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Growth OF Western Education IN British I

Ba.history honours (University of Delhi)

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INRODUCTION
India has a rich hand in Education which occupied an important role in Indian
culture since Ancient times. India knew the art of writing as early as three
thousand years B.C. which, subsequently led to the marvelous advancement in
literature. As we know the center of education in India viz. Nalanda, Vallabhi,
Takshsila which attracted students and Scholars from various parts of the world
in past. The pre-British education system in India was based on the Hindu
Pathshalas and Muslim Madarasas. Former was considered for Vedic scriptures
latter was the center for the knowledge the Holy Koran. During the eighteenth
century, education lost its popular political patronage due to serious upheavals
in the country that let the Hindu and the Muslim education to lapse into
obscurity. In the same century, the East India Company acquired the political
power through treachery in the Battle of Plassey in the 1757. The Company’s
Court of Directors declined to shoulder the responsibility of education in the
country and it was left to the private individuals as their own affairs.
ROLE OF COMPANY
After acquired the political power in 1765 Company’s educational policy
underwent a radical change. In order to win over the confidence of upper classes
and consolidate its rule in India, the Company established some centers of
higher learning and began to educate sons of influential Indians for higher posts.
The Calcutta Madarshas and the Banaras Sanskrit College were the beginning
of the Orientalist School of Educational Policy. The followers of this school felt
that the company should neither support the missionary proselytization nor
hastily attempt to teach western knowledge to the Indians. The Court of
Directors also agreed with the orientalist views and tried to maintain these
institutions of learning.
ROLE OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES
It is notable point that along with the educational activities of the Company,
Missionaries also conducted educational activities under the political authority
of the Company. These institutions were the pioneer of private enterprise in
education in the history of education in modern India. The most important
reason of the missionary was to convert people to Christianity. Dr. D. O. Allen
an eminent missionary of the American Board says that “Missionaries should
educate the people, in order to make them capable of understanding and
appreciating the facts and evidences the doctrines and duties of the Scriptures”.
Missionaries had to conduct schools for converted population, which mostly
came from the lowest and illiterate rung of the Hindu Society. The missionaries

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established schools at various places in the country among them the Danish
mission worked hard and established schools in and around Madras. The
Serampore Trio and other missionaries started schools under the guidance of
Kiernander and Dr.Carey in Bengal.
CHARLES GRANTS’S OBSERVATIONS
Early phase of company was the encouraging attitude but after acquiring
sovereign political power company was in the side of the Orientalist policy in
education. The missionaries did not like this policy of the Company and
convinced Wilberforce to move a Resolution in the House of Commons in
favour of missionary education in India. But the Court of Directors opposed to
this policy of missionaries. One who agitated in favour of the missionary
education was Charles Grant, the father of modern education in India. Grant
observed that the causes of India’s miserable condition were firstly ignorance
and secondly “Want to a proper religion”. He felt that the situation could only
be improved if Indians were first educated and finally converted to Christianity.
He further says that Indian condition utterly immoral and wretched. The
communication of English knowledge through English language would prove
the best remedy for their disorders. No Indian agreed to Grant’s view that mass
conversions to Christianity alone could regenerate Indian society. Charles
Grant’s suggestions of English education to Indian people are of great historical
importance because he fore saw the future development in Indian education as
early as in 1792. His suggestion of English education was adopted by William
Bentinck about forty years later on the advocacy of Macaulay.
COMING OF THE “CHARTER ACT OF 1813”
The missionaries in London were agitating for change in the Company’s policy
but Lord Minto the Governor General of India from 1806 to 1813 were in
favour of the oriental education. In such circumstances the Charter Act of the
Company came up for renewal in 1813. The most important question which
came was the responsibility of Education in India to whom Missionaries or
Company. As in those days education was not regarded a state responsibilities
even in England and naturally, the company did not like to shoulder the
responsibilities of educating Indians and one thing was also notable that the
company was influenced by financial and not philanthropic motives hence
resisted to oblige Indians in educating. So this responsibility was gone towards
the Missionaries and coming days Missionaries began to land in India in large
number. They established English Schools which led down the foundation of
the modern educational system in India. But in 3rd section of Charter was

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mentioned that the Governor General in Council after paying and defraying
expenditure should set aside a sum of Rs. one Lac every year to revive and
improve literature, encourage learned Indians, introduce and promote
knowledge of the science among the inhabitants of the British India which gave
a little authority to Company. The agitation which Charles Grant and Wilber
force carried out for last twenty years become successful. Thus the Charter Act
of 1813 forms a turning point in the history of Indian education.
FIRST HALF OF 19TH CENTURY
(PERIOD OF EXPERMENTS 1813-15)
Several experiments were carried out simultaneously in the beginning of 19th
century in India that were-
a) Thomason’s mass education on the basis of indigenous schools
b) Bombay Board of Education’s official schools
c) Bengal began English as medium of instruction
d) Bombay began to give education through the mother tongue of the
student.
In 1823 the Court of Directors appointed a General Committee of Public
Instruction for the Bengal Presidency. H. T. Princep and H. H. Wilson were
dominant among the above ten members committee. This committee was under
the influence of Lord Minto and spent the grant of one lac on Indian education
on the following work-
a) Reorganized the Calcutta Madarshas and the Banarss Sanskrit college
b) Established a Sanskrit Collage at Calcutta in 1824
c) Established two more Oriental colleges at Agra and Delhi
d) Undertook the printing and publication of Sanskrit and Arabic books on a
large scale
e) Employed Oriental scholars to translate English books containing useful
knowledge into the Oriental classical languages.
WOOD’S EDUCATIONS DISPATCH OF 1854
(Magna Charta of Indian education)
The developments of western education during the period from 1835-1854 by
various organizations institutions those were viz. the missionaries, officials of
the company, non-official, English man resident in India and Indians. There was
no uniform system of Education before 1854 in colonial Indian so it gave the
road for the Dispatch. Charles wood, who was the President of the Board of
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Control and also was nominated by the Ministry in England, formulated a

policy on education in consultation with Alexander Duff and Marshmann in
1854. Main Features of this dispatch which can be summed here-
a) Promotion of the Western education in India
b) English was considered as the medium of instruction in high school
although vernacular languages were also considered important
c) A provision to establish universities at Bombay, Madras and Calcutta on
the basis of the University of London and below the universities there
were colleges affiliated to the universities
d) Graded schools in which primary middle school and high schools were
taken together but medium of instruction Vernacular
e) To establish Department of Public Instruction in every Province of the
company
f) To encourage the private efforts, missionaries and other institution to
spread the western education the Wood’s dispatch made a provision for
Grant-in-Aid.
g) To Establish a Training Colleges and Promotion of Vocational Education
h) Promotion of the Female Education was also a unique feature of the
Dispatch
i) The dispatch made provision for awarding scholarship to the talented and
industrious students in India.
Wood’s Dispatch was called the “Magna Charta of Indian education”.
HUNTER EDUCATIONAL COMMISION
Hunter commission was introduced by Lord Ripon and the Commission
surveyed the whole country and passed around two hundred resolutions. Some
important resolutions were as under-
a) Primary education should be based on practical knowledge and should be
taught practical subjects viz. arithmetic, accounts, natural and physical
sciences
b) The commission made the primary education the responsibility of the
Government
c) The system of Grant-in-aid was to be liberalized and extended it to the
secondary education
d) Promotion of the physical and moral training of the student

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As a result of these recommendations schools, colleges and universities were

founded all over the country. Among them the Universities like Punjab,
Allahabad and Banares Hindu University were imminent.
THE INDIAN UNIVERSITIES COMMISSION (1902)
The period between the Indian Universities Commission in 1902 and the
transfer of the education to Indian control in 1921 had several outstanding
features in the field of education as-
a) Recommendation of large funds
b) Active role of the State in Education
c) Attempts were made to bring qualitative change in all types of education
d) Unexpected expansion in all branches of education
e) There was simultaneous growth in the militant nationalism and education.
27th January 1902, Lord Curzon introduced a commission for university
reforms. He asked the commission to inquire into the condition and prospects of
the universities established in British India and make recommendation for
improvement of the Indian education. The recommendations of this Universities
commission included the following-
a) The organization of universities
b) Strict supervision of college by the university
c) Closer attention to the condition under which students live and work
d) Assumption of teaching by the university
e) Changes in curricula and the methods of examination.
THE INDIAN UNIVERSITIES ACT OF 1904
Lord Curzon was the architect of the Bill of the Universities Act of 1904, while
introducing the Bill, he declared that he wanted to raise the standard of
education and convert the examining bodies into teaching institutions. He made
several provisions as under-
a) The Universities Act of 1904, the enlargement of the functions of the
university proposed
b) To maintain Management and Election in Universities
c) The Indian universities Acts of 1904 provided that the Government may
make any addition and alteration to regulations of the Senate
d) The Section 27 of the Act, that the Governor General may define the
territorial limit of the colleges under the Act of Incorporation.

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After this commission it was considered by Indian educated class that now all
power was transferred in the hands of European professors and educationists.
THE SADDLER COMMISSION OF 1917-1919
In 1917, the Government appointed the Calcutta University Commission to
enquire into the problems and make recommendations to correct them. This
commission came to be known as the Saddler Commission after its President
Dr. M.E. Saddler, the Vice Chancellor, University of Leeds. D. Gregory, Mr.
Philip Hartog, Prof. Ramsay Muir, Sir Asutosh Mookerji, the Director of Public
Instruction, Bengal and Dr. Zia-ud-din Ahmed were other member of the
commission. Its recommendations were as under-
a) Improvement of secondary education was essential for the improvement
of university education
b) The Intermediate examination made the dividing line between the
university and secondary courses
c) Government should create new Intermediate Colleges
d) Intermediate examination should be the test for university admission
e) A Board of secondary and Intermediate Education should be established
for administration and control
f) Calcutta University had very large number of Colleges and students; it
was unmanageable to a single University so the commission,
recommended for the establishment of Dacca University
g) The Commission made other recommendations regarding viz. Female
education, Training of Teachers, Technological Sources, Professional and
vocational training
As per the recommendation of the Commission new universities at Mysore,
Delhi, Nagpur, Agra, Hydrabad, Travancore, Patna, Aligarh, Dacca and
Lucknow were established. In the same way other universities like Santiniketan,
Osmania, S.N.D.T., Kashi Vidyapith, Jamia Millia and Gujarat Vidyapith were
also established.
THE HARTOG COMMITTEE OF 1929
The rapid expansion of Western education created several new problems. The
official opinion was that the rise in quantity of educated people led to a dilution
in quality of education and made Indian education system largely ineffective
and wasteful. An Auxiliary Committee of the Indian Statutory Commission was
established which later on came to be known as the Hartog Committee after its
Chairman Sir Philip Hartog. He suggested maintain a break at the middle school

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level from where the student could choose his vocation. He thought, this would
prevent the number of students proceeding to matriculation and higher
education. In the same way he recommended more practical like tutorials than
lectures in higher education.
THE SARGENT PLAN OF 1944
The Central Advisory Board of Education engaged itself in examining critically
the aspect of Post-war Indian education. In 1943, the Board came to certain
findings and prepared comprehensive plan of educational development and
submitted it to the Executive Council of the Governor General for its
consideration, which came to be known as the Sargent Report of 1944. The
Report aimed was-
a) Pre-primary education for children between 3 and 6 years of age
b) Universal, compulsory and free primary or basic education for all
children between 6 and 14 years of age
c) High school education for selected children between the age of 11 and 17
d) A university course of three years beginning after the Higher Secondary
Examination
e) Technical, Commercial and art education for fulltime and part time
students on an adequate scale
f) Liquidation of adult illiteracy and development of public libraries in a
period of 20 years
g) Proper training of teachers for implementation of the plan
h) Compulsory physical education, medical inspection, provision of milk
and midday meals for under nourished children
i) Employment bureau, education for handicapped children and social and
recreational activities.
CONCLUSION
Through the various Commission and Committee the Growth of Western
Education was developed in the colonial Indian. Along with the instruction of
English language and thoughts they also emphasized the Role of vernacular
instruction and language although it was little in quantity. After the transfer of
power from company to British Queen many Establishment were made towards
the Western Education, thoughts and literature. Through the period of late 19 th
century and beginning of 20th century was recognized as the consolidation of
Western education although it was started by the Company officers and
Missionaries before the 19th century

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