The tradition saw Education:-
In 1783 , a person named William Jones arrived in Calcutta . He had an Appoinment as a junior judge at the Supreme court that the company had set up. In addition to being an expert in law , Jones was a linguist . He had studdied Greek and Latin at Oxford , knew french and English, had picked up Arabic from a friend , and had also learn Persian.
At Calcutta, he began spending many hours a day with Pandits who taught him the subtleties of Sanskrit language , grammer and Fig.1- William Jones learning Persian linguist - someone who knows and studies several languages poetry. Soon he was Studing ancient Indians texts on law, philosophy, religion, politics , morality,Arithmatic ,medcine and the other sciences.
Jones discovered that his interests were shared by many British of ficials living in calcutta at the time .Englishmen like Henry Thomas Colebrooke and Nathaniel halhed were also busy discovering the ancient Indian heritage mastering Indian languages and translating Sanskrit and persian works into English .Together with them ,Jones set up the Asiatic society of Bengal, and started a journal called Asiatick Researches. Jones and Colebrooke came to represent a particular attitude towards India . they shared a deep respect for ancient cultures , both of India and the West.
Indian Civilisation ,they felt,had attained its glory in the ancient past, but had subsequently declined . In order to understand India it was necessary to discover the sacred and legal texts that were produced in the ancient period . for only those texts could reveal the real ideas and laws of the Hindus and Muslims, and only new study of these texts could form the basic of future development in India.
so Jones and cole brooke went about discovering ancient texts, understanding their meaning, translating them, and making their findings known to others. this project , they belived ,would not only help the British learn from Indian culture ,but it would also help Indians rediscover their own heritage, and understand the lost glories of their past . In this process the British would become the guardians of Indian culture as well as its masters . Influenced by such ideas , many Company officials argued that British ought to promote Indian rather than Western learning .they felt that institutions should be set up to encourage the study of ancient Indian texts and teach Sanskrit and Persian literature and poetry.
The officials also thought that Hindus and Muslims ought to be taught what they were already familiar with ,and what they valued and treasured, not subjects that were alien to them . only then they belived , could the british hope to win a place in the hearts of the "narratives ",only then could the alien rulers expect to be respected by their subjects.
with this object in view a madrasa was set up in Calcutta in 1781 to promote the study of Arabic , Persian and Islamic law; and the Hindu college was established in Benaras in 1791 to encourage the study of ancient Sanskrit texts that would be useful for the administration of the country.
Madrasa – An Arabic word
for a place of learning; any type of school or college Colebrooke He was a
scholar of Sanskrit and ancient sacred writings of Hinduism.
Not all officials shared these views. Many were very strong
in their criticism of the Orientalists.“Grave errors of the East” From the early nineteenth century many British officials began to criticise the Orientalist vision of learning. They said that knowledge of the East was full of errors and unscientific thought; Eastern literature was non-serious and light-hearted. So they argued that it was wrong on the par t of the British to spend so much effort in encouraging the study of Arabic and Sanskrit language and literature. James Mill was one of those who attacked the Orientalists. The British effort, he declared, should not be to teach what the natives wanted, or what they respected, in order to please them and “win a place in their heart”. The aim of education ought to be to teach what was useful and practical. So Indians should be made familiar with the scientific and technical advances that the West had made, rather than with the poetry and sacred literature of the Orient.
By the 1830s the attack on the Orientalists became sharper.
One of the most outspoken and influential of such critics of the
time was Thomas Babing to Macaulay. He saw India as an
uncivilised country that needed to be civilised. No branch of Eastern
knowledge,according to him could be compared to what England had produced. Who could deny, declared
Macaulay, that Orientalists – Those with
a scholarly knowledge of the language and culture of Asia Munshi – A person who
can read, write and teach Persian Vernacular – A term generally used to refer to
a local language or dialect as distinct from what is seen as the standard
language. In colonial countries like India, the British used the term to mark
the difference between the local languages of
everyday use and English – the language of the imperial masters.
This image represents how Orientalists thought of British
power in India. You will notice that the majestic figure of Hastings, an
enthusiastic supporter of the Orientalists, is placed between the standing
figure of a pandit on one side and a seated munshi on the other side. Hastings
and other Orientalists needed Indian scholars to teach them the “vernacular”
languages, tell them about local customs and laws, and help them translate and
interpret ancient texts.
Hastings took the initiative to set up the Calcutta Madrasa,
and believed that the ancient customs of the country and Oriental learning ought to be the basis of British
rule in India. “ a single shelf of a good European library was
worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia”. He urged that the British
government in India stop wasting public money in promoting Oriental
learning ,for it was of no practical use. with great energy and passion, Macaulay emphasized the need to
teach the English language. He felt that knowledge of Engl ish
would allow Indians to read some of
the finest literature the world
had produced; it would make them aware of the developments
in Western science and
philosophy. Teaching of English could thus be a way of civilising people,
changing their tastes,values and culture.
Following Macaulay’s minute, the English Education Act of
1835 was introduced. The decision was to make English the medium of instruction
for higher education, and to stop the promotion of Oriental institutions like the
Calcutta Madrasa and Benaras Sanskrit College. These institutions were seen as “temples of darkness that
were falling of themselves into decay”. English
textbooks now began to be produced for schools. Education
for commerce In 1854, the Court of Directors of the
East India Company in London sent an educational despatch to the
Governor-General in India. Issued by Charles Wood, the President of the Board
of Control of the Company, it has come to be known as Wood’s Despatch.
Outlining the educational policy that was to be followed in India,it emphasised
once again the practical benefits of a system of European learning, as opposed
to Oriental knowledge.
One of the practical uses the Despatch pointed to was
economic. European learning, it said, would enable Indians to recognise the
advantages that flow from the expansion of trade and commerce, and make them
see the importance of developing
the resources of the
country. Introducing them to European ways of life, would change their tastes
and desires, and create a demand for British goods, for Indians would begin to appreciate
and buy things that were produced in Europe.
Language of the wise?
Emphasising the need to teach English, Macaulay declared: All parties seem to be agreed on one point,
that the dialects commonly spoken among
the natives …of India , contain neither literary
nor scientific information, and are,moreover,so poor
and rude that , until
they are enriched from some other quarter ,it will not
be easy to translate any valuable work into them … From
Thomas Babington Macaulay, Minute of 2 February 1835 on Indian Education. Wood’s Despatch also argued that European learning would
improve the moral character of Indians. It would make them truthful and honest,
and thus supply the Company with civil servants who could be trusted and depended
upon. The literature of the East was not only full of grave errors, it could
also not instill in people a sense of duty and a commitment to work, nor could
it develop the skills required for administration.
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. Attempts were also made to bring about changes
within the system of school education. An argument for
European knowledge Wood’s Despatch of 1854 marked the final triumph of
those w ho opposed Oriental learning . It stated: We must emphatically declare that
the education which we desire to
see extended in India is that which has for
its object the
diffusion of the improved
arts, services, philosophy ,a n d
literature of Europe , in
short , European knowledge.
The argument for practical education was strongly criticized
by the Christian missionaries in India in the nineteenth century. The missionaries
felt that education should attempt to improve the moral character of the
people, and morality could be improved only through Christian education. Until 1813, the East India Company was opposed to missionary
activities in India. It feared that missionary activities would provoke
reaction amongst the local population and make them suspicious of British
presence in India. Unable to establish an institution within British-controlled
territories, the missionaries set up a mission at Serampore in an area under the
control of the Danish East India Company. A printing press was set up in 1800
and a college established in 1818.
Over the nineteenth century, missionary schools were set up
all over India. After 1857, however, the British government in India was reluctant
to directly support missionary education. There was a feeling that any strong
attack on local customs, practices, beliefs and religious ideas might enrage “native”
opinion. The report of William Adam In the 1830s, William Adam, a Scottish missionary ,
toured the districts of
Bengal and Bihar. He had been
asked by the Company to report on the progress of education in vernacular schools.
The report Adam produced is interesting. Adam found that there were over 1 lakh
pathshalas in Bengal and Bihar. These were small institutions with no more than
20 students each. But the total number of children being taught in these
pathshalas was considerable – over 20 lakh. These institutions were set up by
wealthy people, or the local community. At times they were started by a teacher (guru).
The system of education was flexible. Few things that you associate with schools today were present
in the pathshalas at the time. There
were no fixed fee, no printed books, no
separate school building, no benches or chairs,
no blackboards, no system of separate classes, no rollcall registers, no
annual examinations, and no regular time-table.
In some places classes were held under a
banyan tree, in other places in the corner of a village shop or temple, or at the guru’s home. Fee
depended on the income of parents: the
rich had to pay more than the poor.
Teaching was oral, and the guru decided
what to
teach, in accordance with the needs of the students.
Students were not separated out into different classes: all of them sat together in one place. The
guru interacted separately with groups
of children with different levels of
learning. Adam discovered that this
flexible system was suited to local
needs. For instance, classes were not held during harvest time when rural children often worked
in the fields. The pathshala started once again when the crops had been cut and stored. This meant that even
children of peasant families could
study.
New routines, new rules Up to the mid-nineteenth century,
the Company was concerned primarily with higher education. So it allowed the
local pathshalas to function without
much interference . After 1854
the Company decided
to improve the system of vernacular education. It felt thatthis could be
done by introducing order within the system,
imposing routines, establishing rules, ensuringregular inspections. How was this
to be done ?
What measures did the
Company undertake? It appointed a number
of government pandits, each in charge of looking after four to five schools. The task of the pandit was
to visit the 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 was now to be based on textbooks and learning was to be tested through a system of annual
examination.
Students were asked to pay a regular fee, attend regular classes,
si t on f ixed seats,
and obey the new rules of discipline.Pathshala ‘s
which accepted the
new rules were supported through government grants.
Those who were unwilling to work within
the new system received no government
support. Over time gurus who wanted to retain their independence found it difficult
to compete with the government aided and
regulated pathshalas. The new rules and
routines had another consequence. In the
earlier system children from poor peasant families had been able to go to
pathshalas, since the timetable was
flexible. The discipline of the new system demanded regular attendance, even
during harvest time whenchi ldren of
poor families had to work in the
fields.
Inability to attend school came to be seen as indiscipline, as
evidence of the lack of desire to learn.The Agenda for a National Education British officials were
not the only people thinking about education in India. From the early
nineteenth century many thinkers
from different parts
of India began to
talk of the need for a wider spread of education.
Impressed wi th the
developments in Europe, some Indians felt that Western education
would help modernize India. They urged
the British to open more schools, colleges
and universities, and spend more money on
education.
There were other Indians, however, who reacted against Western education. Mahatma
Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore were two
such individuals.Let us look at what they had to say. “English education has
enslaved us” Mahatma Gandhi argued that colonial education created a sense of inferiority in the minds of
Indians. It made them see Western
civilisation as superior, and destroyed the
pride they had in their own culture. There was
poison in this education, said Mahatma Gandhi, it was sinful, it enslaved Indians, it cast an evil
spell on them.
Charmed by the West, appreciating everything that came from
the West , Indians
educated in these
insti tuitions began admiring
British rule. Mahatma Gandhi wanted an education that could
help Indians recover their sense of
dignity and self-respect. During the national
movement he urged students to
leave educational institutions
in order to show to the British that
Indians were no longer willing to be enslaved.
Mahatma Gandhi strongly felt that Indian languages ought
to be the medium of teaching.
Educat ion in English crippled
Indians, distanced them from their own
social surroundings, and made them “strangers in their own lands”. Speaking a foreign tongue,
despising local culture, the English
educated did not know how to relate to
the masses. Western education, Mahatma
Gandhi said, focused on reading and writing rather than oral knowledge; it valued textbooks rather than lived
experience and practical knowledge .
He argued that education
ought to develop a person’s mind and soul. Literacy or simply learning
to read and write – by itself did not
count as educat ion. People had to work with their hands, learn a
craft, and know how
different things operated . This would develop their mind and their
capacity to understand.
“Literacy in itself
is not education” Mahatma Gandhi wrote: By education I mean an all-round
drawing out of the best in child and man
– body, mind and spirit. Literacy is not
the end of education nor even the beginning.
It is only one of the means where by man and woman can be educated. Literacy in
itself is not education. I would
therefore begin the child’s education
by teaching it a useful handicraft and enabling
it to produce from the moment it begins its
training … I hold that the highest development
of the mind and the soul is possible under such a system of education. Only every handicraft
has to be taught not merely mechanically
as is done today but scientifically,
i.e. the child should know the why and
the wherefore of every process.
The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 72, p. 79 As
nationalist sentiments spread, other thinkers
also began thinking of a system of national education which would be radically different from that
set up by the British.Tagore’s “abode of peace”
Many of you may have heard of Santiniketan. Do you know why it was established and by whom?
Rabindranath Tagore started the institution in 1901. As a child, Tagore hated going to school. He
found it
suffcat ing and oppressive. The
school appeared like a prison, for he could never do what he
felt like doing . So while
other children listened to the
teacher, Tagore’s mind would wander
away.The experience of his
schooldays in Calcutta shaped
Tagore’s ideas of education. On growing up, he wanted to set up a
school where the child
was happy, where she could
be free and creat ive, where she was
able to explore
her own thoughts and desires. Tagore felt that childhood ought to be a time of
self-learning, outside the rigid and
restricting discipline of the schooling system set up by the British. Teachers had to be
imaginative, understand the child, and
help the child develop her curiosity. According
to Tagore, the existing schools killed the natural desire of the child to be creative, her sense of wonder. Tagore was of the view that creative learning could be encouraged only within a natural environment.
So he chose to set up his school 100
kilometres away from Calcutta, in a rural
setting. He saw it as an abode of peace (santiniketan), where living in harmony with nature, children
could cultivate their natural
creativity.
In many senses Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi thought about education in similar ways. There were, however,
differences too. Gandhiji was highly
critical of Western civilisation and its
worship of machines and technology. Tagore wanted to combine elements of modern Western
civilisation with what he saw as the
best within Indian tradition. He emphasized
the need to teach science and technology at Santiniketan, along with art, music and dance.
Many individuals and thinkers were thus thinking about the
way a national educational system could be fashioned. Some wanted changes
within the system set up by the British, and felt that the system could be
extended so as to include wider sections of people. Others urged that
alternative systems be created so that
people were educated into a culture that
was truly national. Who was to define what was truly national? The debate about what this “national
education” ought to be continued till
after independence.
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