EDUCATION SYSTEM IN INDIA THROUGH AGES Pt III- Education during British Rule

 3.0 EDUCATION SYSTEM IN INDIA DURING BRITISH RULE

The colonial period also saw an increasing establishment of Christian missionary schools, which had a considerable influence in shaping English education in India. British rule and the subsequent establishment of educational institutions saw the introduction of English as a medium of instruction.

3.1 MACAULAY PLAN: Britishers even destroyed the Gurukul system and imposed British education system under Macaulay plan. Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay came to India on June 10, 1835 as a law member of the Governor- General’s Executive Council and was appointed as the President of the General Committee of Public Instruction. On 2nd February 1835, Macaulay submitted his famous Minute to the Council known as Macaulay’s Minute of 1835 (popularly called Macaulay’s Report 1935). He regarded English literature as the best literature in the whole world. According to him “a single shelf of a good European literature was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia” He suggested that the education of English language and literature should be made compulsory for the Indians. Macaulay regarded the money spent on Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian institutions as wastage. Indians cannot be educated in Western knowledge and science through the native languages. English language is the repository of the best knowledge of the world. Gist of some of the important points were:

• Knowledge of English and Western sciences is necessary for the progress and development of India. Hence English should be made the medium of instruction.

• Oriental Institutions should be closed down.

• Government money should not be wasted on printing and publication of Oriental literature.

• Government did not have sufficient funds to organize mass education in India. Therefore, he suggested that the Government should organise higher education only for the elite class.

Lord William Bentinck, the then Governor General declared the new education policy of the British

Government on 7th March 1835. The main declarations of the Policy were:

• Promotion of European Literature and sciences in India.

• Books on Oriental languages should not be published.

• Dissemination of English literature and sciences through the medium of English language.

• However, salaries of the teachers and the stipends of the students were not discontinued. 

In 1837, English was made the court language and in 1844, high government posts were open to Indians. Thus, Britishers wanted to create a pool of Indians who would be able to serve British interests and be loyal to them. This class would be “Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect.”

3.2 CONSEQUENCES OF MACAULAY EDUCATION SYSTEM: It had following consequences:

• Macaulay plan and introduction of Convent education ruined Gurukuls. 

• Erosion of India's rich cultural identity and heritage. 

• Marginalisation and decline in the status of traditional teachers, educators and scholars. 

• Shift in Educational Priorities from holistic and comprehensive development education to rote learning and examination-oriented studies and narrow, utilitarian approach.

• Loss of Indigenous Languages and Literature.

• Westernization of the Elite leading to socio-economic inequalities, consumerism of British goods and subservience to British rule.

Subsequently more commissions like Hunter Education Commission (1882-83), Raleigh Commission/Indian Universities Act 1904, Government Resolution on Education Policy 1913, Sadler Commission (1917-19), Hartog Committee (1929) gave recommendations that were implemented, but primary aim continued to be same exam oriented rote learning and higher education in English.