Bookstawa – Modern History
Education Under Company Rule
Background
In 1726, the British East India Company established Mayor’s court in Madras, Bombay &
Calcutta. These institutions can be seen as one of the earliest steps taken by the British in India. But
since the British were not aware of the customs & traditions of the Indians, they needed a regular
supply of qualified Indians to help the administration of law in the Company’s court. Resultantly,
the British established the Calcutta Madarsa & the Sanskrit college. These institutions also assisted
the administration in the knowledge of classical languages & vernaculars as it was useful in
correspondence with Indian states.
Enlightened Indians & missionaries started exerting pressure on the government to
promote modern, secular, western education, as they thought that western education was the
remedy for social, economic & political ills of the country. Missionaries thought that modern
education would destroy the faith of Indians in their own religions & they would take
Christianity.
Charter Act of 1813
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The Charter Act of 1813 made the British East India Company to accept the responsibility of
educating the Indians. It incorporated the principle of encouraging learned Indians & promoting
knowledge of modern sciences in the country. The act sanctioned a sum of Rs.1 lakh towards the
education of Indians in British ruled India. This act also gave an impetus to the missionaries who
were given official permission to come to India.
Due to the efforts of enlightened Indians such as Raja Rammohan Roy bore fruit & a grant
was sanctioned for Calcutta college set up in 1817 by educated Bengalis, imparting English
education in Western humanities & sciences. But there was a split in the government over what
kind of education was to be offered to the Indians.
General Committee on Public Instructions
In 1823, an official agency called the General Committee on Public Instructions (G.C.P.I.)
was created to deal with educational matters, particularly the expenditure of the sum of 1 Lakh
rupees. The Committee consisted of ten members including H.T. Prinsep, Thomas Babington
Macaulay and H. H. Wilson, who was a great classical scholar. Most of the members of the
Committee were admirers of classical or oriental learning. The grant of one lakh of rupees
provided by the Charter Act of 1813 was placed at the disposal of the Committee.
Within the committee, the Anglicists argued that the government spending on education
should be exclusively for modern studies. The Orientalists on the other hand, said, while Western
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sciences & literature should be taught to prepare students to take up jobs, emphasis should be
placed on the expansion of traditional Indian learning.
Even the Anglicists were divided over the question of medium of instruction – one faction
was for English language as the medium, while the other was for Indian languages( vernaculars)
for the purpose.
Unfortunately, there was a great deal of confusion over English & vernacular languages as
objects of study & media(singular = medium) of instruction.
Lord Macauley’s Minute
In 1835, Lord Macauley brought a documentt famously known as Macauley’s minute. He
held the view that “Indian learning was inferior to European learning”. The document, for now,
settled the row in favour of Anglicists – the limited resources were to be devoted to teaching of
Western sciences & literature through the medium of English language alone.
The government soon made English as the medium of instruction in its schools & colleges &
opened a few English schools & colleges instead of a large number of elementary schools, thus
neglecting mass education. The Elphinstone College(Bombay) & the Calcutta Medical College
were also established in 1835.
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Bookstawa – Modern History
Downward Filtration Theory
The British planned to educate a small section of upper & middle classes, thus creating a
class “Indian in blood & colour but English in tastes, in opinions, in moralsand in intellect” who
would act as interpreters between the government & masses and would enrich the vernaculars by
which knowledge of Western sciences & literature would reach the masses. This was called the
“Downward Filtration Theory”.
Efforts of James Thomson
James Thomson was the Lieutenant-Governor of North-west provinces(not to be confused
with North-west frontier province, (basically the same areea which is Uttar Pradesh today except
the Faizabad & Lucknow division). He developed a comprehensive scheme of village education
through the medium of vernacular languages.
In these village schools, useful subjects such as mensuration & agriculture sciences were
taught. The purpose was to train personnel for the newly set up Revenue & Public works
department (PWD). In 1847, Sir Thomson established the prestigous college of IIT Roorkee, it was
earlier known by the name “Thomson college of Civil Engineering”.
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Lord Dalhousie
In 1853, Lord Dalhousie, the then Governor-General, expressed a very strong opinion in
favour of vernacular education. In 1854, Charles Wood prepared a despatch on an educational
system for India. This documentt !, considered as the “Magna Carta of English Education in
India” was the first comprehensive plan for the spread of education in India. This was the first
report related to education which was passed by the British Parliament.
Features of the Wood’s Despatch
• The despatch asked the government of India to assume the responsibilityy for the education
of the masses, thus repudiating the “Downward Filtration Theory”.
• It systematised the hierarchy from vernacular primary schools in villages at bottom,
followed by Anglo-Vernacular High schools & an affiliated college at the district level, &
affiliating universities in the presidency towns of Calcutta, Bombay & Madras.
• The universities in Calcutta, Bombay & Madras wer to be set up on the lines of University
of London.
• It recommended English as the medium of instruction for higher studies & vernaculars at
school level.
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• It laid stress on female ! & vocational education, & on teachers’ training.
• It laid down that the education imparted in government institutions should be secular.
• To encourage privatee enterprises in the education sector, a system of grants-in-aid.
Development in Education after the British Crown took over Governance in India
Hunter Education Commission ( 1882-83)
In 1882, the Government during the tenure of Lord Ripon as Governor General of India, appointed
a commission under the Chairmanship of W.W. hunter to review the progress of education in the
country since the Despatch of 1854. It is worthwhile to note that this was the 1 st
Education
Commission in India.
The Hunter commission mostly confined its recommendations to primary & secondary education,
some of which are as follows:
• It recommended that secondary ( High school) education should have two divisions-
◦ Literary division for students interested in studying further in universities.
◦ Vocational division for commercial careers.
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• The commission emphasised tha state’s special care is required for extension &
improvement of primary education, & that primary education should be imparted through
vernacular.
• It recommended the transfer of control of primary education to newly setup district &
municipal boards.
• The commission also drew attention to inadequate facilities for female ! education,
especially outside presidency towns & made recommendations for spreading it.
Raleigh Commission
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The two decades after the Hunter commission saw considerable expansion in the field of
secondary education in India. Due to the liberal grant-in-aid system, privatee enterprises
developed rapidly in the field of education. This huge expansion caused several issues. The British
government observed that the educated indians coming out of these schools were showing signs
of political unrest. Thus, in 1902, the 2 nd
Indian Education Commission, famously known as the
Raleigh commission or the Indian Universities Commission was set up by the then Viceroy, Lord
Curzon, to go into conditions & prospects of Universiry education in India & to suggest measures
for improvement in the constitutions of these universities & their working. At this time, a total of
five universities were present in the country.
Indian Universities Act, 1904
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Bookstawa – Modern History
Based on the recommendations of Raleigh commission, the Indian Universities Act was passed in
1904. As per the Act:
• University Senate – The number of fellows of a university & their period in office was
reduced to five years & most of the fellows were to be nominated by the government.
• Universities were to give more attention to study & research.
• Government was provided with powers to veto regulations made by universities’ senate &
could amend these regulations or pass regulations on its own.
• The requirements for getting affiliations for private colleges from University Syndicates
were to be made stricter. Periodic inspection of these colleges was to be carried out by the
Syndicates.
• Five lakh rupees were to be sanctioned annually for fiver years for improvement of higher
education & universities.
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Saddler Commission
After the Indian Universities Act of 1904, by 1917 the state of affairs at Calcutta University
was not in a good state. This became a cause of concern for the British Administration. In 1917, the
then Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford appointed a University commission headed by Michael Saddler to
study & report on problems of Calcutta University. The recommendations by the commission
were to be applicable more or less to other universities as well.
The commission reviewed the entire field from school education to university education. The
commission held the opinion that for the improvement of university education, improvement of
secondary education was a necessary pre-requisite. The commission submitted its report in 1918.
Some of its observation were as follows:
• Earlier the school course used to be till class 10 & then students would move to the
Universties. As a result, the number of students moving into the universities used to
increase. The commission recommended that the school course should cover 12 years & that
the students should enter university after an intermediate stage for a three-year degree
course in university. This was done to:
◦ Prepare students for university stage.
◦ Relieve universities of a large number of below university standard students;
◦ Provide collegiate education to those not planning to go through university stage.
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Bookstawa – Modern History
• The commission further recommended a separate board of secondary & intermediate
education should be set up for the administration & control of secondary & intermediate
education.
• The rules & regulations pertaining to Universities should be made less rigid.
• A residential university should be establishedd at Dacca to reduce the load from the
Calcutta university.
• A university should functions as centralised, unitary residential-teaching autonomous
body, rather than as scattered, affiliated colleges.
• A special board of Women education should be establishedd at the Calcutta university to
promote female ! education.
• Applies scientific & tech education, teachers’ training including those for professional &
vocational colleges should be extended.
In 1920, the government recommended Saddler report to the provincial governments. In the
period from 196 to 1921, seven new universities came up at Mysore, Patna, Benaras, Aligarh,
Dacca, Lucknow & Osmania.
Impact of Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms on Education
Under the Montford reforms, education was shifted to the provincial ministeries & the
government stopped taking direct interest in educational matters. In addition to this, the financial
grants, earlier liberally sanctioned by the government since 1902, were now stopped. Thus, from
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1919 to 1947, the central control over education became minimal. In fact, the Indian Education
Service created in 1896, which was an administrative organisation (whose members used to hold
all crucial posts in provincial education departments) was dismantled in 1924 by the government.
Financial difficulties prevented any substantial expansion but still education grew, especially
under philanthropic efforts.
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Hartog Committee (1929)
The Simon commission, which was created in 1927-28 to propose further constitutional
reforms in India was also given the additional responsibilityy to propose reforms in Indian
education. The commission later delegated this task to another committee headed by Philippe
Hartog. The commission observed that the progress made in primary education had not been
satisfactory. This was due to two reasons – Wastage & Stagnation.
Its main recommendations were as follows:
• Proper emphasis should be given to primary education but there need to be no hasty
expansion or compulsion in education.
• Only deserving students should go in for High school & Intermediate education.
• The students performing on avergae should be diverted to vocation courses after standard
VIII.
• For improvements in standards of university education, admissions should be restricted.
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Wardha Scheme of Education, 1937
In October 1937, the Indian National Congress had organised a National Conference on
Education in Wardha. In the light of the resolutions passed there, Zakir Hussain Committee
formulated a detailed national scheme for Basic education. This was the first national plan of
education in India by the Indians. The main principle behind this scheme was “learning by doing”.
It ws based on Gandhi’s ideas published in a series of articles in the weekly Harijan.
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Provisions of the Wardha Scheme
• Inclusion of a basic handicraft in the syllabus.
• First seven years of schooling to be an integral part of a Free & compulsary nationwide
education system, through mother tongue teaching.
Class Language
Class II to VII Hindi
Class VIII onwards English
• Ways to be devised to establish contact with the community around schools through
service(seva/shram).
• A suitable technique to be devised with a view to educate the child through the medium of
productive activity of a suitable handicraft.
Sergeant Plan of Education
In 1920, the British government had establishedd the Central Advisory Board of Education
( CABE) to work as a central advisory body for central & provincial governmentss. It was
abolished later in 1923 owing to financial crisis & again re-established in 1935 due to slow progress
in education. In 1944, when the World War II was in the last phase, the government created a
committee headed by John Sergeant. He was the education advistor to the government. The
objective was to create the same level of educational attainment as prevailed in England, within a
span of 40 years. Some of the major recommendations are as:
Age group(in Years) Education
3-6 Pre-primary education
6-11 Free, compulsary & Universal Education
11-17 High school education for selected
children
17-onwards University course of 3 years after Higher
secondary
• The High schools to be of two types :
◦ Academic – For students performing well in exams
◦ Technical & Vocational – For average students
• Abolition of Intermediate course
• Adequate technical, commerical & arts education.
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• Liquidation of adult illiteracy in 20 years.
• Stress on teachers’ training, physical education, education for the physically & mentally
handicapped.
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