CHAPTER - IV

SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION

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4.1 INTRODUCTION

It is quite conceivable that educational development in British India may have run the
same course as it did in England, were it not for one crucial difference: the strict
controls on Christianizing activities. Clearly, the texts that were standard fare for the
lower classes in England could not legitimately be incorporated into the Indian
curriculum without inviting violent reactions from the native population, particularly
the learned classes. And yet the fear lingered in the British mind that without
submission of the individual to moral law or the authority of God, the control they were
able to secure over the lower classes in their own country would elude them in India.
Comparisons were on occasion made between the situation at home and in India,
between the 'rescue' of the lower classes in England, 'those living in the dark recesses of
our great cities at home, from the state of degradation consequent on their vicious and
depraved habits, the offspring of ignorance and sensual indulgence', and the elevation of
the Hindus and Muslims whose 'ignorance and degradation' required a remedy not
adequately supplied by their respective faiths. Such comparisons served to intensify the
search for other social institutions to take over from religious instruction the function of
communicating the laws of the social order.

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4.2 CRITICAL ANALYSIS

It was at this point that British colonial administrators, provoked by missionaries on the
one hand and fears of native insubordination on the other, discovered an ally in English
literature to support them in maintaining control of the natives under the guise of a
liberal education. With both secularism and religion appearing as political liabilities,
literature appeared to represent a perfect synthesis of these two opposing positions. The
idea evolved in alternating stages of affirmation and disavowal of literature's derivation
from and affiliation with Christianity as a social institution. The process illuminates and
substantiates what Lowenthal has called a central factor in the construction of every
ideology: the self conscious glorification of existing social contradictions. A
description of that process is reconstructed below from the minutes of evidence given
before the British Parliament's Select Committee, and recorded in the 1852-3 volume of
the Parliamentary Papers. These proceedings reveal not only an open assertion of
British material interests but also a mapping out of strategies for promoting those
interests through representations of Western literary knowledge as objective, universal,
and rational (Gauri Viswanathan, 1987) .
The missionary description was appropriated in its entirety by government officers. But
while the missionaries made such claims in order to force the government to sponsor
teaching of the Bible, the administrators used the same argument to prove that English
literature made such direct instruction redundant. They initiated several steps to
incorporate selected English literary texts into the Indian curriculum on the claim that
these works were supported in their morality by a body of evidence that also upheld the
Christian faith. In their official capacity as members of the Council on Education,
Macaulay and his brother-in-law Charles Trevelyan were among those engaged in a
minute analysis of English texts to prove the 'diffusive benevolence of Christianity' in
them. The process of curricular selection was marked by weighty pronouncements of
the 'sound Protestant Bible principles' in Shakespeare, the 'strain of serious piety' in
Addison's Spectator papers, the 'scriptural morality' of Bacon and Locke, the 'devout

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sentiment' of Abercrombie, the 'noble Christian sentiments' in Adam Smith's Moral
Sentiments (hailed as the 'best authority for the true science of morals which English
literature could supply') (Great Britain 1852—3). The cataloguing of shared features
had the effect of convincing detractors that the government could effectively cause
voluntary reading of the Bible and at the same time disclaim any intentions of
proselytizing..... (ibid).
The Minute only present a set of ideas, not essentially and exclusively related to either
the content or the medium of education. Moreover, to make the point clear, it must be
mentioned that Raja Ram Mohan Roy was a great supporter of the medium of
instruction being English, instead of the then prevalent languages of the schools:
Sanskrit and Arabic. His reason to support an alien language was that he believed it
would create opportunities of opening the mind of the students to the western ideas,
ideals of modernity and modern science.
Ram Mohan in the thick of a great educational controversy. The British Government
was known to be appropriating funds for the promotion of Indian education ; and the
kind of promotion most desirable was the subject of eager discussion. The
"Orientalists" clamoured for the exclusive pursuit of Oriental studies. They were hotly
opposed by the "Anglicists," chief among whom was Ram Mohan Roy. The
Government seemed inclined to yield to the Orientalist view and announced the
intention of establishing a Sanskrit College in Calcutta. The step drove Ram Mohan,
to address a Letter on English Education to Lord Amherst, the new Governor-General.
In this letter he expresses profound regret that the Government was proposing to found
a Sanskrit College "to impart such knowledge as is already current in India." His letter
to Lord Amherst that he had written in the year 1823, presents his point persuasively.
After further objections to the "imaginary learning" of Hindu schools, he summarily
assures Lord Amherst that "the Sanskrit system of education would be the best
calculated to keep this country in darkness." What he wants to see established is "a
more liberal and enlightened system of instruction, embracing mathematics, natural
philosophy, chemistry, anatomy, with other useful sciences." This, he urges "may be
accomplished with the sums proposed, by employing a few gentlemen of talent and
learning educated in Europe and providing a College furnished with necessary books,
instruments, and other apparatus." Of this letter Bishop Heber wrote in March, 1824
(Bishop Heber's Journal.): Ram Mohan Roy, a learned native, who has sometimes been

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called, though I fear without reason, a Christian, remonstrated with this [Orientalist]
system last year, in a paper which he sent me to be put into Lord Amherst's hands and
which for its good English, good, sense, and forcible arguments, is a real curiosity, as
coming from an Asiatic." The patronizing tone of these remarks reveals only too plainly
the unfortunate attitude which Christian missionaries, even the most devout, assumed
towards natives of India, who were, to say the very least, certainly not their inferiors. "It
was owing, perhaps, to this agitation," remarks Jogendra Chunder Ghose on this letter
to Lord Amherst, "that the foundation stone of the building intended for the Sanskrit
College was laid in the name of the Hindu College ( February, 1824 ), and the Hindu
College was located there together with the Sanskrit College"( The controversy between
Orientalist and Anglicist, after raging for some dozen years was brought to a conclusion
by Macaulay's famous Minute of Feb. 2nd, 1835, and Lord Wm. Bentinck's consequent
resolution of March 7th, which by constituting English the official language of India
gave the ascendency to Western ideals of education). (The Life and Letters of Ram
Mohan Roy ).
The nineteenth century Indian Renaissance was largely the outcome of the exposure of
the Indian intelligentsia to the Enlightenment ideas, albeit a bit belated in comparison to
the other colonies viz. the USA. Roy was totally against the blind adherence to the word
of the “shastras” that the religion of his time strongly prescribed. He favoured an
education system that benefited from rational thinking and modern advances in science,
medicine, technology etc. He knew that to break the clutches of a superstitious and
enfeebling set of practices that was called religion in his time, he would also have to
destroy the whole system that sustained it, and Sanskrit or Arabic based education
system was at its root. So he prepared to do away with the very root. He opposed the
opening of educational institutions that forwarded the teaching of classical and
conservative Hindu or Muslim languages and education with the funds provided by the
Government. These educational institutions, subsidized as they were, only fattened the
evil ignorance of the masses. It is in this formative phase of Indian education system
that Roy and Macaulay strove to better the lot of the masses. Macaulay’s Minute has
thoughts that run exactly parallel to Roy’s letter and to study the Minute in this context
will provide valuable insight into the working of modern minds. Roy, Macaulay and
many others made their stand against the then very strong orientalist lobby and reasoned
to prove the assumptions and methods of their opponents wrong. In the long run they

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emerged victorious. Their side won and their victory decided the direction in which the
education system of the Indian subcontinent would finally develop. In a way, it also
decided bilingual system of education with English as a Second Language eventually.
It is very important to focus on the Minute in detail because it is from this point of
origin that whole subsequent system is alleged to have come, especially by those who
criticize it. Roy wanted a system of education that gave a rational outlook and took one
away from the superstitions that were fed to the masses by the then prevalent systems,
viz. the madarasas and pathshalas that gave only a very conservative kind of education
in Sanskrit or Arabic. Macaulay opposed the same system of education in India, just
like his enlightened Indian predecessors, and very much like his enlightened Indian
successors. He asserts: “a Government pledging itself to teach certain languages and
certain sciences, though those languages may become useless, though those sciences
may be exploded, seems to me quite unmeaning” (Minute by the Hon'ble T. B.
Macaulay, dated the 2nd February 1835). His prophetic words were eventually proven
right and his intention was adopted by patriotic Indians in the century that followed.
English is the language of higher education, science and technology, medicine etc. in
the Indian sub-continent, and not Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit or Arabic. Hypothetical
projections of a past that could have led to an alternate present have been made by the
extremists, but they disregard the simple fact that analysis of hypothetical situations
doesn’t yield concrete results. Today’s reality is, that the books and journals in the field
of higher education and research are mostly in English and not in the vernacular or
classical languages, just as Macaulay had written “that the intellectual improvement of
those classes of the people who have the means of pursuing higher studies can at
present be affected only by means of some language not vernacular amongst them.” the
decision taken by the history was regarding the question Macaulay had asked: “What
then shall that language be? … which language is the best worth knowing?” (Minute
by the Hon'ble T. B. Macaulay, dated the 2nd February 1835).Although the first
question has been answered decidedly, the question of value of the language is too
subjective to be answered with finality. His infamous assertion regarding the second
questions must be mentioned to in relation to the debate. He was asserting the intrinsic
superiority of the literature etc. of his nation and asserting what was the most prevalent
view of his times. He was wrong, as the hindsight decrees; yet, he wasn’t exaggerating
or being unnaturally mean. Yet, whatever he writes about the historiography of Sanskrit

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texts, although a bit exaggerating has been proven to be accurate by the modern
historians.
The Minute had the support of the powerful government lobby and was
a classic example of using language as a vehicle for destabilizing a subjugate culture
with the aim of creating a subculture. As Macaulay says, this subculture in India would
consist of: a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we
govern, a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinion, in
morals and in intellect. (Sharp qtd. in Kachru 37).
One may insinuate towards some ulterior motive in the passage given above, but then,
the same may be done with their side of discourse too. Macaulay’s bona fide intention
was proven exactly when he had presented the Minute before the Supreme Council of
India “embodying his views and announcing his intention of
Resigning if they were not accepted” (Bryant qtd. in Kachru 37). His
honesty and intention are also reflected in the very part of his Minute that has supplied
the heaviest artillery to his critics:
We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and
the millions whom we govern, –a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but
English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect.
But when we pass from works of imagination to works in which facts are recorded and
general principles investigated, the superiority of the Europeans becomes absolutely
immeasurable. It is, I believe, no exaggeration to say that all the historical information
which has been collected from all the books written in the Sanskrit language is less
valuable than what may be found in the most paltry abridgments used at preparatory
schools in England. ("Extracts from Lord Macaulay’s Minute on Education 1835" Lord
Macaulay).

NET RESULT OF MACAULAY’S MINUTE:

MERITS

1. A clear cut picture of the national system of education in India emerged

2. The system proved very helpful in promoting the objectives for which it was
planned
3 English schools began to be established.

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4. English became the medium of instruction.
5. Western arts and sciences became popular.
6. Filtration theory of education emerged

DEMERITS

1. Indian culture and philosophy receded to the background

2. Vernacular languages began to be neglected
3. Mass education was neglected
4. Western culture made rapid strives.
5. Arabic and Sanskrit languages found very few takers
6. Arabic, maktabs and Sanskrit pathshalas saw gradual disappearance

RESOLUTION

1. His Lordship –in council is of the opinion that the great object of the British
government ought to be the promotion of European literature and science among the
natives of India; and that all the funds appropriate from the purpose of education would
be best employed on English education alone.
2. It is not the intention of His Lordship –in –council to abolish any college or school
of native learning, while the native population shall appear to be inclined to avail
themselves of the advantages which it affords, and His Lordship –in-council directs that
all the existing professors and students at all institutions under the superintendence of
the committee shall continue to receive their stipends …. No stipends shall be given to
any student that may hereafter enter at any of these institutions; and that when any
professor of oriental learning shall vacate his situations, the committee shall report to
the government the number and state of the class in order that the government may be
able to decide upon the expediency of appointing a successor.
3. It has come to the knowledge of the governor General-in-council that a large sum has
been expanded by the committee on the printing of oriental works: His Lordship-in –
council directs that no portion of the funds shall hereafter be so employed.
4. His Lordship-in-council directs that all funds which these reforms will leave at the
disposal of the committee be henceforth employed inn imparting to the native

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population a knowledge of English literature and science through the medium of the
English language; and His lordship-in –council requests the committee to submit to
government with all exposition, a plan for the accomplishment of this purpose.
The problem he presented was of educating a people who could not be educated in their
mother tongues. His confident assertions may be proven fallacious, illogical, even
ridiculous today, but his prediction turned out to be true. English is the coveted and the
most popular medium of education in urban India, that is a part of the global village
called the world. The hegemony of English language and literature is directly linked
with the forces of globalization and polarization of powers – both military and
monetary. As far as India is concerned, English happens to be the passport for securing
gainful employment in the private sector. Thus, it acts as it did nearly two centuries ago,
as is mentioned in that much detested and debated about document. Macaulay had very
confidently and rightly asserted:
In India, English is the language spoken by the ruling class. It is spoken by the higher
class of natives at the seats of Government. It is likely to become the language of
commerce throughout the seas of the East. It is the language of two great European
communities which are rising, the one in the south of Africa, the other in Australia, –
communities which are every year becoming more important and more closely
connected with our Indian empire. Whether we look at the intrinsic value of our
literature, or at the particular situation of this country, we shall see the strongest reason
to think that, of all foreign tongues, the English tongue is that which would be the most
useful to our native subjects.
He was right. Even the most recent developments in history bear witness to this fact.
English gave Indians advantage over the Chinese in winning considerable employment
opportunities in the recent times in BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) and KPO
(Knowledge Process Outsourcing sectors. So much so, that Obama himself had to
exhort his countrymen to compete well with the English speaking Indian population.
The large pool of Indians who know English is the main reason behind a lot of
economic development, especially in the service sector.
Macaulay, a great stylist of the English language, believed fervently in the clear
superiority of Western knowledge, especially when taught in English. "We know that
foreigners of all nations do learn our language sufficiently to have access to all the most
abstruse knowledge which it contains." (Zastoupil and Moir1999). "Whoever knows

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[English] has ready access to all the vast intellectual wealth which all the wisest nations
of earth have created and hoarded in the course of ninety generations." (ibid
).According to Macaulay, he believed that the most successful form of literature the
Eastern languages possessed was poetry, but even this did not surpass the grand English
poets. When it came from works of imagination to works of fact, "the superiority of the
Europeans [became] absolutely immeasurable." (ibid ). He wrote that, "the literature in
England is now more valuable than that of classical antiquity. I doubt whether the
Sanskrit literature be as valuable as that of our Saxon and Norman progenitors. In some
departments in history for example, I am certain that it is much less so." (ibid ).
Macaulay argued that acknowledgment of English guaranteed the Indians'
enlightenment. "The claims of our own language it is hardly necessary to recapitulate. It
stands pre-eminent even among the languages of the west." (ibid).
Macaulay concludes his "Minute" by summarizing what he believed was necessary to
reform educational policy in India. Like the rest of the "Minute", the conclusion
contained strong animation and force. He wrote that the printing of oriental literature
needed to be stopped at once and certain oriental schools must be closed right away.
Only the two major centers of Hindu and Muslim learning should remain open, if this
occurred, Macaulay wrote, then "we do enough and much more than enough in my
opinion, for Eastern Languages." (ibid ). He argued that if no schools were closed, then
no school should receive government stipends either. Instead, "people shall be left to
make their own choice between the rival systems of education without being bribed by
us to learn what they have no desire to know." (ibid ). This money that would be saved
from halting all stipends would be used to expand English schools and build new ones
throughout India. Macaulay, unlike his Anglicist colleagues, took it further and stated
that unless these requests were followed, he would resign his position as President of
the General Committee. "If the decision of His Lordship in Council should be such as I
anticipate, I shall enter on the performance of my duties with the greatest zeal and
alacrity. If, on the other hand, it be the opinion of the Government that the present
system ought to remain unchanged, I beg that I may be permitted to retire from the chair
of the Committee." (ibid ). Macaulay believed that it was just as useless to have him in
charge of oriental policies as much as he felt oriental education to be useless. If the
Board was to continue withholding the truth from students then Macaulay refused to
call it a board of instruction.

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Whatever Macaulay argued or suggested was logical & had a point and it was not like
his baseless criticizers. It seems funny that even after 175 years of MACAULAY
MINUTE & 65 years of independence, we are still blaming Macaulay for the evils of
English education in India. Even after 400 years of European presence in India , we
have not been able to improve the standards of our vernaculars compared to them. We
are still not able to do standard researches on different subjects & even if some
authentic researches have been done, they are in English, not in vernaculars. One cannot
blame that government is patronizing English language because most of the
Government Schools in independent India teach in Vernaculars. One also cannot blame
that classical languages like Sanskrit, Pali , Prakrit , Arabic , Persian etc. are neglected
because huge government & private funds are supporting them. The only thing Indians
can blame is themselves & their impotency which shows no signs of a ‘Versatile Living
Race’. One cannot kill Macaulay by abusing or criticizing him but you can by
answering his questions. The every stone one throws at the Macaulay school of English
education is just strengthening its base & increasing its height.
One very relevant issue touched in the Minute is relevant even today. The issue was:
whether the vernaculars should be promoted, instead of English, especially when good
basic textbooks at the level of even secondary education, are not easily available. In the
past it had been decided in favour of English. As Roy and many of his enlightened
contemporaries had demanded, Maaculay too, supported teaching of European science,
instead of a jumble of unsystematic and entirely confused science in the classical
languages and vernaculars. The assertion he made is hotly debated even today.
Makarand Paranjape, in his “Decolonizing English Studies: Attaining Swaraj”, very
interestingly presents the case of the native science and medicine by giving one of the
most popularly given example of the small rural furnaces in India that produced, and
even now do so, high quality steel. Then he mentions people in the eighteenth century
Bengal providing inoculation from small pox moving from one place to another, and
Pune barbers performing intricate nose surgeries. He recommends more such recoveries
in order to mend the rupture in the mind of the colonized from his past. Yet, he
conveniently forgets to mention the fact that after the spread of the Industrial
Revolution all over Europe and then, the world, cottage and small scale manufacturing
of steel could not keep up with market demand, and had to give way to large scale steel

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production in huge factories. He does not affirm that the majority of the people in the
erstwhile colonies, once they are aware of the modern medical science’s advancements
even if they had never had any formal education, would trust doctors trained in western
medicinal science and surgery for severe cases. What “is” cannot be challenged because
it could have been something else. Iconoclasm, just for its own sake, is not a very
advisable practice. Decolonization as a rationalizing and liberating practice, in line of
the hitherto incomplete Enlightenment project, is very much a part of the grand
narrative of progress that the West (from where nearly all the colonizers came)
supports. Just because it is supported by the West, it doesn’t become automatically
wrong and opposable. Macaulay compared the opening up of India to English language,
culture, stream of philosophy and literature, to the opening up of Europe to Greek and
Latin cultures, languages and knowledge during the Renaissance. He very strongly
presents his case with help of Russia’s development as an example. The Russian young
man was civilized and led to development “by teaching him those foreign languages in
which the greatest mass of information had been laid up, and thus putting all that
information within his reach. The languages of Western Europe civilised Russia. I
cannot doubt that they will do for the Hindu what they have done for the Tartar”. The
assumption underlying this assertion is that industrial and scientific progress and
civilization are good and must be striven for. If the assumption is questioned, then
Macaulay appears to be wrong, nay, evil in his intention: aiming to give progress and
civilization, as he knows them, to the colonies.
The strongest reason that Macaulay put forth to oppose the subsidized education of
traditional type in Sanskrit and Arabic and to support modern Western Education in
English medium, was the simple matter of the market demand creating its supply. The
classical and vernacular medium and the traditional type of education in India forced on
the native populations “the mock learning which they nauseate”. To prove it he
presented the fact that the Arabic and Sanskrit medium students needed to be paid for
studying while people pay to get education in the English medium schools. He
demanded that “the people shall be left to make their own choice between the rival
systems of education without being bribed by us to learn what they have no desire to
know” (Minute by the Hon'ble T. B. Macaulay, dated the 2nd February 1835). The same
is true for today’s India too, where the madrasas and Sanskrit pathshalas are criticized
for their supreme unconcern for what is required of their students in real life, and their

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total neglect of the demands of the existence in modern society. More and more people
are sending their children to the English medium schools and there is a proportionate
decline in the number and popularity of schools that teach in classical languages based
or vernacular mediums only. Even poor people send their children to English medium
schools in hope that learning English would definitely enhance their employability and
will finally help in moving up from the social stratum they belong to. The same
motivation was working exactly in the same manner in Macaulay’s time too. The
language of power was creating market and learners at a very fast pace; just as it had
done in past after the Muslim invasion and expansion in India. Macaulay very incisively
opines: “Nothing is more certain than that it never can in any part of the world be
necessary to pay men for doing what they think pleasant or profitable” (Minute by the
Hon'ble T. B. Macaulay, dated the 2nd February 1835). He had ample support
favouring English against the classical languages of learning. He quotes facts and
statistics to support his point and illustrates it with an example of the petition that the
students of the Sanskrit College had presented to the committee that had say in policy
making. They needed an employment that allowed bare existence because what they
head learnt devoting the best years of their lives was not the market’s demand, so they
were no gainfully employable. “They have wasted the best years of life in learning what
procures for them neither bread nor respect” (Minute by the Hon'ble T. B. Macaulay,
dated the 2nd February 1835). He called “the state of the market…the detective test” of
the desirability or demand of his times. It also happens to be the demand of our times.
He very strongly and clearly puts forth: “What we spend on the Arabic and Sanskrit
Colleges is not merely a dead loss to the cause of truth. It is bounty-money paid to raise
up champions of error” (Minute by the Hon'ble T. B. Macaulay, dated the 2nd February
1835). His is the voice of reason and is echoed even today in many modern, liberal,
even religious Hindus and Muslims. He was totally against the fostering of superstition
and also against the languages that became its medium. He was like his European
predecessors, especially like Diderot etc. in the 18th century France, and also like the
enlightened Indians viz. Roy. He was also like many who followed the same line of
thought and action later in India.
Analyzing Macaulay’s premises, assumptions and claims leads one to a coherent and
distinct attitude he had towards life and humanity. He appears to have a firm faith in the
superiority of the West over the East – aesthetically and intellectually, arising implicitly

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out of its geopolitical superiority. He believes in his appeal to reason and not to
emotions to bring about the change that he finds to be positive after a logical analysis of
facts in hand. He had a firm and unquestionable loyalty to his nation and has
unshakeable faith in the bright future of the Empire and its language. He may have been
proven wrong about the geopolitical and temporal strength and extent of the Empire, but
he was accurate about the predictions he made regarding the strength and future of the
linguistic entity called the Empire of English language. Two hundred years after the
Minute were written, Randolph Quirk expressed a similar confidence in the future and
power of his language: “a language – the language – on which the sun does not set,
whose users never sleep” (qtd. in McArthur xiv). It is this very empire of English
language of which South Asia is a part.
Macaulay was not a blind racial chauvinist that many portray through the pieces from
his minute. He was a liberal and rational man. He could see what was true and was
ready to stand for it. He was not at all condescending like his various orientalist
contemporaries in wrongly believing “that no native o this country can possibly attain
more than a mere smattering of English”. His was a pragmatic outlook and his practical
approach did prove to be the right one in the long run.

EVALUATION OF BENTINCK’S PROCLAMATION

Bentinck’s proclamation was the first declaration of the educational policy of the British
government which it wanted to adopt in this country Bentinck was greatly influenced by
the views of Macaulay .the orientalists lost their battle. With Bentinck’s proclamation
following results were clearly visible:

i. The aim of education in India were defined by the British.

ii. Type of education envisaged for Indian people was spelt out.
iii. The promotion of western arts was acknowledged.
iv. The printing of oriental works was to be stopped.
v. New grants or stipends to students of oriental institutions were to be
stopped in future.
vi. The proclamation promised to supply government with English educated
Indian servants, cheap but capable at the same time.

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vii. The proclamation accelerated the growth of new learning by leaps and
bounds.

In "Bentinck, Macaulay and the Introduction of English Education in India" Suresh

Ghosh argued that "Bentinck had been steadily pursuing a policy of gradual
introduction of English education in India since 1829."(Ghosh, 1995).He was a firm
believer in Utilitarian principles and took advantage of the peaceful times of his
governor-generalship to mobilize these principles against what were considered the
"social evils" of India. Ghosh argued, that he would have formed his own Anglicist
opinions about education. "General Education is my [Bentinck's] panacea for the
regeneration of India. The ground must be prepared and the jungle cleared away before
the human mind can receive, with any prospect of real benefit, the seeds of
improvement."(ibid).Even before Macaulay, Bentinck had opened subordinate positions
in judicial and revenue sections of the government to natives who had an understanding
of English. "It is the wish and admitted policy of the British Government to render its
own language gradually and eventually the language of public business throughout the
country," wrote Bentinck. (ibid). However, when Bentinck came to power, the
Orientalists held a majority on the General Committee and the Governor-General could
not initiate any major changes in this area without the permission of the Board of
Directors of the East India Company in London. This was an issue because when
Bentinck signed the Resolution, he did so without their involvement. (ibid). According
to Ghosh, Bentinck did it without the Board's consent because he had thoughts of
retiring his post as Governor-General after the Tories returned to power earlier in the
year. "He did not want to leave the fate of a subject so dear to his heart to a successor
and acted immediately in coming to a decision." (ibid).

ORIENTAL –ANGLICISTS CONTROVERSY ON THE SYSTEM OF

EDUCATION IN INDIA AND MACAULAY’S MINUTE

When the east India Company embarked on its political conquests in India in 1757,
there was no education system organized and supported by the state. Gradually it was
realized by the rulers to take interest in education .In 1813 the company decided to
spend a sum of Rs one lakh on education in India .This led to oriental-anglicists
controversy on education

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Oriental school of thought wanted to encourage the indigenous system of education in
India and wanted the company to spend the amount on the promotion of this system .the
anglicists found their supporter in lord Macaulay who translated their dream into reality
to a considerable extent. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, a distinguished Indian educationist,
religious and social reformer appreciated the merits of western philosophy and science
and was an ardent supporter of the educational reforms advocated by the anglicists.

Charles grant who had been associated with the east India company’s administration in
London and Calcutta believed that Britain had a mission of regenerating Hindu society
He pleaded that ‘Britain must do so through the English language’ . He further observed
the Hindu erred because they were ignorant. This darkness could be dispelled by the
introduction of Christianity and the art and sciences of Europe. In the eighteenth
century, Charles Grant, who came to India as an employee of the company,
recommended the introduction of English as the medium of instruction and its adoption
as the official language of the Company and the Government (Krishnaswamy 2006: 12).

EVALUATION OF ADAM’S RECOMMENDATIONS

Adam wanted that his plan may be first tried in some selected areas before final
adoption. But Macaulay had pronounced his verdict already that education was to be
given through English medium to the upper classes only and hence Adam’s scheme for
mass education fell on deaf ears. The plan was considered as impracticable and Adam
was forced to resign in disgust. Such was the fate of one of the ablest reports ever
written on Indian education. A golden opportunity for building up a national system of
education was lost.

POINTS TO REMEMBER

1. Macaulay vehemently criticized Indian Education System in his minute

written on Feb, 1835.
2. Bentinck’s proclamation marks a turning point in the history of education in
India. It was the first declaration of the educational policy, which, the
British government wanted to adopt in this country.

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3. During the dawn of nineteenth century two groups emerged. One was
orientalists and the other was Anglicists.
4. Vagueness regarding the interpretation of charter act of 1813 and national
system of education intensified the controversy between the two groups.
5. It was observed by S.N Mukherji that Macaulay’s minute had all defects of a
preliminary spadework, but it is very important document, because it influenced
Britain’s educational policy in this country for more than a century. It should be
admitted that western learning has done good to India and better results have
been achieved through Macaulay’s bold policy than it would have been possible
through half –hearted attempts of the orientalists.
6. The new knowledge led to India’s unity and her great recovery brought her
into contact with scientific research of the west and developed Indian
languages to a standard in which university language became possible. But
his minutes can neither be regarded as the greater charter of Indian education
nor can it condemn as the evil genius of Macaulay.
7. Macaulay was wedded to the Filtration Theory and believed firmly in the
superiority of western civilization.

Adam’s reports were regarded as one of the ablest reports ever written on Indian
education but it was rejected by Macaulay.
Kachru (1983: 20) refers to the House of Commons that saw it as the duty of the British
to educate and cultivate the Indians. The purpose was however not ideological but to
make life easier for British people who lived in India or who planned to do so (ibid):
“The Communication of our light and knowledge to them, would prove the best remedy
for their disorders” (Grant 1831/32: 60-61 in Kachru 2006: 333). In other words, Grant
very clearly stated that the main reasons for trouble in India were the disorders,
ignorance and errors of the Indians, which the communication of Western knowledge
through English should prevent. The English language was thus used as a means of
conquest, with the aim being trade and political power (Krishnaswamy 2006: 13).
The second important phase for the spread of English in India was marked by the
demand of a small group of Indians to study English in addition to Persian or Arabic
(Kachru 1983: 21). This movement had prominent Indian supporters such as the Indian
scholar Raja Rammohun Roy, who wanted to improve the ancient system of learning by

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joining it with modern Western knowledge (Krishnaswamy 2006: 20). Roy harshly
criticized the Indian system, for example, when he wrote in 1823 in a letter to the
Governor General, Lord Amherst, that the Indian system of education “could keep the
country only in darkness” (Agnihotri & Khanna 1995: 17). Krishnaswamy (2006: 21-
22) however emphasizes that Roy only wanted a reform of the Indian system of learning
and did not prefer the introduction of English as the medium of instruction.
Nevertheless, Roy’s criticism was used in promoting the English language in India
(Krishnaswamy 2006:22).
The so-called Oriental-Anglicist controversy over which educational policy to use in
India initiated the third phase of the Government Policy, which started after 1765 when
the East India Company stabilized its authority (Kachru 1983: 68). At that time, the
views about educating Indians in English were divided. On the one hand, there was the
Anglicist group, represented by Macaulay, which was in favour of English. On the other
hand, there was the Orientalist group that was not very strong and against English as a
compulsory language but this resistance could not prevent the passing of Macaulay’s
Minute (Kachru 1983: 68).
In the Minute, Macaulay, who served on the Supreme Council in India, very clearly
expressed the aim of English education in India, which was to form [...] a class who
may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern, a class of persons,
Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinion, in morals and intellect.
(Selections from Educational Records 1781-1839: 116 in Kachru 1983: 68)
On 7 March 1835, Lord William Bentinck, the Governor General of India, had
approved Macaulay’s Minute and an official resolution endorsing Macaulay’s policy
was passed (Kachru 1983: 68). The Minute on Indian Education declared that the native
population should be educated through the English medium (Mehrotra 1998: 4) and
Macaulay’s resolution formed the “cornerstone of the implementation of a language
policy in India” (Kachru 1983: 68).
In the following years, English in India gradually increased and gained more weight in
the educational system of India. It was made the official language of the Government
and of education in 1837 (Krishnaswamy 2006: 43; 46). At that time many English
schools or schools which used English beside Indian languages were established
(Krishnaswamy 2006: 56). In 1857, the first universities were founded in Bombay,

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Calcutta and Madras and later also the Punjab and Allahabad universities (Kachru 1983:
22).
However, Krishnaswamy (2006: 45) reports that English as the medium of instruction
and the Western system of education envisaged considerable resistance. The plan of
Macaulay only aimed at English education for the classes in urban areas and not for the
masses of rural India (Krishnaswamy 2006: 45-47). They simply followed the
indigenous systems and remained untouched by English (ibid).
Macaulay’s confident assertions may be proven fallacious, illogical, and even ridiculous
today, but, ironically, his prediction turned out to be true. English is the most coveted
and the most popular medium of education in urban India. The hegemony of English
language and literature is directly linked with the forces of globalization and
polarization of powers – both military and monetary. As far as India is concerned,
English happens to be the passport for securing gainful employment in the private
sector. Thus, it acts as it did nearly two centuries ago, as is mentioned in that much
detested and debated about document. Even poor people send their children to English
medium schools in hope that learning English would definitely enhance their
employability and will finally help in moving up from the social stratum they belong to.
The same motivation was working exactly in the same manner in Macaulay’s time too.
The language of power was creating market and learners at a very fast pace; just as it
had done in past after the Muslim invasion and expansion in India. Macaulay had very
incisively opined about the market demand for his language and its eventual spread in
India: “Nothing is more certain than that it never can in any part of the world be
necessary to pay men for doing what they think pleasant or profitable” (Minute by
the Hon'ble T. B. Macaulay, dated the 2nd February 1835). He had ample support
favouring English against the classical languages of learning.
Analysing Macaulay’s premises, assumptions and claims leads one to a coherent and
distinct attitude he had towards life and humanity. He appears to have a firm faith in the
superiority of the West over the East – aesthetically and intellectually, arising implicitly
out of its geopolitical superiority. He may have been proven wrong about the
geopolitical and temporal strength and extent of the Empire, but he was accurate about
the predictions he made regarding the strength and future of the linguistic entity called
the Empire of English language. Two hundred years after the Minute was written
Randolph Quirk (1985) expressed a similar confidence in the future and power of his

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language: “a language – the language – on which the sun does not set, whose users
never sleep”. It is this very empire of English language of which South Asia is a part.
Most of the erstwhile British colonies in South Asia, English stayed there, even after the
Empire was done away with. It has now taken roots that have gone too deep to be
uprooted in near future. Macaulay’s aim of creating an intermediary class was fulfilled.
He did not know it fully that his prophesy would come true one day, especially when he
was mentioning the future of English language in the world.
These two historical documents (Macaulay’s Minute and the Vernacular Dispatch)
clearly show the double tension which is at work, right from the beginning, in the
language policy of the British domination: the diffusion of English aims at fabricating
this class of intermediaries between dominants and dominates which Macaulay was
dreaming of (a tool for collaboration), but it is also the vehicle for the progressive
ideology which favours mass education and is praised for that by the reformists. English
is the language of the elite, but it is also the vehicle for such notions as social progress
and mass education. On the other hand, the education of the masses, which Macaulay
does seem to care of, can only be achieved through the vernacular languages, and even,
as is very clear from the 1854 Dispatch, in their local variety – not in the learned speech
such as high Hindi or Urdu which already differ from oral speech by their sanksritized
or persianized lexicon respectively. The same is true for all other regional languages,
which have a high learned speech far enough from the spoken language not to be
understood by children from underprivileged backgrounds or living in villages where
the local dialect is quite distinct from the regional language.
The desirable balance could indeed never be achieved, and the “combination”
advocated by the 1854 Dispatch between English (the means for accessing power) and
vernacular languages in their local “district” form could never be implemented. In
reality, the introduction of English in the academic curricula was accompanied by a
growing neglect of the vernacular languages, and similarly, the emphasis on the so-
called vernaculars was translated into an elimination of the languages of the people: the
real evolution was a process of disprivileging folk languages.
English in India today is a symbol of people’s aspirations for quality in education and
fuller participation in national and international life ... The level of introduction of
English has now become a matter of political response to people’s aspirations,

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rendering almost irrelevant an academic debate on the merits of a very early
introduction. (NCERT 2006:1).

THE ROLE AND PLACE OF ENGLISH

English was perceived as a library language during the formative years of India’s
independence; indeed at one point there was a proposal that Hindi should be given fully
fledged official language status and that English should be abolished from public use.
However, having been granted ‘associate official language’ status (though it is still not a
language listed in the eighth schedule of the Indian constitution), English continued to
dominate higher education. Increasingly, it has been spreading its wings and is moving
into school education.
This study ‘Language policy in education and the role of English in India: From
library language to language of empowerment’ by Ramanujam Meganathan (2011)
has found that:
• 75 different languages are used in India’s education system.
• 31 different languages are used as media of instruction; this is approximately half
the number of languages that were being used for this purpose in the 1980s.
• English is taught somewhere in the curriculum of all the 32 states and Union
Territories which provided data for the survey reported here. Only Hindi is taught in
as many states.
• The percentage of schools teaching English as a ‘first language’ doubled between
1993 and 2002 from five per cent to ten per cent in primary schools and from seven
per cent to 13 per cent in upper primary schools.
• English is offered as a second language by more states than any other language.
• 33 of 35 states claim to offer English as a medium of instruction; this is more than
any other language.
• Between 1993 and 2002 there was an increase in the proportion of schools offering
English as a medium of instruction; the sharpest increase (from five per cent to 13
per cent) occurred in primary schools.
• By 2002, more than a quarter of all secondary schools were offering English as a
medium of instruction.

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• English is offered as a second language in 19 states, of which 16 introduce it in
Class I, one in Class III and two as late as Class V.

The British Government was, however, the principal agent in disseminating modern
education in India. It established a network of schools and colleges in India which
turned out educated Indians well-versed in modern knowledge.
The introduction of modern education in India was primarily motivated by politico-
administrative and economic needs of Britain in India. However, they were convinced
that the spread of British culture would bring about a social and political unification of
the world. The third powerful force spreading modern education in India comprised
enlightened Indians. Persons like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Keshab Chandra Sen,
Rabindra Nath Tagore, Ishwar Chander Vidyasagar, Ranade, Dayanand Saraswati,
Ramakrishna Vivekanand, etc. worked towards the establishment of modern education.
Modern education had fundamentally different orientation and organization as
compared to traditional education. Thus, with the introduction of the Western system of
education both the meaning and content of education underwent significant changes.
Modern education was also the medium for spread of modern science and ideas of
equality and liberty. It becomes less religious. Besides, many new branches of learning
were introduced. The printing press revolutionized the educational system in that the
emphasis shifted from personal, oral communication to impersonal communication of
idea through books, journals and other media. It brought the sacred scripture within the
reach of many castes who had not been allowed by custom to read them. Modern
education was gradually thrown by custom to read them. Modern education was
gradually thrown open to all castes, religious groups and to women. Education became
the basis of exploiting new economic opportunities which were to a large extent caste-
free. Education opportunities helped one to acquire the necessary skills outside caste.
Occupations thus become a relatively independent element.
Language policy in India has adapted itself to the changing demands and aspirations of
people over the period of time from 1947 to the present. Change has occurred on many
counts. Firstly, the question of a national language – which was wisely addressed during
the formative years of independence by not declaring any language as the national
language – has now been permanently settled. The existence of English in India means
that it is no longer necessary to consider the issue of a national language. In other

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words, India does not need a national language since there is no function which a
national language might play that are not already fulfilled in some other way. The
beneficiaries of this de facto policy are the indigenous Indian languages in the regions
where they prevail; if any additional function were to be required then it could be
satisfied by bringing in English.
In a way an associate official language, English knowingly or unknowingly has played
an instrumental role in maintaining the diversity of India’s language scene because the
existence of English has meant that it has not been necessary to select any one Indian
languages as a national language. In fact, the states which used to rally to slogans such
as angriji hatao (remove English) are now eagerly introducing English in the first year
of schooling.
English today is almost a compulsory second language. Once deprived sections of the
society now perceive the language as an instrument for progress. The recent news of a
temple for English language in a village in the Hindi heartland (Pandey 2011) tells the
thing.
However, the public’s demands are not being met meaningfully. Most schools in the
country do not have the facilities and proficient teachers needed to cater to the demand.
As mentioned above, meaningful language education requires teachers who are skilled
and knowledgeable as well as contextualised materials (print and others). But an
enabling English language environment in the school also needs to be ensured. The
most important of these three prerequisites is the English teacher, but the English
language proficiency of English language teachers in quite a number of schools is
questionable. Consequently, teacher education is one major area which needs drastic
changes if quality teachers are to become available. Materials development (particularly
textbooks) for the teaching and learning of English has not yet been professionalised.
On the contrary, materials development has been commercialised to the extent that
India now has thousands of publishers who publish English language textbooks. An
enabling English language environment also cannot be created overnight. Learners need
to experience appropriate input so that they can become engaged with the language, but
a language teacher who himself or herself does not possess the required proficiency
cannot create such an environment. Children need to feel the language in the air in
school because, for the vast majority of children, English is not available outside school.

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The creation of such an enabling environment has to be encouraged through curricular
and other activities in and outside school.
It is better to have English taught as a subject rather than impose a bad English medium
education. Equipping English language education with the essentials in the native
medium schools would benefit learning in general and language learning in particular.
But converting schools to become English medium without proper support would be
detrimental and counterproductive. Schools can be developed as multimedia schools
where both the content subjects and the language are taught and learnt well in a
complementary and supplementary manner. A ‘language across the curriculum’
perspective and a strategy of multilingualism (NCERT 2005) would be of benefit on
many counts. The centrality of language in learning needs to be recognised. English,
then, can play a vital role as a language of mutual benefit – benefiting Indian languages
as well as itself – and so enriching education as a whole.

FOLLOWING ARE THE DEFECTS OF ENGLISH EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM:

1. The Promoters of the System had no Intention to do any Good to the Indian
People

Having assessed the utility and the efforts of the English educational system, we have
now to consider its defects. The English system was introduced in India at a time when
the country was under political serfdom and the relation between the English and the
Indian people was that of the ruler and the ruled.
It would not at all be wrong to affirm that the British never tried for the progress and
advancement of Indians from that point of view which they would have adopted for
their own country. The English system of education did not produce any direct or
ostensible benefit; in fact, it proved beneficial only indirectly.
Form the view point of quantitative development of education, we find that during the
last 150 years this system could give education only to 15 per cent of the country's
population this figure stands no comparison with those of other countries.
The Charter to the Company in 1813, and the Dispatch of 1854 have to be referred to in
this context. On a perusal of these we find that the aim of education adumbrated in these
was to produce competent and loyal clerks for the Company and the propagation of

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western knowledge to expect any good to the individual, society and nation from an
educational system with such a narrow outlook is hoping against hope.
We can, therefore, say that the English system simply nourished British imperialism and
it was not introduced with any idea of the good for the people.
All the benefit that accrued there from was the indirect result of the weakness inherent
in the system. It was due to these facts that this education did not prove advantageous to
the Indians from the point of view of quantitative or qualitative development or even the
prosperity of the country.

2. The Educational System Contrary to the Requirements of the Indians

That educational system can be called suitable which helps in all-round development of
the individual, the society and the nation.
Some critics think that from this point of view the English system was useless, and this
again, was the reason why the people did not adopt it.
There was no room for the spirit of self-reliance in this system. Most of the British
rulers thought that the education which inculcated the spirit of self-reliance would
create in the Indians the feeling of independence and liberty and they tingled with awe
at the much thought.
Their object was to keep India in their clutches in order to destroy its accumulated
glory, to plunder its wealth and thus to show off to other countries of the world their
own glory and prosperity. Their educational system catered to this.

3. Wrong Methods of the Implementation of the English System

The ideals of English education system were undoubtedly nefarious but along with this
the methods adopted for its dissemination were also bad. As a result of its propagation
of old schools like Vidyapith, Pathshala, Madarsas and Maktabs which catered to the
needs of the Indians were destroyed root and branch.
Another serious defect was the downward filtration theory which unnecessarily
prolonged the period of education. Consequently, this system of education could not be
widely propagated and it remained confined to a particular class.
In this system English was made the medium at the cost of the Indian languages. It
proved useful at the university level, but it became an unnecessary burden on the

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immature minds of the students of lower classes. Consequently, other languages became
the scapegoat of English and the opportunities were also rare for acquiring new
knowledge.

4. British Education Created a Gulf between the Educated and Uneducated and
between the Old and the New

Another serious defect of the system was that it had the same ideals for its
'implementation in India as it had for England irrespective of the fact that there was a
world of difference between the social, economic, floral and cultural conditions of the
two countries. Hence this system of education could not prove beneficial to India.
The main reason behind the indifference of the British towards e Indian condition was
their intense dislike or hatred for India and they were undoubtedly wrong, yet they were
after all the land.
This very feeling proved later on the cause of their own going away from India, but
even before the awakening of India, it produced a class of Anglo-Indians who were
English in ways of living but were Indians to all intents and purposes.
Thus this system, instead of bringing about synthesis of Eastern and Western culture,
created a wide gulf between the education and the uneducated, and the old and the new.
If, on the contrary, Eastern spiritualism and Western materialism could have been
synthesised with the practical sense of England and the spirit of detachment of the East,
respectively, ways of a new knowledge would have retired in the world.

5. The English Educational System did not inspire any Reconstruction

Being Government-centred, English education was adopted by the wealthy classes only.
It was overridden by the administrative machinery and as such the commonality could
not adopt it.
This educational system also worked on the principle of 'divide and rule' so much so
that it ostensibly aimed at the splitting up of the Indian nation.
Hence this system was totally devoid of the feelings of reform and reconstruction and it
remained incapable of turning out good citizens for the country and the society as a
whole. In this way, it simply helped in the consolidation of the British rule and had no
concern for the reconstruction of the country.

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It was difficult to draw from this system any inspiration for reconstruction, nevertheless
some sparks were ignited by this very system and these later on flared up into a
conflagration.

6. Neglect of Education by the Administrative Centers

Education department was not given much regard and attention during the British rule
and the emoluments of the officers of this department were lesser than those of other
departments.
It was due to this that Englishmen of low calibre were appointed on these posts from
whom no help in the progress of education could be expected.
This department was put under the control of a minister who did the work of his
department during his leisure hours in a very careless and casual manner thus the
education of the Indians continued to be overlooked and neglected during the British
regime.
There were also some competent and capable persons like Grant, Michael, and Sadler
but apart from these there was no other officer in the department who could manage the
work efficiently. This was the reason why the education department could not get the
co-operation of others.

7. Different Policies were followed by Different Officers

The British Government did not give necessary attention to organizing Indian education
in a good manner and no well planned scheme could be formulated for its
implementation and dissemination. Different policies were adopted and followed
according to the whims of the different officers.
After the transfer of one officer the other one adopted his own methods. Due to these
recurring changes in the policies and methods of the department the education of India
could not make any progress, nay it declined day by day.
English Education and Nationalism-The most important of these factors was perhaps
the spread of English education. Even from the time that the East India Company
established itself in India their Directors found the need to have some Indians with
knowledge of English. Lord Macaulay was responsible for introducing English
education in India. His purpose was two folds. The first was to secure a cheap supply of

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Indians knowing English to serve the British Government in India. Secondly, he also
thought that western education would foster among the educated Indians as sense of
loyalty towards English rule in India and also result in the spread of English culture in
India .Though these objectives were served to some extent; it also helped the growth of
India nationalism as explained below. English education spread in India fairly well. For,
it gave opportunities to youth to enter government service and also the new professions
of law, teaching and medicine. At the same time, knowledge of English also helped
Indians to read about the works of political thinkers of Europe. These thinkers strongly
wrote about liberty, equality, fraternity, democracy, self-determination and national
freedom. Indians also read about how people of England itself fought for democratic
rights and won them. The history of the French Revolution inspired them too. The
history of modern Europe they read was the history of the formation of national and
democratic states.
Reading through English all the above works, brought about a profound intellectual
transformation in India. Many educated Indians began to say that India also must have
independence. English language also promoted communication as between people of
different regions of India. It helped to cut across the linguistic barriers and served as a
lingua France-a common all- India language for people speaking different language in
the country.
Since her independence in 1947, the disagreement over the ideal language policy has
periodically resurfaced both in the national political arena and at the primary school
level. While Hindi is recognized as the official national language by the Constitution of
India, English has continued to be the primary medium of communication in most white
collar jobs. The debate over promoting indigenous languages versus English in schools
was further fuelled in recent times by the expansion of high-skilled export jobs
following increasing integration of India with the world economy. If English skills are
indeed at a premium, then excluding them from public schools will limit the access to
English skills to those who can afford private schools and private coaching thereby
reducing economic opportunities for the poor. From a public policy perspective, it
would mean a rethinking of previous policies which might have lost their initial
relevance in the age of globalization.
Education in modern India gained a whole new facet with the promotion of western
education in India, which almost inevitably started with the coming of the British. The

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British employed the strategy of emotional and intellectual colonisation in India, to
consolidate the political immigration. It was the affinity of the elite section of Indian
society to English culture, ideology and education, which facilitated the British to
psychologically harness the nation`s outward mindset. The British wanted the malleable
Indians to learn, speak and believe English and become shadows of Englishmen.
India saw the rising of various government universities at Bombay (Mumbai), Calcutta
(Kolkata) and Madras (Chennai). Apart from the Indian Universities and Governmental
colleges, several Non-Government and Private schools were also established by
Western Christian missions, to provide opportunities for elementary education. Women
education became prevalent with the advent of the British and different Women`s
colleges were founded and Female education in British India flourished. Education in
Modern India emerged gradually from the prevailing medieval period education. The
curriculum in private girls` schools ranged from the Urdu, Persian, writing, arithmetic,
needlework, and Islamic studies of Punjabi. Moreover English language became the
medium of instruction because it was believed that English language would make
Indians capable of receiving knowledge across international borders.
The success of this 'Indian Education Policy' can perhaps be measured, by the content of
the recent address of Dr Manmohan Singh (2005)the Prime Minister of India:
Of all the legacies of the Raj, none is more important than the English language and the
modern school system. That is, of course, if you leave out cricket! Of course, people
here may not recognise the language we speak, but let me assure you that it is English!
In indigenising English, as so many people have done in so many nations across the
world, we have made the language our own. Our choice of prepositions may not always
be the Queen’s English; we might occasionally split the infinitive; and we may drop an
article here and add an extra one there. I am sure everyone will agree, Nevertheless,
that English has been enriched by Indian creativity as well and we have given you back
R.K. Narayan and Salman Rushdie. Today, English in India is seen as just another
Indian language.
Contemplating on the new system which was introduced Mahatma Gandhi expressed
his anguish in following words, "I say without fear of my figures being challenged
successfully, that today India is more illiterate than it was fifty or a hundred years ago,
and so is Burma, because the British administrators, when they came to India, instead of
taking hold of things as they were, began to root them out. They scratched the soil and

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began to look at the root, and left the root like that, and the beautiful tree perished. The
village schools were not good enough for the British administrator, so he came out with
his program. Every school must have so much paraphernalia, building, and so forth.
Well, there were no such schools at all. There are statistics left by a British
administrator which show that, in places where they have carried out a survey, ancient
schools have gone by the board, because there was no recognition for these schools, and
the schools established after the European pattern were too expensive for the people,
and therefore they could not possibly overtake the thing. I defy anybody to fulfill a
program of compulsory primary education of these masses inside of a century. This
very poor country of mine is ill able to sustain such an expensive method of education.
Our state would revive the old village schoolmaster and dot every village with a school
both for boys and girls.
Jawaharlal Nehru was a passionate advocate of education for India's children and youth,
believing it essential for India's future progress. His government oversaw the
establishment of many institutions of higher learning, including the All India Institute of
Medical Sciences, the Indian Institutes of Technology, the Indian Institutes of
Management and the National Institutes of Technology. Nehru also outlined a
commitment in his five-year plans to guarantee free and compulsory primary education
to all of India's children. For this purpose, Nehru oversaw the creation of mass village
enrolment programmes and the construction of thousands of schools. Nehru also
launched initiatives such as the provision of free milk and meals to children in order to
fight malnutrition. Adult education centres, vocational and technical schools were also
organised for adults, especially in the rural areas.
Nehru led the faction of the Congress party which promoted Hindi as the ligua-franca of
the Indian nation. After an exhaustive and divisive debate with the non-Hindi speakers,
Hindi was adopted as the official language of India in 1950 with English continuing as
an associate official language for a period of fifteen years, after which Hindi would
become the sole official language. Efforts by the Indian Government to make Hindi the
sole official language after 1965 were not acceptable to many non-Hindi Indian states,
who wanted the continued use of English. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), a
descendant of Dravidar Kazhagam, led the opposition to Hindi. To allay their fears,
Nehru enacted the Official Languages Act in 1963 to ensure the continuing use of
English beyond 1965. The text of the Act did not satisfy the DMK and increased their

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scepticism that his assurances might not be honoured by future administrations. The
issue was resolved during the premiership of Lal Bahadur Shastri, who under great
pressure from Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, was made to give assurances that
English would continue to be used as the official language as long the non-Hindi
speaking states wanted. The Official Languages Act was eventually amended in 1967
by the Congress Government headed by Indira Gandhi to guarantee the indefinite use of
Hindi and English as official languages. This effectively ensured the current "virtual
indefinite policy of bilingualism" of the Indian Republic.
With the drawn of independence a controversy began about the place, importance and
study of English. People like C. Rajagopalachari favored its retention at this place.
However, there were persons who under the influence of nationalism. They argued that
English being a foreign language was responsible for a very great waste of student's
time and energy. They declared that students could learn and express their ideas more
easily in their mother tongue. What the nationalists said had some reason in it. In free
India, English could not be allowed to occupy the position of privilege. All the persons
acknowledged this. Consequently, it was decided that regional languages should be
developed and that Hindi should replace English. Nothing can be said against these
things. Independent India must have its own national language.

4.3 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Steps taken by the British to Introduce Western Education in India

* 1784A.D.Asiatic society of Bengal was founded by sir .William Jones this society
started several English Schools and Colleges.
* The missionaries started Wilson College at Bombay, Christian College at
Madras, S t , a n d J o h n ’ s C o l l e g e a t Agra.
* Progressive Indians like Raja ram Mohan Roy also started colleges
where English was taught.
* Charter act of 1813A.D. paved way for setting aside 1 lakh of rupees for
promoting the knowledge of modern sciences.
* But sadly this money was not used for many years and there was a controversy about
the medium of learning.

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* Between 1828 and 1835A. D . W i l l i a m B e n t i n c k along with Lord
Macaulay and Raja ram Mohan Roy encouraged English learning .
* Lord Harding decided that only Indians with English knowledge will be
appointed in government jobs.
* Charles Woods despatch-1854A.D. enabled educational departments to be
established in every province and universities were opened in Calcutta,
Bombay and Madras in 1857A.D. and at least one government school in each
district.
* The Raj, often working with local philanthropists, opened 186 universities and
colleges of higher education by 1911; they enrolled 36,000students. By
1939 the number of institutions had doubled and enrollment reached
145,000.
* The curriculum followed classical British standards of the sort set by
Oxford and Cambridge and stressed English literature and European history.
* Nevertheless by the 1920s the student bodies had become hotbeds of
Indian nationalism.

EDUCATION IN THE POST INDEPENDENCE ERA

¾ After independence, education became the responsibility of the states.

¾ The Central Government's only obligation was to co-ordinate in technical and
higher education and specify standards.
¾ This continued till 1976, when the education became a joint responsibility of the
state and the Centre.
¾ Education in India falls under the control of both the Union Government and the
states, with some responsibilities lying with the Union and the states having autonomy
for others.
¾ The various articles of the Indian Constitution provide for education as a
fundamental right. Most universities in India are controlled by the Union or the
State Government.
¾ India has made progress in terms of increasing primary education attendance rate
and expanding literacy to approximately two thirds of the population.

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¾ India's improved education system is often cited as one of the main contributors
to the economic rise of India.
¾ Much of the progress especially in Higher education, Scientific research has
been credited to various public institutions.

Macaulayism defines today’s India because today our people are taught to think and
behave exactly what people were taught during the British Raj. Our basic education
process centers around rote learning from day zero and is incredibly close-minded,
where the textbook-creators and myopic, ego-encrusted fossils that are teachers and
professors decide what and how students they should learn think. Creativity, innovation,
talent, free thinking, idea generation, out-of-the-box thinking, intelligence display and
World-changing stuff are not just discouraged but are absolutely killed, making sure no
great minds come out of our classrooms. This is because the last thing Macaulay, the
East India Company and later the British Empire wanted was a bunch of creative, free
thinking Indians coming out of their education system and propelling our country to
glory. And we continue those policies today as they are. We are taught that talent has no
place in our society and we are meant to “do jobs” and not create jobs. Think of it.
Since we were little kids, it was always hammered into our heads that we have to grow
up and get jobs and work our entire life to become “good people”. Has any one of your
middle class parents told you: “Study well so that once when you grow up you will be
able to start a great company that will change the course of human history”?

All that we “learn” from our Macaulayized system of rote-learning does nothing to help
us how to think, act, look at things rationally, make informed decisions in life and so on.
We are never taught how to be proud of our own selves, our people, languages and
heritage, we are never taught to value the “good karma” or being honest, polite, sincere,
punctual, helpful, disciplined or cultured. We are also never taught to apply common
sense to make decisions or the importance of civic sense. In fact, we are taught
everything EXCEPT what is actually needed. Children in more civilized countries are
“taught” from the smallest age the value of discipline, order, politeness, honesty and
other such values. They are taught how to behave in public, to respect and value others’
time, space and money, to be proud of themselves and even little things like not to litter,
wish others “Good Morning”, cross only at green and so on. This is visible in their

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societies, while we are only taught to mug up answers to stupid questions on pointless
subjects and vomit them on answer sheets to “earn marks and grades” which will
ultimately result in us earning useless degrees which will somehow help us to “become
big in life”.
The main aim of English education was to prepare Indians for government jobs. The
response to English education therefore was on predictable caste lines. For the upper
castes that had traditionally depended on government jobs and patronage, English was
the new bread-and-butter language in place of Persian; they therefore filled the new
class-rooms with alacrity.
So, how relevant is Macaulay today? Well, there’s no denying that in those short 4
years, he changed the destiny of hundreds of millions of Indians for centuries to
come. Macaulay wanted to create “a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but
English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect” (Macaulay) and he certainly
succeeded in that. India is a country that prides itself in its unity in diversity – diverse
food, clothing, languages, rituals and culture, yet there is that basic Indian culture and
value system that binds us all together. And today, whether we like it or not, we have a
common language in the form of “Indian English”. Most educated Indians are as fluent
(and sometimes more so) in English as they are in their mother tongue and it is a
pleasure to hear them as they switch languages in a conversation, within a sentence
naturally and gracefully.

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