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Education and
British Rule 7
q New education system q Shortcomings of English education
q Impact of English education q English education and national movement for freedom
q Growth of national education q Education and power
q Education and cultural identity
Introduction not engineers, who could work in the British offices.
Technical education was almost non-existent.
When the British arrived in India, there were some
educational institutions in India, for both Hindus Changes in Indigenous Education System
and Muslims, which imparted education on a
In the beginning, the British East India Company
limited scale. For Hindus, these educational felt no responsibility of educating the Indians.
institutions were pathshalas for basic education and
Only some English intellectuals felt its necessity
tools for higher education. For Muslims, these and a beginning was made by Warren Hastings
educational institutions were maktabs for basic who set up a Madrasa at Calcutta in 1781. The
education and madrasas for higher education. British, by that time, were not politically strong
The subjects taught in these educational institutions and had some respect for Oriental culture and
comprised of old knowledge, and new knowledge learning. They did not favour introducing English
was not included. At the basic level, the important education in India at that time. The Calcutta
subjects were religious texts, letter writing, Madrasa, therefore, arranged for the study of
arithmetic and some grammar. At the higher level, Persian and Arabic languages. A Sanskrit college
the important subjects included grammar, classical was started by the British resident, Jonathan
Duncan at Banaras in 1791.
languages (Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian), literature, law,
logic, medicine and astronomy.
Info Bits
Info Bits
According to Gandhiji, education gives training to
3 H’s–head, heart and hand and education meant
training both mind and body.
Calcutta Madrasa Banaras Sanskrit College
In 1800, Lord Wellesley established the Fort
NEW EDUCATION SYSTEM
William College for the training of civil servants of
The education introduced by the British can be the company in the languages and customs of
called the new education system. This comprised of India. However, these efforts by the British were
the teaching of English language and English on the basis of personal initiative. The East India
literature, but the study of Indian languages was Company was not interested in education of the
generally neglected. Science and logic were Indians.
included in the syllabi to some extent, but the chief
The Christian missionaries were opposed to the
purpose of education during the early part of the education of Oriental learning. They pleaded for
British education system was to produce clerks, and
Education and British Rule
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