7. EDUCATION UNDER BRITISH RULE

7. EDUCATION UNDER BRITISH RULE

7.1 Early Phase & Orientalist-Anglicist Controversy

• Early Company policy was largely non-interventionist; some support to traditional (Sanskrit/Persian/Arabic) learning: Calcutta Madrasa (1781, Warren Hastings), Sanskrit College, Benares (1791, Jonathan Duncan).
• Charter Act of 1813: For the first time, the Company was directed to allocate Rs 1 lakh annually for education in India (actual disbursal began only from 1823) — sparked the famous "Orientalist vs Anglicist" controversy over whether this money should promote traditional Indian learning (Orientalists — supported by H.T. Colebrooke, H.H. Wilson) or Western/English education (Anglicists — supported by Charles Trevelyan, T.B. Macaulay).

7.2 Macaulay's Minute (1835)

• Thomas Babington Macaulay, as Law Member of the Governor-General's Council, submitted his famous "Minute on Indian Education" on 2 February 1835.
• Key arguments:
  • Dismissed the value of Sanskrit/Arabic classical learning compared to English/Western literature and science ("a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia" — his controversial characterization).
  • Advocated English as the medium of instruction for higher education.
  • Proposed the "Downward Filtration Theory": Government resources should be concentrated on educating a small English-educated elite class ("a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, opinions, morals, and intellect" — to act as interpreters between government and masses); knowledge/education would then supposedly "filter down" to the masses over time (this largely failed to happen in practice at scale).
• Governor-General Lord William Bentinck accepted Macaulay's recommendations — issued the English Education Act, 1835, making English the official medium of instruction for higher/government-funded education, redirecting the education fund primarily towards English/Western learning.

7.3 Wood's Despatch, 1854

• Sent by Sir Charles Wood (President of the Board of Control) to Governor-General Lord Dalhousie in 1854 — often called the "Magna Carta of English Education in India".
• Key recommendations:
  • Recommended a properly organized, systematic, graded education system: primary → middle/vernacular schools → high schools → colleges/universities, with vernacular languages as medium at primary level and English at higher levels.
  • Recommended establishment of universities in the Presidency towns (Calcutta, Bombay, Madras) — modeled on the University of London (as examining bodies).
  • Recommended a Department of Public Instruction in each province.
  • Recommended grants-in-aid system to encourage private enterprise in education.
  • Encouraged female education and vocational/practical education.
  • Recommended teacher training institutions.
• Result: Universities of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras established in 1857 (same year as the Revolt), based on Wood's Despatch recommendations — modeled on London University (primarily examining/affiliating bodies, not teaching universities initially).

7.4 Hunter Commission, 1882

• Indian Education Commission, chaired by Sir William Hunter, appointed 1882 by Viceroy Lord Ripon, to review progress since Wood's Despatch (1854) and especially examine the state of primary and secondary education.
• Key recommendations:
  • Emphasized need for expansion of primary education, to be transferred to the control of newly formed local boards/District and Municipal Boards (linked to Ripon's Local Self-Government resolution, 1882).
  • Recommended secondary education be bifurcated into two streams: (a) literary education leading to university, and (b) vocational/practical education leading to occupations.
  • Called for greater government support to private enterprise and grants-in-aid in secondary and collegiate education.
  • Addressed women's education, encouraged its expansion, recommended government support.
• Led to significant expansion in numbers of primary schools and colleges over subsequent decades.

7.5 Later Developments

• Lord Curzon's Universities Act, 1904: Tightened government control over universities (increased official representation on Senates, stricter conditions for affiliation of colleges) — seen by nationalists as retrograde/restrictive; unpopular.
• Government Resolution on Education Policy, 1913: Recognized need for a university in every province; discouraged the idea of a single "Central University."
• Saddler Commission (Calcutta University Commission), 1917–19: Reviewed university education (esp. Calcutta), recommended a 12-year school course before university (10+2 pattern precursor), separation of intermediate classes from universities, establishment of Boards of Intermediate Education.
• Sargent Committee/Report, 1944: Post-War (WWII) Reconstruction Committee report — proposed a comprehensive national system of education (free & compulsory education for ages 6–14, pre-primary, high school, university reforms) — ambitious 40-year plan, blueprint referenced even in post-Independence planning discussions, though itself not implemented before Independence.
• Key universities established (chronological, high-yield):
  • Calcutta, Bombay, Madras Universities — 1857
  • Punjab University — 1882
  • Allahabad University — 1887
  • Banaras Hindu University (BHU) — 1916 (Madan Mohan Malaviya, with support from Annie Besant's Central Hindu College as nucleus)
  • Aligarh Muslim University — 1920 (upgraded from MAO College, 1875)
  • Osmania University, Hyderabad — 1918 (first to use Urdu as medium of instruction; Nizam's territory)
  • Delhi University — 1922
  • Nalanda-style modern institutions (Visva-Bharati) — Rabindranath Tagore founded Shantiniketan (1901), developed into Visva-Bharati University in 1921.

Key Facts / Quick Revision Points

• Charter Act 1813: Rs 1 lakh for education (first time).
• Macaulay's Minute: 1835; English medium; Downward Filtration Theory; Bentinck implemented via English Education Act 1835.
• Wood's Despatch: 1854; "Magna Carta of English education"; recommended universities → Calcutta, Bombay, Madras Universities established 1857.
• Hunter Commission: 1882, Lord Ripon, focus on primary/vernacular education, local boards control.
• Curzon's Universities Act 1904: increased govt. control, unpopular with nationalists.
• Saddler Commission 1917–19: reviewed Calcutta University, proposed 12-year schooling before university.
• BHU (1916) — Malaviya; AMU (1920, upgraded from MAO 1875); Osmania (1918, Urdu medium).