history - civilizing the natives & educating the nation

SST - chapter 6

What did the british want other than territorial conquest and control over revenues?

cultural mission - “civilise the natives”, change their customs and values.

1783

William Jones arrived in Calcuta

Orientalists

william jones, henry thomas colebrook, nathaniel halhed

anglicists

thomas babington macaulay, james mill

1781

madrasa was set up in calcutta

1791

hindu college was established in benaras

what did jones do/make? and along with whom?

william jones, together with henry thomas colebrook and nathaniel halhed, set up the asiatic society of bengal.
journal - asiatick researches

what was introduced, following macauley’s statements about english (lang)?

the english education act of 1835

what was the english education act? (mention year)

1835.

1. english language

2. english textbooks

3. stop oriental institutions (temples of darkness, falling of themselves into decay)

wood’s despatch (mention year)

1854, court of directors of the EIC in london sent an educational despatch to the GG of india.

issued by charles wood (president of the board of control of the company), it outlined the educational policy to be followed in india and emphasised the practical benefits (eg. economic) of system of european learning.

what was emphasised in the wood’s despatch/reasons?

(economic) - advantages that flow from expansion of trade and commerce.

importance of developing resources of the country

introducing to european ways of life (to change tastes and increase demand for british goods)

improve moral character of indians (supply the company with civil servants)

measures in response to wood’s despatch

education departments

university educations

universities in calcutta, madras & bombay

school education

1857

while sepoys rose in revolt in meerut and delhi, universities were being established in calcutta, madras and bombay

orientalists

those w/ a scholarly knowledge of lang and culture of asia

1818

serampore college

who was asked by the company to make a report on the progress of edu in vernacular schools?

william adam

william adam

18302, scottish missionary, toured districts of bengal and bihar and made a report highlighting the shortcomings of indian edu (vernacular)

about vernacular schools

pathshalas about
pathshalas set up
flexibility
location
fees
syllabus
no separated classes
peasant students

upto mid nineteenth century, company concerned primarily w/ higher edu, what changed?

after wood’s despatch (1854) company decided to improve the system of vernacular edu

what did wood’s despatch change in vernacular edu?

pandits
guru
books+annual exams
students+discipline
peasant students (inability to attend school came to be seen as indiscipline, as evidence of the lack of desire to learn)
regulated pathshalas received grants

“english education has enslaved us”

mahatma gandhi

“the goal of national education was to awaken the spirit of nationality among the students”

sir aurobindo ghose

what’s mg’s take on colonial education?

inferiority
west is superior (destroying pride)

poison, sinful, enslavement, evil spell

admiring british rule
indian languages (relate to the masses)

distanced from social surroundings (strangers in their own lands)
textbooks over practical knowledge
literacy is not knowledge (developing the mind and capacity to understand)

tagore’s abode of peave

tagore started the santiniketan institution in 1901

what did tagore want as a child

child was happy
she could be free and creative
could explore her own thoughts and desires
childhood ought to be a time of self learning, outside the rigid and restricting discipline
teachers had to be imaginative, understand the child, and help the child develop her curiosity
existing schools, killed the natural desire of the child to be creative, her sense of wonder

santiniketan

natural environment - 100 kms away from calcutta, in a rural setting