Development of Education – Under Company Rule

Charter Act, 1813

• The Act authorized missionaries to travel to India and spread education. According to the 1813 Charter Act, the Company had taken on a portion of the responsibility for education in India.
• A sum of not less than one lakh rupees had been set aside each year for the purpose of promoting scientific knowledge and “the revival and improvement of literature” among the people of the British territories in India.
• The amount set aside is insufficient to meet the educational needs of millions of people.
• In comparison to the magnitude of the problem, adequate funds were not forthcoming, and educational progress was rather slow.

Lord Macaulay’s Minute, 1835

• On June 10, 1834, Lord Macaulay arrived in India as a law member of the Governor General’s Executive Council.
• He was also named President of the General Committee of Public Instruction.
• As a result, he was tasked with resolving the conflict between Orientalists and Anglicizers. His appointment marked a watershed moment in Indian education history.
• In his capacity as a Law Member, he had been asked to provide his legal opinion on any other possible use of one lakh rupees set aside for education other than Oriental education alone.
• He was also asked to interpret the meaning of Section 43 of the 1813 Charter Act.
• As a result, when the papers concerning the dispute were presented to him in the Council, he wrote his famous Minute concerning the new educational policy.

Wood’s Despatch(1854)

• Several educational experiments had been tried since the Charter Act of 1813; a number of agencies had been at work in their own ways to spread education among the people; several controversies had been raised, and some of them still required final decision.
• As a result, by 1853, there was a strong desire to conduct a comprehensive survey of the entire field of education in India and to develop a detailed policy for educational reconstruction in the future based on the findings of the survey.
• As a result, a Committee was formed under the presidency of Sir Charles Wood to conduct a comprehensive survey of the entire field of education in India.
• Following the survey, the educational report, which was submitted on July 19, 1854, was popularly known as Wood’s Despatch because it was written in his instances, despite the fact that famous thinker John Stuart Mill had a significant contribution in the report’s preparation.
• It is also known as the “Magna Carta of English Education in India” because it was the first comprehensive plan to envision mass education in India.

Education – Under Crown Rule

Hunter Education Commission (1882-83)

• It was formed in 1882 to assess the achievements of the Wood Dispatch of 1854 under W.W Hunter.
• It emphasized the role of the state in the expansion and improvement of primary and secondary education.
• It emphasized the delegation of authority to district and municipal boards.
• It advocated for two types of secondary education: literary up to university and vocational for a commercial career.

The Indian Universities Act, 1904

• The Act placed the government in charge of all Indian universities.
• The act’s main provisions were:
  • more emphasis on study and research in universities rather than revolutionary activities.
  • The number of fellows was reduced and the government was to nominate them.
  • The government now has veto power over university senate decisions.
  • Stricter affiliation regulations.

Government Resolution on Education Policy 1913

• The government refused to comply with the demand of national movement leaders to implement compulsory primary education in British India; they did not want the responsibility of mass education.
• However, he announced a future policy to eradicate illiteracy.
• Provincial governments were asked to assume responsibility for providing free elementary education to the poorer and more disadvantaged classes.
• Secondary education quality and private efforts to improve.
• Each province will have its own university.

Sadler University Commission (1917-19)

• It was originally formed to investigate and report on the causes of Calcutta University’s poor performance, but it ended up reviewing all of the country’s universities.
• Seven new universities were established in Mysore, Patna, Banaras, Aligarh, Dacca, Lucknow, and Osmania.
• As part of the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms, education was shifted under provinces, and the Saddler commission recommendations were handed over to the provincial government.
• This resulted in a financial crisis in the educational sector.

Education – Under Dyarchy

Hartog Committee (1929)

• There is no need for a compulsory education system if primary education is provided.
• Only deserving students should be permitted to attend high schools and intermediate schools, while average students should be diverted to vocational courses.
• University admissions have been restricted in order to improve standards.

Sergeant Plan of Education

• The Central Advisory Board of Education devised the Sergeant Plan in 1944.
• Sargeant’s Education Plan Recommendation 1944
  • Pre-primary education for children aged 3-6,
  • free, universal, and compulsory elementary education for children aged 6-11,
  • high school education for children aged 11-17,
  • a three-year university course after higher secondary high schools, with two options: academic & technical and vocational.
• The goal was to achieve the same levels of educational attainment as existed in England in 40 years. Despite being a bold and comprehensive scheme, it proposed no methodology for implementation.

Development of Vernacular Education

• William Adam’s reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Bihar, published in 1835, 1836, and 1838, identified flaws in the system.
• As lieutenant-governor of the NorthWest Provinces (UP) from 1843 to 1853, James Jonathan’s experiments included the establishment of one government school as a model school in each tehsildari and a normal school for teacher training for vernacular schools.
• Lord Dalhousie expresses his strong support for vernacular education in a famous minute in 1853.
• The following provisions for vernacular education were included in Wood’s Despatch in 1854:
  • standardization
  • Government supervision
  • Teachers will be trained in ordinary schools.
• From 1854 to 1871, the government prioritized secondary and vernacular education. The number of vernacular schools has more than fivefold increased.
• The Hunter Commission recommended that the state make special efforts to expand and improve vernacular education in 1882. Mass education was to be viewed as instructing the masses in vernaculars.
• In 1904 education policy prioritized vernacular education and increased funding for it.
• The Hartog Committee painted a bleak picture of primary education in 1929.
• In 1937 Congress ministries encouraged the establishment of these schools.

Development of Technical Education

• The Roorkee Engineering College was founded in 1847, and the Calcutta College of Engineering was founded in 1856.
• Overseers’ School in Poona was elevated to the status of Poona College of Engineering and affiliated with Bombay University in 1858.
• Madras University was affiliated with Guindy College of Engineering.
• The establishment of a medical college in Calcutta in 1835 marked the beginning of medical education.
• Lord Curzon contributed significantly to broadening the overall basis of professional courses—medicine, agriculture, engineering, veterinary sciences, and so on.
• He founded an agriculture college in Pusa, which served as a model for similar institutions in other provinces.

Evaluation of British Policy on Education

• Even the insufficient measures taken by the government to expand modern education were motivated by factors other than philanthropic concerns.
• The traditional system of Indian learning gradually declined due to a lack of support, particularly after 1844, when it was mandated that applicants for government employment must be fluent in English.
• Mass education was neglected, resulting in widespread illiteracy (1911—84% and 1921—92%) and a wide linguistic and cultural chasm between the educated few and the masses.
• Because education had to be paid for, it became a monopoly of the upper and wealthy classes, as well as city dwellers.
• Because the government did not want to enrage the orthodox sections, women’s education was almost completely neglected.
• Scientific and technical education was largely ignored. By 1857, there were only three medical colleges in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, as well as one good engineering college in Roorkee that was only open to Europeans and Eurasians.