1 Education under East India Company

Education under East India Company

Submitted by:
Ali Abbas Aslam
Muhammad Mujahid
Submitted to:
Dr. Ibrahim
Date:
12-06-2020

BS Chemistry (Eve)
Semester (I)
2 Education under East India Company

Establishment of East India Company:

European trading companies began their commercial activities in India from 1600 A.D.
Gradually the Portuguese, the French, the Dutch and the English settled in some parts and
commercial centers of India. Among these, the English East India Company was ultimately
able to establish their rule in India.

Education in India before East India Company:

The modern system of education came to establish in India during the British period at
the cost of the traditional indigenous system. Before the British established a new system of
education in India both the Hindus and the Muslims had their own systems of education. Indian
education had always been of a classical and spiritual rather of a practical nature. It was
communicated through the sacred classical languages of the Hindus and the Muslims, namely
Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian. The Tols and Madrassas were the highest seminaries of learning
meant for the specialists. These institutions were not meant for education of an elementary
kind. For primary education, there were in the villages, Patsalas and Maktabs where the Gurus
and Maulavis imparted knowledge to the boys of the locality.
Educational Activity in 1765:
The East India Company became a ruling power in Bengal in 1765. Following the
example of the contemporary English Government, the Court of Directors refused to take on
itself the responsibility for the education of the people of India and decided to leave education
to private effort. However, the Indian officers of the East India Company urged the Court of
Directors to do something for the oriental learning.
First Educational Institutes:
Some half-hearted efforts were made by the Company’s Government to foster oriental
learning.
1. Warren Hastings set up the Calcutta Madrasa in 1781 for the study and learning of
Persian and Arabic.
2. In 1791, the efforts of Jonathan Duncan, the British resident at Benares, bore fruit and
a Sanskrit College opened at Benares for the cultivation of laws, literature and religion
of the Hindus. These early attempts for the education of the people in oriental languages
met with little success.
3. In 1800, Lord Wellesley established William Fort College.
Hidden Policies for Educational Attempts:
The historians Grover and Alka (2014) explained the hidden policy of the British East
India Company in their attempts of the people in oriental languages that administrative needs
of the Company required Indians well versed in the classic and vernacular languages. In the
Judicial Department Indians conversant with Sanskrit, Arabic or Persian were required to sit
as assessors with English judges and expound Hindu or Muslim law from Sanskrit or Persian
or Arabic books. Besides, the knowledge of Persian and vernaculars was valued in the political
department for correspondence with rulers of Indian states. The clerical staff in the revenue
and commercial departments had contacts with uneducated masses and for them knowledge
of vernaculars was necessary.
3 Education under East India Company

Charter Act of 1813:

Although the East India Company established in 1600 A.D., it took no educational
activities for nearly one hundred years of its existence. The development of modern system of
education in India, may be said to have begun with the Charter Act of 1813 which was came
into existence the efforts of “Charles Grant” through the Section 43 that: “sum of not less
than one lac of rupees in each year shall be set apart and applied to the revival and
improvement of literate and the encouragement of the learned natives of India and for
the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences among the inhabitants of
the British territories in India”.
Landmark in the Indian History of Education:
The Charter Act of 1813 constitutes a landmark in the educational history of British
India. Its Clause 43 contained the first legislative admission of the right of education in India
in the public revenues. This Act was the first legislative recognition of the right for education
However, The Charter Act made it obligatory on the part of the East India Company to spread
education in India; it laid the foundation of State System of Education in India. For the first
time, the British Parliament included in 1813 Charter, a clause under which the Governor-
General-in -Council was bound to keep a sum not less than one lakh rupees, for education.
This Act renewing the East India Company’s Charter for a twenty-year period produced two
major changes in Britain's relationship with her colony: one was the assumption of a new
responsibility towards native education, and the other was a relaxation of controls over
missionary activity in India.
Failure of Charter Act of 1813:
Although, company agreed for applying Act 1813 but still it had no directions regarding
the methods to employ to secure these objects. Actually, the Company had not given any
specific instruction on this issue. Consequently, the direction of education remained uncertain
during the next 22 years on the following issues:

1. The Medium of Instruction:

It could not decide whether the medium of instruction should be English or Indian
Languages.
2. Aim of Education of the British Policy:
Whether education should be available to all or should be given to only a selected few.
3. Type of Knowledge:
Whether to preserve and promote Oriental learning or to introduce Western knowledge,
culture and science.
4. Agency of Education:
Whether the Government should assume direct responsibility of educating the Indians
or the Indigenous system of education of the country to continue.
5. Role of Missionaries:
Whether the missionaries should be given a free hand in their educational practices or
should the Company itself shoulder the total responsibility.
4 Education under East India Company

Controversy between Orientalists and Anglicists:

The vagueness of the clause 43 of the Charter Act of 1813 intensified the Oriental and
Occidental educational controversy in India. One group was of the Orientalists who wanted
the promotion of Indian education through the medium of Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian
whereas the other group was of Anglicists who were in favour of developing western education
in India through the medium of English. This fund was kept unspent till 1823 due to the
controversy.
General Committee of Public Instruction:
The General Committee of Public Instruction was formed in 1823, which was to guide
the company on the matter of education. The Orientalists dominated the committee and
advocated the promotion of Oriental learning rather than the Anglican one.
Educational Activity in 1833:
The Charter was eventually renewed in 1833 for another term of 20 years. It did not
contain any direct educational clauses but added a Law Member to the Executive Council of
the Governor General of Bengal which had hitherto consisted of three members only. The first
Law Member to be appointed was Macaulay who came to India in 1834.
Minute of Lord Macaulay:
The controversy between the Anglicists and the Orientalists did not lend itself to any
solution. The differences, which were present almost from the inception of the Committee in
1823, came to a head by about 1834.The Secretary to the General Committee of Public
Instruction in his two letters dated the 21st and the 22nd January, 1835 referred the issue to
the Governor - General of India in Council. The result was the famous Minute of Lord
Macaulay, which attempted to provide a solution to the dilemma posed by the educational
clause in the Charter Act of 1813. In his Minute dated the 2nd of February, 1835 Macaulay
wrote:
This lakh of rupees is set apart not only for ‘reviving literature in India', but also ‘for
the introduction and promotion of the knowledge of the Sciences among the inhabitants of the
British territories’ — words which are alone sufficient to authorize all the changes for which
I contend (Sharp and Richey, 1920, Vol.1, pp.107-08). Macaulay argued that the word
“literature” occurring in the Section of 43 of the Charter Act of 1823 could be interpreted to
mean English literature, that the epithet of a “learned native of India” could also be applied to
a person versed in the philosophy of Locke or the poetry of Milton, and the object of promoting
a knowledge of sciences could only be accomplished by the adoption of English as the medium
of instruction.
Medium of Education will be English:
Macaulay wrote in his Minute, “We must at present do our best to form a class of
persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in
intellect”. Macaulay rejected the claims of Arabic and Sanskrit as against English because he
considered that English is the key to modern knowledge and English is the language sponsored
by the ruling class. It is likely to become the language of commerce throughout the seas of the
East.
5 Education under East India Company

Resolution of March 1835:

Lord William Bentinck (1828-1838) endorsed the Minute by writing one line beneath
it, “I give entire concurrence to the sentiments expressed in the Minute” He passed the
Resolution of March 1835 which was the first declaration of the British Government in the
sphere of education in India. The Resolution of March 1835 eventually determined the aim,
content and medium of instruction in India. Promotion of Western science and arts was
acknowledged as the avowed object of the British Government in India.
Lord Harding’s Activity in 1844:
In line with the Bentinck’s Resolution, 1835, in 1844, Lord Hardinge proclaimed that
for services in public offices, preference would be given to those who were educated in English
schools. It clearly showed that education was imparted with the limited object of preparing
pupils to join services. The emphasis was on producing good clerks. This proclamation had
also far-reaching consequences. It gave rise to two new castes in a caste – ridden country –
English –knowing caste and non-English knowing mass of people.
Implementation of Macaulay’s System of Education
For the implementation of Macaulay’s system of education in India following steps
were taken by the Government:
 All presidencies were divided into educational zones. Each presidency has one
educational school. For example, Bengal was divided into 9 educational zones and each
zone has one school
 By this system 42 schools were established
Work of Wood Despatch:
The Charter Act of the East India Company was to be reviewed in 1853 by the British
Parliament. Before doing so, the Court of Directors in England decided to lay down a definite
policy in regard to educational matters of India. So the British Parliament appointed a Special
Parliamentary Committee to suggest a suitable educational policy for India. The Committee
made thoroughly an evaluation of educational policy followed by the Company in India. On
the basis of this evaluation, a Despatch – a policy document on education was prepared for the
functioning of education system in India. The Despatch was prepared by Traivellian Pairy,
Marshman, Wilson, Cameron, Duff etc, who had thorough knowledge of Indian education.
The Committee reported that the question of Indian education would not be ignored any longer
and its development will not be in any case harmful to British Empire. The suggestions of the
Committee were favourably considered by the Board of Directors. As Charles Wood was the
President of the Board of Control for India, the Despatch was christened as “Wood’s
Educational Despatch” in 1854. It decided the educational policy of the Company
Government.
6 Education under East India Company

Woods Despatch’s main provisions:

 It asked to the Government to provide education to all Indians not to the selected
one’s.
 Graded schools were established:

Universities

Colleges

High Schools

Middle Schools

Primary Schools

 English was recommended for higher studies while Indian languages recommended
for school level.
 Emphasis was given on female and vocational education and on teacher’s training.
 Education imparted in the government institutions was to be secular.
 A system of grants in aid was recommended for the institutions that satisfied certain
conditions to encourage private enterprise.
 Universities were established at Kolkata, Madras and Bombay.
 The educational institutes were run by European principals and management.

After all thus in 1857, a battle was fought between British and Indians.