Civilising the Native Educating the Nation
How the British saw Education Ideas of education - presently we are following Ideas rejected Different policies about how Indians were to be educated
The tradition of Orientalism In 1783 - William Jones arrived in Calcutta Junior judge at the supreme court of Calcutta Expert in law, He was a linguistic. (greek, latin at Oxford) He knew french and English, Arabian and Persian Learnt Sanskrit in India
Jones discovered that his interests were shared by many British officials. Henry Thomas Colebrooke and Nathaniel Halhed - Ancient Indian Heritage and Mastering Indian languages into English
James, together with them set up the Asiatic Society of Bengal Started Journal called Asiatick Researches
Jones and Colebrooke came to represent a particular attitude towards India. Deep respect for ancient cultures They felt Indian civilization attained its glory in the ancient past and had subsequently declined
They wanted to discover legal and sacred texts Jones and Colebrooke went on discovering ancient texts, their meanings, translating them They believed that it would help British learn from Indian culture as well as help Indians rediscover their own heritage
By this process British would become the guardians of Indian culture as well as its masters Many company officials argued that the British ought to promote Indians rather than Western learning They felt that institutions should be set up to encourage that study of ancient Indians texts and teach Sanskrit and Persian literature and poetry
They also thought the Hindus and Muslims should be taught what they were already familiar with This step may win a place in the heats of the natives
With this object in view a Madrasa was set up in Calcutta in 1781 Hindu college was established in Benares in 1791
Grave errors of the East from early 19th century many officials began to criticize the Orientalist vision of learning They believed knowledge of the East was full of errors and unscientific thought Literature was non-serious and light hearted
James Mill He was one of those who attacked the Orientalists British should not teach what the natives wanted the aim of education ought to be to teach what was useful and practical
By the 1830s the attack on the Orientalists became sharper Thomas Babington Macaulay - He saw Indians as an uncivilized country that needed to be civilized No branch of knowledge should be compared with Eastern knowledge
A single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia. Macaulay
English education has enslaved us MKG argued that colonial education created a sense of inferiority in the minds of Indians Destroyed the pride of indian culture there was poison in the education. It was sinful, it enslaved Indians
He urged that British Govt should stop wasting money in promoting oriental learning He emphasized the need to teach the English language Knowledge of English would allow Indians to red some of the finest literature the world had produced It will make them the award of the developments in Western science and philosophy Teaching of English could thus be a way of civilizing people
The English Education Act of 1835 was introduced English as a medium of language for higher education and stop promotion of Oriental institutions Temples of darkness that were falling of themselves into decay
Language of the Wise
Education for commerce in 1854, the court of directors of the East India Company in London sent an educational despite to the Governor - General in India - Charles Wood (Woods s Despatch) It opposed the Oriental knowledge
One of the benefits of Despatch pointed to was Economic Advantages of trade and commerce Developing the resources of the country Introduction of European ways of life - this later will change their tastes and desires and would begin to appreciate and buy things produced in Europe.
Wood s Despatch also argued that European learning would improve the moral character of Indians Will make them truthful and honest. Will get honest servants Literature could not install in people a sense of duty and a commitment to work.
Following the 1854 Despatch several measures were introduced by the British Education departments of the government were set up to extend control over all matters regarding education Steps were taken to establish a system of university education in 1857, while the sepoys rose in revolt in Meerut and Delhi, universities were being established in Calcutta Madras and Bombay also an attempt was made to change - school system
The Demand for Moral Education
What happened to the Local Schools? in the 1830s William Adam, toured the districts of Bengal and Bihar to report on the progress od education in vernacular schools
Adam fount that there were over 1 lakh pathshalas in Bengal and Bihar Small institutions with not more than 20 students. Total 20 Lakh established by wealthy people, local community or Guru The system of education was flexible
New routines, New Rules up to mid-nineteenth century, the company allowed pathshalas After 1854 the company decided to improve the system of vernacular education Introduced new routines, establish new rules - regular inspections
Appointed government pandits - each in charge of looking after four to five schools Their task was to visit pathshalas and try and improve the standard of teaching Each guru was asked to submit periodic reports and take classes according to a regular timetable teaching through textbooks and tested through a system of annual examination regular fees, attend regular classes, sit on fixed seats
Pahshalas which accepted the new rules were supported through govt grants Later those gurus who did not accept govt policy found it difficult to compete with the government aided and regulated pathshalas Fixed timetable
The Agenda for a National Education British officials were not the only people thinking about education in India. Early 19th century many thinkers from different parts of India began to talk of the need for a wide spread of education
Some were impressed from western education would help modernize India they urged British to open more school, colleges and universities and spend money on that Few Indians reacted against western education Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore
Gandhiji wanted an education that could help Indians recover their sense of dignity and self -respect During National Movement he urged students to leave educational institutions.
MKG strongly felt the Indian languages ought to be the medium of teaching Education in crippled Indians, distanced them from their own social surroundings and made them strangers in their own lands
Western education focused on reading and writing rathe than oral knowledge It valued textbooks rather than lived experience and practical knowledge Education ought to develop a person s mind and soul Literacy - learning to read and write is not education People had to work with their hands, learn a craft, and know how different things operated
Literacy in itself is not education. Mahatma Gandhi
Tagore s abode pf peace Shantiniketan Started in 1901 Tagore hated going to school For him school was like a prison