Chapter-Civilizing the native

educating the nation

Orientalism
Orientalism means knowledge or study about
laws,culture,history,societies,languages etc of a place particularly of
an eastern country India.

William Jones
*Appointed as a junior judge in supreme court calcutta in 1783
*Expert in law and a linguist (greek,latin,french,persian,English and
arabic)
*Learnt Sanskrit language,grammar and poetry from pandits
*Studied the ancient Indian texts on law
philosophy,religion,politics,morality,arithmetic,medicine etc.
*Together with H.T colebrooke and N.Halhed,Jones setup the “Asiatic
society of bengal” and started a journal “Asiatic researches”

Attitude of Jones and colebrooke

towards India
*Deep respect for both ancient cultures-India and the west
*Indian civilisation attained glory in the past,but declined subsequently
*Necessary to know about sacred and legal texts of ancient period
(vedas,manusmriti etc)-Why?to understand India in a better way and
for the future development.
*In the process,british would become not only the guardians of indian
culture but master as well

Influence of company officials

*To win the hearts of Indian and to get respect to the alien rulers :-
*British ought to promote Indian learning rather western learning
*Encourage the study of ancient Indian texts and teach Sanskrit and
Persian literature and poetry.
*Hindus and muslims ought to be taught what they were already
familiar with,They valued and treasured and not the subjects alien to
them

Educational Institutions established

*Madrasa was set up by governor general Warren hastings (1781) at
calcutta to promote the study of arabic,persian and islamic law
*Established a hindu college in banaras in 1791 to encourage the
study to ancient sanskrit texts

Grave errors of the east :Orientalists

were criticized
*Criticized the orientalists vision of learning
*They pleaded that knowledge of the east was full of errors and
unscientific thoughts
*Eastern literature was non serious and light hearted
*NO use of encouraging the study of arabic and sanskrit language and
literature.

James mill:Attacked Orientalists

*Concept like “win the hearts and rulers respect” are vague and not at
all important
*The aim of education ought to be-to give useful and practical info
*Indians should be taught about the scientific and technical
advancements that the west had made

Thomas babington macaulay

*Sharper attack on orientalists
*Regarded india as uncivilized country
* no match no comparison between eastern knowledge and western
knowledge
*A single shelf of a good european library was worth the whole native
literature of india and arabia
*Urged the british government to stop wasting money in promoting
orientalists

English education act 1935

*Following macaulay’s approach,this act was passed
*English made the medium of instruction for higher educations
*Stopped the promotion of oriental institutions-Calcutta,Madrasa and
Hindu college Benares– “Temple of darkness”
*English textbooks began to be produced for schools.

Wood’s despatch:1854
*Charles Wood (the president of the board of directors of the
company)In London issued an educational despatch.
*Outlined the educational policy to be followed in India
*Focus on practical benefits of european learning as opposed to
oriental knowledge

Education for commerce

*European learning would enable Indians to understand the
advantages that flow from the expansion of trade and commerce.
*Introducing Indians to european ways of life that will change their
taste,desires and requirements
*This will generate the demand for British goods.
*It will improve their moral character-make them truthful and honest–
companies will get trusted and dependable civil servants.
*It shall develop skills of administration.

Measures introduced to execute

Wood’s despatch
*Goverment educational departments was setup to control over all
matters regarding education.
*Also changed the system of school education.
*Focused on university education - In 1857 Calcutta,Madras and
Bombay universities were established

What happened to the local schools?

Report of William Adam in 1830 on the education in
vernacular school -;

*Over 1 lakh pathshalas and 20 lakh children in bangal and bihar

*Small institutions-not more than 20 students in a “pathshala”
*Pathshala set up by wealthy people or local community or sometime
by a teacher (Guru)

System of education in pathshalas

*Flexible system suited to local needs - for instance - no classes

during harvest time.
*No fixed fee- depended on income of parents
*Teaching was oral-guru decides what to teach