Spectrum Summary: Development of Education

Table of Contents
1. Under Company Rule
2. Humble Beginning: Charter Act of 1813 and Early Reformers
3. Orientalist-Anglicist Controversy
4. Lord Macaulay's Minute (1835)
5. Efforts by James Thomson
6. Wood's Despatch (1854)
7. Developments after 1854
8. Hunter Education Commission (1882-83)
9. Raleigh Commission and the Indian Universities Act (1904)
10. Government Resolution on Education Policy (1913)
11. Saddler University Commission (1917-19)
12. Education under Dyarchy (Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms)
13. Hartog Committee (1929)
14. Sergeant Plan of Education (1944)
15. Development of Vernacular Education
16. Development of Technical Education
17. Evaluation of British Policy on Education
18. Conclusion
View more

Under Company Rule

For the first sixty years of British Company dominion in India the East India Company, being a commercial and profit-seeking enterprise, showed little official interest in promoting mass education. A few individual initiatives, however, marked the period and laid some institutional foundations for later developments.

• Calcutta Madrasah was established by Warren Hastings in 1781 to teach Muslim law (fiqh), Arabic and related subjects.
• Sanskrit College was founded at Benaras by Jonathan Duncan in 1791 to promote the study of Sanskrit, Hindu law and philosophy.
• Fort William College was set up by Lord Wellesley in 1800 to train Company civil servants in Indian languages and customs (it closed in 1802).

Humble Beginning: Charter Act of 1813 and Early Reformers

The Charter Act of 1813 for the first time included an explicit provision for the promotion of education in India. This legal recognition, together with the efforts of enlightened Indians and sympathetic officials, led to several early initiatives.

• Raja Rammohan Roy and other educated Bengalis advocated Western learning; as a result a grant was sanctioned for a Calcutta college established by Bengalis in 1817 to provide English education in humanities and sciences.
• The government established Sanskrit colleges in the presidency towns including Calcutta, Delhi and Agra to support traditional learning.

Orientalist-Anglicist Controversy

The debate within the General Committee of Public Instruction and among officials and Indian intelligentsia revolved around two positions:

• Orientalists argued for the preservation and expansion of traditional Indian learning (Sanskrit, Persian/Arabic, indigenous legal and philosophical texts) alongside modern subjects; they supported vernacular and classical media for instruction.
• Anglicists argued that limited government resources should be devoted primarily to Western sciences and literature, and that English should be used as the principal medium for higher instruction to create an administrative and professional class conversant with European knowledge.
• Even among Anglicists there was disagreement: one group insisted on English as the medium; another believed in using Indian vernaculars for elementary instruction while English should be reserved for higher studies.

Lord Macaulay's Minute (1835)

The controversy was decisively influenced by Lord Macaulay's Minute of 1835, which favoured the Anglicist position. Macaulay recommended that government funds be devoted to teaching Western literature and science through the medium of English.

• He famously characterised classical Indian learning as inferior to European learning for practical purposes at that time and argued for the creation of an English-educated class to serve administrative needs.
• The practical outcome was an increased establishment of English schools and colleges and a relative neglect of mass elementary education conducted in vernaculars.

Efforts by James Thomson

• James Thomson, Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Provinces (1843-1853), promoted a scheme of village education in the vernacular and sought to set up model schools and teacher training to strengthen primary education.

Wood's Despatch (1854)

Wood's Despatch of 1854 is often called the "Magna Carta of English education in India" because it provided a comprehensive blueprint for public education. It recommended a structured system and defined the responsibilities of government.

• It asked the Government of India to assume responsibility for education of the masses, at least on paper rejecting the strict application of the downward filtration theory (the idea that educating a few elites would gradually benefit the masses).
• It proposed a hierarchical structure: vernacular primary schools in villages; Anglo-vernacular high schools and affiliated colleges at district level; and affiliating universities in presidency towns (Calcutta, Bombay and Madras).
• It recommended English as the medium for higher education and vernaculars at the primary level.
• It emphasised female and vocational education and the need for teachers' training (normal schools).
• It declared that education in government institutions should be secular.
• It recommended a system of grants-in-aid to encourage private and missionary enterprise in education-state assistance subject to government control.

Developments after 1854

The later decades of the nineteenth century saw important institutional developments and the gradual spread of modern education.

• 1857: The universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras were established as examining and affiliating bodies.
• Departments of education were created in provincial administrations to supervise and expand schooling.
• Bethune School (later Bethune College) founded by J. E. D. Bethune in 1849 at Calcutta marked one of the earliest organised efforts for women's education in India.

Hunter Education Commission (1882-83)

The Hunter Commission examined elementary and secondary education and made forward-looking recommendations for state responsibility and administrative decentralisation.

• It emphasised the need for state action to extend and improve primary education and recommended primary instruction in vernaculars.
• It advised transferring control of primary education to newly constituted district and municipal boards for better local management.
• It recommended dividing secondary (high school) education into two streams: literary (academic) leading to university, and vocational (commercial/professional).
• It highlighted inadequate facilities for female education, especially outside presidency towns, and proposed measures to promote women's schooling.
• The period also saw the establishment of more teaching-cum-examining universities such as Punjab University (1882) and Allahabad University (1887).

Raleigh Commission and the Indian Universities Act (1904)

• In 1902 the Raleigh Commission examined the condition and prospects of Indian universities and made recommendations for reform.
• Based on its report the Indian Universities Act, 1904 was enacted to reorganise university governance with the following features:

• Universities were to give more attention to study and research rather than only examinations.
• The number and tenure of university fellows were reduced and many fellows were to be nominated by the government.
• The government acquired power to veto or amend university senate regulations and to frame regulations itself.
• Conditions for affiliation of private colleges were made stricter.
• The government sanctioned additional funds (reported as five lakh rupees per annum for five years) to improve higher education and universities.

Government Resolution on Education Policy (1913)

• Baroda State had introduced compulsory primary education as early as 1906 in its territories, showing a provincial willingness to pursue compulsory schooling.
• The Government of India's 1913 Resolution did not accept compulsory education as a central responsibility but admitted the goal of removing illiteracy and urged provincial governments to provide free elementary education for poorer and backward sections.

Saddler University Commission (1917-19)

The Saddler Commission, appointed to enquire into problems of the University of Calcutta, recommended changes that had wider applicability across Indian universities.

• It recommended that the school course should cover twelve years, with students entering university after an intermediate stage and then undertaking a three-year degree course. The purpose was to:

• Prepare students adequately for university studies;
• Relieve universities of a large number of students who were below university standard; and
• Provide collegiate education for those not planning to proceed to university degrees.

• It called for less rigidity in university regulations and wanted universities to function as centralised, residential, teaching-and-research institutions rather than as loosely affiliated bodies.
• It urged expansion of women's education, applied scientific and technical education, and teacher training including professional and vocational colleges.

Education under Dyarchy (Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms)

The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms (Government of India Act, 1919) placed education largely in the provincial list, reducing direct central intervention. As a result provincial governments and ministries assumed more responsibility for educational policy and administration.

Hartog Committee (1929)

The Hartog Committee reviewed the progress of education and provided cautious recommendations.

• It recommended emphasis on improving primary education but warned against hasty expansion or compulsory measures without adequate resources.
• It advised that only deserving students should proceed to high school and intermediate stages while average students could be diverted to vocational courses after the eighth standard.
• It recommended restricting admissions to universities to improve standards of higher education.

Sergeant Plan of Education (1944)

The Sergeant Plan, prepared by the Central Advisory Board of Education in 1944, laid out a comprehensive structure for the educational ladder to be pursued after the Second World War.

• It proposed pre-primary education for the 3-6 years age group, free and compulsory elementary education for 6-11 years, and high school education for 11-17 years for selected children.
• It envisaged a three-year university degree after higher secondary school and proposed that high schools be of two types: academic and technical/vocational.
• It called for adequate technical, commercial and arts education and recommended abolition of the intermediate course.
• It aimed at liquidating adult illiteracy within 20 years and stressed teacher training, physical education and special provision for the physically and mentally handicapped.

Development of Vernacular Education

Vernacular education-teaching in regional and local languages-attracted attention at various stages because it was essential for mass literacy and elementary instruction. Important milestones include the following:

• 1835-1838: William Adam's reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Bihar pointed out defects and suggested improvements.
• 1843-1853: Experiments in the North-West Provinces (present-day Uttar Pradesh) included opening model government schools in each tehsil and establishing normal schools for teacher training in vernacular instruction.
• 1853: Lord Dalhousie expressed support for vernacular education in a notable minute.
• 1854: Wood's Despatch advocated improvement of vernacular standards, government supervision and teacher training (normal schools).
• 1854-1871: The number of vernacular schools expanded significantly-by some accounts more than five-fold-though resources and quality remained variable.
• 1882: Hunter Commission emphasised special state efforts to extend vernacular primary education to the masses.
• 1904: Official policy and grants gave special attention to vernacular education and its expansion.
• 1929: The Hartog Committee presented a critical assessment of primary education standards, including vernacular schools.
• 1937: Provincial Congress ministries were more favourable to vernacular schools and encouraged their development in provinces they governed.

Development of Technical Education

Technical and engineering education received some institutional support, though often limited in scope and reach.

• 1847: Engineering education at Roorkee (later Thomason College of Civil Engineering, now IIT Roorkee) was established primarily to train engineers for public works and irrigation projects.
• 1856: The Calcutta College of Engineering (later Bengal Engineering College) was established to provide technical training for industrial and administrative needs.

Evaluation of British Policy on Education

The British policy on education in India must be evaluated in terms of intentions, outcomes and wider social impact.

• Government measures were often motivated by considerations other than philanthropy and included:

• Pressure and agitation by enlightened Indians, Christian missionaries and humanitarian officials;
• The administrative need for a cheap supply of Indians educated to serve in subordinate civil and clerical posts;
• The commercial interest in creating a market for British manufactures among an educated Indian middle class;
• The expectation that Western education would produce a class more amenable to British rule and supportive of colonial institutions.

• Consequences and criticisms:

• The traditional indigenous system of learning declined for lack of sustained institutional support.
• Mass education was neglected, leaving high illiteracy rates reported in some accounts (for example, 1911-84 per cent illiteracy and 1921-92 per cent in certain measures). These figures indicate a very low level of literacy among the population as a whole.
• Education remained largely a privilege of the urban, upper and wealthier classes because schooling required payment; this reinforced social and economic inequalities.
• Women's education was neglected for long periods, partly because the colonial government hesitated to antagonise orthodox opinion and partly because expanding female education lacked immediate utility for colonial administration.
• Scientific and broad-based technical education received relatively limited attention except where it served specific administrative or commercial needs (public works, railways, engineering colleges).

Conclusion

The development of education under British rule was uneven and shaped by competing philosophies, administrative priorities and limited resources. Major policy statements and commissions-the Charter Act (1813), Macaulay's Minute (1835), Wood's Despatch (1854), Hunter Commission (1882-83), the Indian Universities Act (1904), Saddler Commission (1917-19), Hartog Committee (1929) and the Sergeant Plan (1944)-created institutional frameworks and recommended reforms that influenced the shape of modern education in India. While these measures led to the establishment of universities, professional and technical institutions and some expansion of schooling, they also produced marked inequalities in access, language policy tensions and a long delay in achieving mass elementary education.