Development of Education

Development of Education

For the first 60 years of its dominion in India, the East India Company, a trading and profit- making concern, took no interest in the promotion of education. Some minor exceptions were efforts by individuals:

The Calcutta Madrasah was established by Warren Hastings in 1781 for the study of Muslim law and related subjects. The Sanskrit College was established by Jonathan Duncan, the resident, at Benaras in 1791 for the study of Hindu law and philosophy. Fort William College was set up by Wellesley in 1800 for training of civil servants of the Company in languages and customs of Indians (closed in 1802).

The Calcutta Madrasah and the Sanskrit College were designed to provide a regular supply of qualified Indians to help the administration of law in the Company’s court, and the knowledge of classical languages and vernaculars was useful in correspondence with Indian states. Enlightened Indians and missionaries started exerting pressure on the government to promote modern, secular, Western education, as they thought that Western education was the remedy for social, economic, and political ills of the country.

Missionaries thought that modern education would destroy the faith of Indians in their own religions and they would take to Christianity. Serampore missionaries were, in particular, very enthusiastic about the spread of education.

The Charter Act of 1813 incorporated the principle of encouraging learned Indians and promoting knowledge of modern sciences in the country. The act directed the Company to sanction one lakh rupees annually for this purpose. However, even this petty amount was not made available till 1823, mainly because of the controversy raged on the question of the direction that this expenditure should take. Meanwhile, efforts of enlightened Indians such as Raja Rammohan Roy bore fruit and a grant was sanctioned for Calcutta College set up in 1817 by educated Bengalis, imparting English education in Western humanities and sciences. The government also set up three Sanskrit colleges at Calcutta, Delhi, and Agra.

Within the General Committee on Public Instruction, the Anglicists argued that the government spending on education should be exclusively for modern studies. The Orientalists said while Western sciences and literature should be taught to prepare students to take up jobs, emphasis should be placed on expansion of traditional Indian learning. Even the Anglicists were divided over the question of medium of instruction—one faction was for English language as the medium, while the other faction was for Indian languages

(vernaculars) for the purpose. Unfortunately, there was a great deal of confusion over English and vernacular languages as media of instruction and as objects of study.

The famous Lord Macaulay’s Minute settled the row in favour of Anglicists—the limited government resources were to be devoted to teaching of Western sciences and literature through the medium of English language alone. Lord Macaulay held the view that “Indian learning was inferior to European learning”—which was true as far as physical and social sciences in the contemporary stage were concerned. The government soon made English as the medium of instruction in its schools and colleges and opened a few English schools and colleges instead of a large number of elementary schools, thus neglecting mass education.

The British planned to educate a small section of upper and middle classes, thus creating a class “Indian in blood and colour but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect” who would act as interpreters between the government and masses and would enrich the vernaculars by which knowledge of Western sciences and literature would reach the masses. This was called the ‘downward filtration theory’.

Modern ideas, if not education, did filter down to the masses, though not in a form desired by the rulers, but through political parties, press, pamphlets, public platforms, etc. Modern education only helped this process by making available the basic literature on physical and social sciences to nationalists, thus stimulating their capacity to make social analysis—otherwise the content, structure, and curricula of modern education served colonial interests.

James Thomson, lieutenant-governor of NW Provinces (1843– 53), developed a comprehensive scheme of village education through the medium of vernacular languages. In these village schools, useful subjects such as mensuration and agriculture sciences were taught. The purpose was to train personnel for the newly set up Revenue and Public Works Department.

In 1854, Charles Wood prepared a despatch on an educational system for India. Considered the “Magna Carta of English Education in India”, this document was the first comprehensive plan for the spread of education in India. 1. It asked the government of India to assume responsibility for education of the masses, thus repudiating the ‘downward filtration theory’, at least on paper. 2. It systematised the hierarchy from vernacular primary schools in villages at bottom, followed by Anglo-Vernacular High Schools and an affiliated college at the district level, and affiliating universities in the presidency towns of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras.

3. It recommended English as the medium of instruction for higher studies and vernaculars at school level. 4. It laid stress on female and vocational education, and on teachers’ training. 5. It laid down that the education imparted in government institutions should be secular. 6. It recommended a system of grants-in-aid to encourage private enterprise.

Developments In 1857 universities at Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras were set up, and later, departments of education were set up in all provinces. The Bethune School founded by J.E.D. Bethune at Calcutta (1849) was the first fruit of a powerful movement for education of women which arose in 1840s and 1850s. Bethune was the president of the Council of Education. Mostly due to Bethune’s efforts, girls’ schools were set up on a sound footing and brought under government’s grantsin- aid and inspection system. An Agriculture Institute at Pusa (Bihar) and an Engineering Institute at Roorkee were started. The ideals and methods of Wood’s Despatch dominated the field for five decades, which saw rapid westernisation of education system in India, with educational institutions run by European headmasters and principals. Missionary enterprises played their own part. Gradually, private Indian effort appeared in the field.

After The Crown Takeover

Earlier schemes had neglected primary and secondary education. When education was shifted to provinces in 1870, primary and secondary education further suffered because the provinces already had limited resources at their disposal. In 1882, the government appointed a commission under the chairmanship of W.W. Hunter to review the progress of education in the country since the Despatch of1854. The Hunter Commission mostly confined its recommendations to primary and secondary education. The commission: (i) emphasised that state’s special care is required for extension and improvement of primary education, and that primary education should be imparted through vernacular. (ii) recommended transfer of control of primary education to newly set up district and municipal boards. (iii) recommended that secondary (high school) education should have two divisions:

literary—leading up to university vocational—for commercial careers

(iv) drew attention to inadequate facilities for female education, especially outside presidency towns and made recommendations for its spread. The next two decades saw rapid growth and expansion of secondary and collegiate education with the participation of Indians. Also, more teaching-cum-examining universities were set up like the Punjab University (1882) and the Allahabad University (1887).

The dawn of 20th century saw political unrest. The official view was that under private management the quality of education had deteriorated and educational institutions acted as factories producing political revolutionaries. Nationalists accepted the decline in quality but accused the government of not doing anything to eradicate illiteracy. In 1902, Raleigh Commission was set up to go into conditions and prospects of universities in

India and to suggest measures for improvement in their constitution and working. The commission precluded from reporting on primary or secondary education. Based on its recommendations, the Indian Universities Act was passed in 1904.

As per the act, (i) universities were to give more attention to study and research; (ii) the number of fellows of a university and their period in office were reduced, and most fellows were to be nominated by the government; (iii) government was to have powers to veto universities’ senate regulations and could amend these regulations or pass regulations on its own; (iv) conditions were to be made stricter for affiliation of private colleges; and (v) five lakh rupees were to be sanctioned per annum for five years for improvement of higher education and universities.

Curzon justified greater control over universities in the name of quality and efficiency, but actually sought to restrict education and to discipline the educated towards loyalty to the government. The nationalists saw in it an attempt to strengthen imperialism and to sabotage nationalist feelings. Gokhale called it a “retrograde measure”.

In 1906, the progressive state of Baroda introduced compulsory primary education throughout its territories. National leaders urged the government to do so for British India.

Gokhale, as a member of the Imperial Legislative Council, raised the issue in his Resolution of1910; he called for primary education to be made compulsory in those areas where at least 35 per cent of 6-to-7-year-old boys were receiving instruction; state governments and local authorities to decide cost of education; the need to establish a separate department of education under the central government for taking necessary steps to introduce compulsory education; and for a secretary to be appointed for education to monitor the progress and prepare budget report.

The government assured him that the idea would be considered, upon which Gokhale withdrew the resolution. Though the government established the education department under the central government and appointed a secretary for education, the main demand for free and compulsory primary education was ignored. Gokhale then raised the issue by bringing in a bill in March 1911 calling for the introduction of free and compulsory primary education in a phased manner.

The bill was, however, rejected by a select committee. The government came up with its Resolution on Education Policy in 1913. The government refused to take up the responsibility of compulsory education, but accepted the policy of removal of illiteracy and urged provincial governments to take early steps to provide free elementary education to the poorer and more backward sections. Private efforts were to be encouraged for this and the quality of secondary schools was to be improved.

A university, it was decided, was to be established in each province and teaching activities of universities were to be encouraged. Regarding women’s education, it was suggested that there should be curriculum of practical utility for girls, and that examination of girls should not get much importance; however, there should be an increase in the number of women teachers and inspectors.

In 1917, the Government of India appointed the Calcutta University Commission, commonly called the Sadler Commission after its chairman, Michael Sadler. The commission was set up to study and report on problems of Calcutta University, but its recommendations were applicable more or less to other universities also. It reviewed the entire field from school education to university education. It held the view that for the improvement of university education, improvement of secondary education was a necessary precondition. Its observations were as follows: 1. School course should cover 12 years. Students should enter university after an intermediate stage (rather than matric) for a three-year degree course in university. This was done to: (a) prepare students for university stage; (b) relieve universities of a large number of below-university standard students; and (c) provide collegiate education to those not planning to go through university stage. A separate board of secondary and intermediate education should be set up for administration and control of secondary and intermediate education. 2. There should be less rigidity in framing university regulations. 3. A university should function as a centralised, unitary residential-teaching autonomous body, rather than as scattered, affiliated colleges. 4. Female education, applied scientific and technological education, teachers’ training, including those for professional and vocational colleges, should be extended. In 1920, the government recommended the Sadler Report to the provincial governments. The Sadler Commission recommendations had a great influence on the development of education in the next few decades. In the period from 1916 to 1921, seven new universities came up: Mysore, Patna, Benaras, Aligarh, Dacca, Lucknow, and Osmani soon after, came more universities such as Delhi, Agra, and Annamalai (in Madras). Teaching so far had been the function of degree colleges, and there was no provision for post- graduate education. The functions of the Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras universities were to provide affiliation, conduct examinations, and confer degrees. But now, the number of teaching universities and residential universities increased. With the introduction of Honours courses, there was an increase in academic activities in the universities and colleges. Studies of different Indian languages began. Facilities for higher studies and research were also created. The post of professor was created in the universities. The department of education was opened in Calcutta and Dacca universities. Internal administration of the universities improved. The Academic Council was created to deal with such matters as curriculum construction, examination, and research. This helped to improve the academic standard of the universities. In 1925, an Inter University Board was set up to coordinate among the different Indian universities. For the first time students’ welfare became an important matter in universities, and a board of students’ welfare was formed in each university. However, the recommendations of the commission have been criticised for being too advanced for the time, and that many of the new things suggested were not suitable in the circumstances

existing at the time.

Under Montagu-Chelmsford reforms, education was shifted to provincial ministries and the government stopped taking direct interest in educational matters, while government grants, liberally sanctioned since 1902, were now stopped. Financial difficulties prevented any substantial expansion but still education grew, especially under philanthropic efforts.

An increase in the number of schools and colleges had led to deterioration of education standards. The Hartog Committee was set up by the Simon Commission as an auxiliary committee under the chairmanship of Phillip Hartog to prepare a report on education. The main findings and recommendations of the committee were as follows: Primary Education There were serious shortcomings in the primary education system as it existed.

Quantitative expansion of primary schools was not enough; improvement in their quality was necessary. There was a lot of wastage and stagnation. The withdrawal of children from a school at any stage constituted wastage as the money and time spent had failed to give the children literacy. The reasons for children being withdrawn were mainly poverty, ignorance, caste barriers, religious conservatism, seasonal diseases, and agricultural failure.

Stagnation meant the detention of children in the same classes for more than one academic year. This, in turn, led to withdrawal of the children from schools. The reasons for such stagnation were that most schools were run by just one teacher, teachers were not well qualified, there was a lack of women teachers, schools were often shortlived, and there was a lack of school inspection. Recognising that primary school education was of national importance, the committee recommended that the government should be responsible for the control and inspection of primary schools.

It said that primary education should be for four years. The school timings and the curriculum should be such as to suit the environment and conditions of the locality where they are, and the subjects selected should have practical value for the students. There should be refresher courses and training programmes to improve the quality of primary school teachers. School inspection should increase in number as well as in efficiency.

Primary schools should serve as community centres that could provide adult education, medical relief, and facilities for recreation to the people of rural areas. ●Secondary School Education The defects of secondary education included the fact that it was highly examination oriented, and there was a large number of failures in the matriculation examination. It recommended the introduction of a more diversified curriculum.

Students would benefit from the introduction of alternative courses in the high schools as the students could then choose courses according to their aptitude. The committee recommended the inclusion of industrial and commercial subjects. ●Higher Education Though the focus of the committee was on primary education, it also evaluated the condition of higher education. It found that the standard of education was low, there was overcrowding in universities, and libraries were not well equipped.

The committee suggested that affiliated universities be established besides unitary and residential universities, the condition of university libraries be improved, honours courses be opened, and students be admitted on the basis of abilities and aptitudes. The committee asserted the importance of

developing learned and liberalminded individuals who would be capable of undertaking responsibilities. ●Women’s Education Regarding women’s education, the committee recommended that the education of boys and girls should get equal importance; more primary schools for girls should be established; and the curriculum should include hygiene, home science, and music in secondary schools. Attention should also be given to the training of women for teaching jobs.

The report of the Hartog Committee was effective to an extent in improving the quality of primary education. However, the quantitative expansion suffered. Secondary school education improved. The number of affiliated colleges also went up.

Sir John Sargent, the Educational Advisor to the Government of India, was deputed to draw up a memorandum for the development of Indian education after the Second World War. His memorandum was submitted to the Central Advisory Board of Education in 1944. The report analysed the prevailing situation in education and provided a long-term plan for educational development in India. It gave details of programmes and schemes directed towards reconstructing the education system.

The aim of the plan was to bring about universal literacy in India within 40 years of its introduction. The main recommendations made in the report were as follows: ●There should be free pre-primary education for children between the years of 3 and 6, the objective being to give the children social experience. The teachers in these nursery schools should be women adequately trained for the work. ●There should be universal, compulsory, and free education for the 6 to 14 years age group.

This group would be divided into two stages, namely Junior Basic (6-11) and Senior Basic (11–14). The fundamental principle of education at this level should be “learning through activity”. There should be an emphasis on learning some basic craft or crafts suited to local needs and conditions. Activities at the senior basic level should include physical training and organised games.

• ● High school education should be for a period of six years for selected children from the age of

11 years. The selected students must be well above the average ability and have exceptional aptitude for higher studies. Fees may be charged, but there would also be studentships, and the poor could get scholarships. There were to be two streams in high schools: academic and technical/vocational. The high schools in the academic sphere will impart instruction in theArts and pure sciences, while the high school in the technical sphere will provide training in applied sciences and industrial and commercial subjects. The curriculum in both spheres will include art and music, and all girls should be taught domestic science. The mother tongue would be the medium of instruction in all high schools while English would be a compulsory second language. Students were not to leave school till the age of 14.

• ● As for university education, in the absence of suitable method of selection, many students not

fit for it got admitted to university education. Too much importance was attached to examinations. In the circumstances, the university degree course after the higher secondary examination should be for three years; the existent intermediate course should be abolished; university education standard must be improved, and admission method must be changed in

order that university course could be taken by capable students; poor students should be given financial assistance; teachers should be competent and their service conditions improved; a high standard in post-graduate studies and in pure applied research should be focused on; an all-India organisation on the lines of the University Grants Committee of England should be set up to coordinate the activities of the different universities.

The Sargent report made many other recommendations such as liquidation of adult illiteracy in 20 years; adult education which would include general or technical/vocational education, not just literacy; medical check up for students in schools; special education for the physically handicapped and mentally retarded children; setting up of employment bureaus. The Sargent plan was not acceptable to many lndian educationists who felt that the projected period of forty years for attaining the universalisation of primary education was too long.

The cost of implementing the plan also seemed to be exorbitant. The idea of creating the same level of educational attainment in India as prevailed in England was considered to be utopian and impracticable, besides being unsuitable for Indian conditions. With hindsight one may say that the plan was realistic and had several good points about it. But the plan was a little ahead of its times. Wardha Scheme of Basic Education (1937)

The Congress had organised an all India Education Conference in October 1937 in Wardha. In the light of the resolutions passed there, the Zakir Hussain committee formulated a detailed national scheme for basic education. (It came to be known as Nai Talim.) The main principle behind this scheme was ‘learning through activity’. It was based on Gandhi’s ideas published in a series of articles in the weekly Harijan.

Gandhi thought that Western education had created a gulf between the educated few and the masses and had also made the educated elite ineffective. Gandhi said: “I am fully convinced that present system of education is not only wasteful but positively harmful. They would pick up evil habits. English has created a permanent bar between the highly educated few and the uneducated many.”

The scheme, which advocated free and compulsory education for all from the years of 7 to 14, had the following provisions: (i) Inclusion of a basic handicraft in the syllabus (ii) First seven years of schooling to be an integral part of a free and compulsory nationwide education system (through mother tongue) (iii) Teaching to be in the mother tongue; Hindi to be taught in areas where it was not the mother tongue. (iv) Ways to be devised to establish contact with the community around schools through service (v) A suitable technique to be devised with a view to implementing the main idea of basic education—educating the child through the medium of productive activity of a suitable craft such as spinning and weaving, carpentry, agriculture, pottery, leather work, home science for girls, etc. (vi) The social and scientific implications of a craft to be studied (vii) Mathematics, general science, social studies, painting, music, and physical education to be part of the curriculum. (viii) No religious and moral education included The system, rather than being a methodology for education, was an expression of an idea for a new life and a new society. The basic premise was that only through such a scheme could India be an independent and non-violent society. This scheme was child-centred and cooperative. There was not much development of this idea, because of the start of the Second World War and the resignation of the Congress ministries (October 1939).

Development Of Vernacular Education

During the early 19th century, vernacular education was in a sorry state of affairs. It was mostly dependent on contributions from wealthy zamindars. 1835, 1836, 1838 : William Adam’s reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Bihar pointed out defects in the system of vernacular education. 1843–53 : James Jonathan’s experiments in North- West Provinces (UP), as the lieutenant- governor there, included opening one government school as model school in each tehsildari and a normal school for teachers’ training for vernacular schools.

1853 : In a famous minute, Lord Dalhousie expressed strong opinion in favour of vernacular education. 1854 : Wood’s Despatch made the following provisions for vernacular education:

1. Improvement of standards 2. Supervision by government agency 3. Normal schools to train teachers These gave impetus to the cause of vernacular education 1854–71 : The government paid some attention to secondary and vernacular education. The number of vernacular schools increased by more than five-fold. 1882 : The Hunter Commission held that State should make special efforts for extension and improvement of vernacular education.

Mass education was to be seen as instructing masses through vernaculars. 1904 : Education policy put special emphasis on vernacular education and increased grants for it. 1929 : Hartog Committee presented a gloomy picture of primary education. 1937 : These schools received encouragement from Congress ministries.

Development Of Technical Education The Engineering College at Roorkee was set up in 1847; the Calcutta College of Engineering came up in 1856. In 1858, Overseers’ School at Poona was raised to the status of Poona College of Engineering and affiliated to Bombay University. Guindy College of Engineering was affiliated to Madras University. Medical training started with the establishment of a medical college in Calcutta in 1835.

Lord Curzon did much to broaden the whole basis of professional courses—medicine, agriculture, engineering, veterinary sciences, etc. He established an agriculture college at Pusa, which acted as a parent institution of similar institutions in other provinces.

Evaluation Of British Policy On Education 1. Even the inadequate measures the government took for the expansion of modern education were guided by concerns other than philanthropic. The government measures for promotion of education were influenced by:

agitation in favour of modern education by enlightened Indians, Christian

missionaries, and humanitarian officials; the need to ensure a cheap supply of educated Indians to man an increasing number of subordinate posts in administration and in British business concerns—thus there was an emphasis on English medium as the language of administration and of education; the hope that educated Indians would help expand market for British manufactures in India; and an expectation that Western education would reconcile Indians to British rule, particularly as it glorified British conquerors and their administration.

The British thus wanted to use modern education to strengthen the foundations of their political authority in India. 2. Traditional system of Indian learning gradually declined for want of support, and specially after 1844 when it was declared that applicants for government employment should possess knowledge of English. 3. Mass education was neglected leading to widespread illiteracy (1911—84 per cent and in 1921 —92 per cent), which created a wide linguistic and cultural gulf between the educated few and the masses.

4. Since education was to be paid for, it became a monopoly of upper and richer classes and city dwellers. 5. There was an almost total neglect of women’s education because: (i) the government did not want to arouse wrath of orthodox sections; and (ii) it had no immediate utility for the colonial rule. 6. Scientific and technical education was by and large neglected. By 1857, there were only three medical colleges at Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, and only one good engineering college at Roorkee, which was open only to Europeans and Eurasians.

• ● Steps taken under Company rule: various colleges established; under Charter Act of 1813; Orientalist-Anglican

Controversy; Macaulay’s Minute; Efforts of Thomson; Wood’s Despatch of1854

• ● After the Crown Took Over: Hunter Education Commission; Indian Universities Act of1904; Government Resolution on

Education Policy 1913; Sadler University Commission 1917-19; Education under Dyarchy; Hartog Committee 1929; Wardha Scheme; Sargent Plan 1944;

• ● Development of Vernacular Education

• ● Development of Technical Education

• ● Evaluation of British Policy