appropriated first for Oriental studies and then for English instruction. He replaced the stipends with some scholarships and ensured the maintenance of these colleges. He also sanctioned the publication of works in classical languages. He proposed the establishment of Central colleges in Patna, Benares and Allahabad.Auckland’s plan was important as the government realised the need to keep the Oriental and English education systems separate. It was found that the Indians were not ready to sacrifice their own system of learning and that it was not possible to spread education through English and it had to be done through the vernacular. Auckland’s plan for a comprehensive and graduated system of education in every district resulted in the emergence and adoption of the first comprehensive and real education policy. Hardinge, the next governor general, initiated further reforms and innovations in the area of education. Higher education advanced at rapid speed as a network of English and vernacular education institutions were established. In 1844-45, the Council of Education drew up a plan to establish a Central University, modelled on the London University and offering degrees in Arts, Science, Law, Medicine and Civil Engineering, in Bengal. Similar proposals were made by Thomason in the North Western provinces and by Thomas Monro in Madras.

The most significant advance in education was seen during the age of Lord Dalhousie. It was Dalhousie who actually laid the foundations of a modern system of education. His first initiative towards this was that he recommended Thomason’s plan to the Court of Directors. This plan had proposed to set up a school in every revenue district along with the ordinary village school and to appoint a Zillah, Paragana visitors and a Visitor General to supervise this scheme. This scheme proved successful in eight districts and by 1850 a vernacular school literature had been created, number of schools increased to 3400 and number of scholars increased greatly as well. It was gradually extended to 23 districts including Bengal and Punjab. Dalhousie agreed to set up a school (instead of a college) in Amritsar and he suggested that English could be taught here alongside instruction in vernaculars. He introduced elaborate reforms in Calcutta and reformed the Hindu College. He converted the senior department at the college into the Presidency College to distinguish it from other local institutions. He also suggested admission of non-Muslims into the Calcutta Madrassa. Simultaneously, Dalhousie developed the plan for technical education as he realised the importance of training youths to meet rising demands of department public works. He based his scheme on the models provided by Major Maitland’s school in Madras and Thomason’s Civil Engineering College. One of Dalhousie’s most important contributions was his support to female education in India. He supported J.E.D Bethune’s female school in Calcutta and marked the beginning of policy of open encouragement in sphere of female education.

Around the same time, the President of the Board of Control, Charles Wood was asked to frame a general scheme of education that would be applicable to all of British India. Woods’s secretary, Lord Northbrook, drafted the Education despatch of 1854 on his behalf and submitted it to the Court of Directors. The despatch abandoned the downward filtration policy employed by Bentinck and it stated that though English would be the medium of instruction, it wouldn’t replace the vernaculars. It created a Department of Education in the five provinces under British and established universities in Madras, Calcutta and Bombay which were modelled on the London University. It decided to collect a fee from students so as to encourage regularity, paid attention to training of teachers and providing text books and recommended professional training schools for Law, Medicine and Civil Engineering. Hence a shift was seen towards elementary mass education and at the same time a boost was given to higher education as well.

Theeducation policy in the course of its development had an impact on Indian society and brought about changes in the social structure. While there was an attempt to ensure general literacy, several backward groups like the dalits were excluded from state schools in order to please the elite sections of Indians. The colonial bureaucracy succumbed to the pressures of conservatism and the education policy endorsed differentiation of Indian society. A result of this differentiation was that a very small proportion of the population actually received benefits of education. Those who were attracted to the English education system included mainly Hindu upper caste men belonging to either the middle or lower classes. Education became a means of achieving economic prosperity and getting power rather than just a path to ‘intellectual enlightenment’. When their expectations were not met, it was the knowledge of this group that challenged the authoritarian colonial rule. English education brought several Indians in contact with a body of ideas and allowed them to openly question several fundamental assumptions. They began to see their own society as through concepts of utility, reason, progress and justice. According to Sekhar Bandyopadhyay, there was a rise of a ‘civil society’ which was ’articulate in defending its rights while locating its identity’. They began to question all prevalent social practices and religious notions and saw these as backward and decadent. Science became a sign of progress and scientific knowledge was further developed by the likes of Raja Rammohan Roy as they set up schools to promote the same. The attempt to translate this rational mentality into a social reform agenda resulted in the rise of groups and movements such as Young Bengal that posed a challenge to Hindu orthodoxy. European education gave rise to new intellectual stirringswhich in turn created a need to reform Indian society without rejecting Indian tradition. This class of Indians supported the British officials in carrying out legalistic reforms such as abolition of sati and passing of the Widow Remarriage Act. Educated Indians like Raja Rammohan Roy and Dayanand Saraswati started reform movements like the Brahmo Samaj and the Arya Samaj to reform Hiduism. European education brought to the fore the status of women in Indian society. Welfare of women became a concern. Not only was education extended to women, several reforms were carried out to improve their social standing.

Hence, modern education in India was initially introduced with the motive of removing social evils and to aide in the administration of the British Raj. Gauri Vishwanathan argues that the introduction of English literature was meant to inculcate a proper training in morality and ethics as it was considered to be the ‘ideal representation of English identity’. This she felt was the main political agenda of Anglicism. In the course of development of the educational policies, Indian society underwent great changes. A new class of Indian intellectuals emerged and they helped bring about reforms in the existing social structure. B.T. McCully pointed out that English education brought Indian youth in contact with a body of thought thatquestioned the assumptions on which traditional values rested. It enabled Indians to question colonial policies and laws and at the same time gain legitimisation from the colonial government for their attempts at bringing about change. The impact of modern education, though not always positive, was profound and was felt by all sections of society.

Bibliography:

  1. Suresh C. Gosh, ‘The History of Education in India, 1757-2007’.
  2. Sekhar Bandyopadhyay, ‘From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India’.
  3. Kenneth Ballhatchet, ‘The Importance of Macaulay’, Cambridge University Press.
  4. Percival Spear, ‘Bentinck and Education’, Cambridge University Press.
  5. Robert E. Frykenberg, ‘The Myth of English as a ‘Colonialist’ Imposition upon India: A Reappraisal with Special Reference to South India.

Surbhi Bhambri

III Year

BA (Hons) History