civilisiation the native and educating the nation
TRANSCRIPT
Introduction• When the British gained political power in India their
first aim was territorial conquest and control over Indian revenue.
• As they established themselves they felt that they had to change the culture and traditions followed by the Indian.
• They felt the Indians had to be civilized and educated so that they would be better.
• The English East India Company wielded power over Indian Territory from 1612 to 1858.
• India came under the direct rule of the British monarch from 1858 to 1947.• India gained independence in 1947.• The Indians reacted sharply to the
introduction of new ideas in the field of education. Many Indian leaders had their own ideas of how to improve education among the Indians.
WHO IS WILLIAM JONES ?
What was William Jones’ Views ?• In 1783, William Jones came to India as
a junior judge, to work in the Supreme Court set up by the East India Company.
• In addition to being a lawyer Jones was a linguist.• He knew many languages Such as Greek, Latin, French, English, Arabic and Persian .• He had a deep passion to learn many
languages he spent many hours with pandits who taught him the Sanskrit language, grammar and poetry.
• He started studying ancient Indian books on law, philosophy, religion, politics, morality, arithmetic, medicine and the other sciences.
• He discovered that his interests were shared by many British officials living in Calcutta at the time.
• Englishmen like Henry Thomas Colebrook and Nathaniel Halhed were also busy discovering the ancient Indian heritage, mastering Indian languages and translating Sanskrit and Persian works into English.
Henry Thomas Colebrook and The Asiatic Society
• He was a Scholar of Sanskrit and ancient sacred writing of Hinduism .
• Jones, Henry Thomas Colebrook and Nathaniel Halhed set up the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and started a journal called Asiaticks Researches.
• The Asiatic Society of Bengal was founded by the renowned English jurist Sir William Jones.
• He brought Asian languages, literature, arts, and sciences to the attention of Europeans.
• The members of the Asiatic Society of Bengal were the first European scholars to recognize the common ancestry of Sanskrit with Greek, Latin, and other European languages.
• They considered Sanskrit as the classical language of India and praised its wonderful structure and stated that it was more perfect than the Greek.
Asiatic Society of Bengal Building
Asia ticks Researches - Journal
• Jones and Colebrook came to represent a particular attitude towards India. They shared a deep respect for ancient cultures, both of India and the West.
• India had a glorious past and to understand this one had to read the sacred books that were written during the ancient times.
• These ancient books revealed the real ideas and laws of the Hindus and Muslims. One had to understand these books to chart out the basis of future development in India.
• Jones and Colebrook were involved in the discovery of ancient books, understanding their meaning, translating them, and making their findings known to others.
• Jones and Colebrook felt that their findings would not only help the British learn from Indian culture, but it would also help Indians rediscover their own heritage, and understand the lost glories of their past.
• Their findings will also establish the British as guardians of Indian culture and gain total control.
• Many officials of the English East India Company who were influenced by the findings of Jones and Colebrook wanted to promote Indian rather than Western learning.
• They felt that institutions should be set up to encourage the study of ancient Indian texts and teach Sanskrit and Persian literature and poetry.
Impact of Jones and Colebrook on the company officials
• The British hoped to win a place in the hearts of the ‘Native Indians’ by teaching them the languages they were familiar with.
• In 1781 a madrasa or college was set up in Calcutta to promote the study of Arabic, Persian and Islamic law.
• In 1791 the Hindu College was established in Banaras to encourage the study of ancient Sanskrit texts that would be useful for the administration of the country.
TO PROMOTE INDIAN LEARNING IN INDIA
British officials criticized the Orientalist• Though there was one group that was of the opinion that
Indian culture and tradition should be promoted, there was also another group that of British officials who criticised the Orientalist vision of learning.
• They felt that it was wrong on the part of the British to spend so much effort in encouraging the study of Arabic and Sanskrit language and literature.
• According to this group …• Knowledge of the East was full of errors and unscientific• Eastern literature was non-serious and light-hearted.• James Mill was one of those who attacked the
Orientalists.
• He declared that the British should not teach what the native Indians wanted and respected just to win a place in their heart.
• The aim of education should be to be to teach what was useful and practical.
• James Mill said that Indians should be made understand the scientific and technical advances that the West. He said learning poetry was not necessary.
• In the 1830s the attack on the Orientalists increased. One of the most outspoken and influential of such critics of the time was Thomas Babington Macaulay.
Thomas Babington Macaulay• Thomas Babington Macaulay was a
nineteenth-century British poet and historian.• He wrote extensively on British history.• He was appointed as the first Law Member of the Governor-General's Council. • He served in India on the Supreme Council of India between 1834 and 1838. • He was instrumental in creating the
foundations of bilingual colonial India, by convincing the Governor-General to adopt English as the medium of instruction in higher education, from the sixth year of schooling onwards, rather than Sanskrit or Arabic.
Macaulay’s Views• Macaulay said that India as an uncivilized country that
needed to be civilized.• He felt that no branch of Eastern knowledge could be
compared to what England had produced.• According to Macaulay, "a single shelf of a good
European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia".
• He urged that the British government in India stop wasting public money in promoting Oriental learning, for it was of no practical use.
• He emphasised the need to teach the English language.
• He felt that knowledge of English would allow Indians to read some of the finest literature the world had produced.
• The knowledge of English would make them aware of the developments in Western science and philosophy.
• Teaching of English could thus be a way of civilizing people, changing their tastes, values and culture. Following Macaulay’s views the English Education Act of 1835 was introduced.
English Education Act of 1835
• The main features of the English Education Act of 1835.
• English was made the medium of instruction for higher education.
• Promotion of Oriental institutions like the Calcutta Madrasa and Benaras Sanskrit College were stopped.
• English textbooks were produced for schools.
Education for Commerce• In 1854, the Court of Directors of the
East India Company in London sent an educational despatch to the Governor-General in India.• It was issued by Charles Wood, the
President of the Board of Control of the Company. • It was known as the Wood’s Despatch.
Charles Wood• As the President of the Board of Control, Charles Wood did a
great job in spreading education in India when in 1854 he sent a
dispatch to Lord Dalhousie, the then Governor-general of India.
• The Wood’s Despatch recommended that:-
1.An education department was to be set in every province.2.Universities on the model of the London University beestablished in big cities such as Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. 3.At least one government school be opened in every district. 4.Affiliated private schools should be given grant in aid.5.The Indian natives should be given training in their mother
tongue also.
The Advantages of Wood’s Despatch for the British in India
• The Wood’s Despatch stated that learning English will be an advantage to the Indians for the trade and commerce .
• The British also had an ulterior motive to promote English language and English culture.
• Introducing them to European ways of life, would change their tastes and desires, and create a demand for British goods among the Indians.
• European learning would improve the moral character of Indians.
• It would make them truthful and honest, and thus supply the Company with civil servants
• In accordance with Wood's Despatch, Education Departments were established in every province and universities were opened at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1857 and in Punjab in 1882 and at Allahabad 1887. • Attempts were also made to bring
about changes within the system of school education.
Bombay University
Calcutta University
Madras University Allahabad University
WILLIAM CAREY
• William Carey was a British missionary, a Particular Baptist minister, a translator and an activist. He also opened the first University in Serampore offering degrees. He is known as the "father of modern missions.“
• Born: August 17, 1761, Paulerspury, United Kingdom• Died: June 9, 1834, Serampore• Spouse: Grace Hughes (m. 1823–1834), Charlotte Rhumohr (m. 1808–
1821), Dorothy Plackett (m. 1781–1807)• Organizations founded: BMS World Mission, Serampore College, more• Children: Jabez Carey, William Carey, Felix Carey, Peter Carey
William Adams• William Adams, known in
Japanese as Miura Anjin, was an English navigator who in 1600 was the first of his nation to reach Japan.
• Born: September 24, 1564, Gillingham, United Kingdom
• Died: May 16, 1620, Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan
William Adams’ Report • William Adams’ Report gives us
an insight into the education system that was prevalent in India before the British established political power in India.
• The English East India Company had asked William Adam, a Scottish missionary, to provide the report on the state of local schools in Bengal and Bihar.
• Adam toured the two states extensively in the 1830s and presented a Report.
• The report states…• Over 1 lakh pathshalas existed in Bengal and Bihar.• Pathshalas were small institutions with no more than
20 students each.• The total number of children being taught in these
pathshalas was over 20 lakhs.• These Pathshalas were set up by wealthy people, or the
local community.• Some Pathshalas were started by a teacher or guru.• The system of education was flexible. There were no
fixed fee, no printed books, no separate school building, no benches or chairs, no blackboards, no system of separate classes, no attendance registers, no annual examinations, and no regular time-table.
• In some places classes were held under a banyan tree, in other places in the corner of a village shop or temple, or at the guru’s home.
• Fee depended on the income of parents: the rich had to pay more than the poor. Teaching was oral, and the guru decided what to teach, in accordance with the needs of the students.
• Students were not separated out into different classes: all of them sat together in one place.
• The guru interacted separately with groups of children with different levels of learning.
• William Adam found that this flexible system was suited to local needs. Classes were not held during harvest time when rural children worked in the fields. The pathshala started once again when the crops had been cut and stored. This helped the children of peasant families to attend school.
New Routines, New Rules• In the beginning the Company was concerned
primarily with higher education. The local pathshalas functioned as usual. After 1854 the Company decided to improve the system of vernacular education.
• Rules were imposed• Routine was established• Regular inspections were held• Changes that were Introduced in the Pathshalas
• Government pandits were appointed. Each pandit was in charge of four to five schools. The pandit visited the pathshalas and tried to improve the standard of teaching.
• Each guru or teacher in the pathshalas asked to submit periodic reports and take classes according to a regular timetable.
• Teaching was now to be based on textbooks and learning was to be tested through a system of annual examination.
• Students were asked to pay a regular fee, attend regular classes, sit on fixed seats, and obey the new rules of discipline.
• Pathshalas which accepted the new rules were supported through government grants. Those who were unwilling to work within the new system received no government support.
Consequences of the Changes that were Introduced
• Pathshalas that wanted to retain their old method of teaching found it difficult to compete with the pathshalas that changed and received government grant.
• Peasant’s children who were able to study in the old pathshalas because of the flexible timetable found it difficult to attend the new schools.
The Agenda for a National Education• From the early nineteenth century many
Indian scholars also felt the need development in the field of education. Some Indians felt that Western education would help modernise India.
• They urged the British to open more schools, colleges and universities, and spend more money on education.
• Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore were against Western education.
•
• Mahatma Gandhi felt that colonial education created a sense of inferiority in the minds of Indians.
• It made them see Western civilisation as superior, and destroyed the pride they had in their own culture.
• Indians educated in these institutions welcomed everything that came from the West, and started admiring British rule.
• Mahatma Gandhi was keen on an education that could help Indians recover their sense of dignity and self-respect.
GANDHIJI WANTS WHAT TYPE OF EDUCATION ?
• He motivated the students to leave educational institutions established by the British to show them that they did not want to be enslaved.
• Mahatma Gandhi wanted ones mother tongue to be the medium of teaching.
• Gandhiji felt that English education made Indians Strangers in their own lands.• He felt that Western education was more textual
than practical.
• Education, according to Gandhiji was not for knowing how to read and write, it was for developing ones mind and soul.
• Gandhiji felt that children had to learn to work with their hands, know how different things operated and also learn some crafts.
• This would develop their mind and their capacity to understand.
• As nationalist movement gathered momentum many leaders started thinking about Gandhiji view on education. The realized the need for a system of national education which would be totally different from that set up by the British.
Tagore’s Santiniketan• As a child, Tagore hated going to school. He found it suffocating
and oppressive. The school appeared like a prison. He could never do what he felt like doing. While other children listened to the teacher, Tagore’s mind would wander away. The experience of his schooldays in Calcutta shaped Tagore’s ideas of education.
• This dream of Rabindranath Tagore’s materialized in
Shantiniketan, a unique university where there are classrooms under the skies, and if the student’s mind wanders, it dwells on the cosmos.
• The institution was initially an Ashram set up by Maharishi Devendranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore’s father, in 1863
Class-rooms under the Santiniketan• Rabindranath Tagore started an open air
school there for children named "Path Bhavan". Tagore’s idea was that of learning in a natural environment, in the
• open, under the trees, would be closer to nature.
•After Tagore received the Nobel Prize in 1913 for literature, for
his book ‘Gitanjali’, the school was expanded into a university named as Visva Bharati.
Visva Bharati UniversityTagore’s Idea of Education• Tagore felt that childhood
ought to be a time of self-learning, Today Visva Bharati is one of the renowned universities, which attracts thousands of students each year. Shantiniketan is also a tourist attraction because Rabindranath wrote many of his literary classics here.
• First woman Prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi, renowned film director Satyajit Ray and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen are among its most illustrious students.outside the rigid and restricting discipline of the schooling system set up by the British.
• Teachers had to be imaginative, understand the child, and help the child develop her curiosity.
• The natural desire of the child to be creative should be encouraged. Tagore felt that creative learning could be encouraged only within a natural environment. Living in harmony with nature, children could cultivate their natural creativity.
Gandhiji and Tagore• Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi had the same concept
of education. The only difference was …• Gandhiji was highly critical of Western civilisation
and its worship of machines and technology.
• Tagore wanted to combine elements of modern Western civilisation with what he saw as the best within Indian tradition. He emphasised the need to teach science and technology at Santiniketan, along with art, music and dance.
• As the British brought drastic changes the Indian system of education, many Indian scholars started thinking the way a national educational system
could be fashioned.• Some wanted changes within the system set up by the British• Others wanted an alternative
system to be created so that people were educated into a culture that was truly national.
• The debate on "national education" continued even after independence.