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Notes CH 8 History

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51 views8 pages

Notes CH 8 History

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rishavkumar02250
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Notes

Chapter – 08 History
Civilising the ‘Native’ Educating the Nation

 British rule affected Rajas and Nawabs, peasants and


tribals.

British felt that they had a cultural mission, they had to


‘civilise the natives’, change their customs and values.

How the British saw Education-The Tradition of Orientation:

(i) In 1783, William Jones a linguist, was appointed as a junior


judge at the Supreme Court that the company had set up. He
started studying ancient Indians text on law, philosophy,
religion, politics, morality, arithmetic, medicine and other
sciences.

(ii) Englishmen like Henry Thomas Colebrooke and Nathaniel


Halhed were busy discovering the ancient Indian heritage,
mastering Indian languages and translating Sanskrit and
Persian works into English.
(iii) A Madrasa was set up in Calcutta in 1781 to promote the
study of Arabic, Persian and Islamic law.
(iv) In 1791, the Hindu College was established in Benaras to
encourage the study of ancient Sanskrit texts that would be
useful for the administration of the country.

 Grave Errors of the East:

(i) In early 19th century many British officials began to


criticize the Orientalist version of learning. They said that
knowledge of the East was full of errors & unscientific
thought.
(ii) Eastern literature was non-serious & light-hearted.

(iii) James Mill was one of those who attacked the


Orientalists. According to him, the aim of education ought to
be teach what was useful and practical. So, Indians should be
made familiar with the scientific and technical advances that
the West had made, rather than with the poetry and sacred
literature of the Orient.

(iv) Thomas Babington Macaulay, another critic of


Orientalists, saw India as an uncivilized country that needed
to be civilized. He emphasized the need to teach the English
language. Following Macaulay’s minute, the English
Education Act of 1835 was introduced.

(vi) A decision was taken to make English the medium of


instruction for higher education and to stop the promotion of
Oriental institutions.

 Education for Commerce:


(i) In 1854, Wood’s Despatch, an educational dispatch, was
sent to India. Outlining the educational policy that was to be
followed in India. It emphasized on the practical benefits of
the system of European learning.
(ii) Wood’s Despatch argued that European learning would
improve the moral character of Indians and make them
truthful and honest and thus supply the company with civil
servants who could be trusted and depended upon.
(iii) Following the 1854 Despatch, several measures were
introduced by the British. Steps were taken to establish a
system of university education. Attempts were also made to
bring about changes within the system of school education.

 What happened to the Local Schools?


(i) In the 1830s William Adam, a Scottish missionary toured
the districts of Bengal and Bihar and was given charge by the
company. To give report on the progress of education in
vernacular schools.
(ii) Adam found that the system of education was flexible and
local schools were known as pathshalas.
(iii) There were no fixed fee, no printed books, no separate
school building, no benches or chairs, no blackboards, no
system of separate classes, no roll-call registers, no annual
examinations and no regular time-table. Fee depended on
the income of parents: the rich had to pay more than the
poor.

(iv) Classes were usually held under a Banyan tree or in the


corner of a village shop, in temple or at the guru's home.

(v) Teaching process was oral and the guru decided what to
teach, in accordance with the needs of the students.

(vi) The guru interacted separately with groups of children


with different levels of learning.

 New Routines, New Rules:


(i) After 1854 the company decided to improve the system of
vernacular education by introducing order within the system,
imposing routines, establishing rules, ensuring regular
inspections.

(ii) Company appointed a number of governments pandits


each in charge of looking after four to five schools.

(iii) Teaching was now to be based on textbooks and learning


was to be tested through a system of annual examination.

(iv) Students to pay a regular fee, asked to attend regular


classes, sit on fixed seats and obey the new rules of
discipline.

(v) Those Pathshalas which accepted the new rules were


supported through government grants.

(vi) New rules had some consequences; students have to


attend school regularly even during harvest time. Inability to
attend school seen as indiscipline and as evidence of the lack
of desire to learn.
 The Agenda for a National Education:

(i) Some Indians impressed with the development in Europe


felt that western education would help to modernize India.

(ii) Huge capital was invested on education; to establish more


schools, colleges & universities.

(iii) Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore reacted


against western education.

 English Education has enslaved us:

(i) Mahatma Gandhi urged that colonial education created a


sense of inferiority in the minds of Indians. It was sinful and it
enslaved Indians, it cast an evil spell on them. Moreover, it
destroyed the pride Indians had in their own culture.

(ii) Mahatma Gandhi wanted an education that could help


Indians to recover their sense of dignity and self-respect.
(iii) According to Mahatma Gandhi, Indian languages ought to
be medium of teaching and the means to develop a person’s
mind and soul.

(iv) Mahatma Gandhi on Western education said, " focussed


on reading & writing rather than oral knowledge; value
textbooks rather than practical knowledge".

 Tagore’s ‘Abode of Peace’:

(i) Rabindranath Tagore stated Shanti Niketan in 1901.


(ii) Tagore as a child hated going to school as he described
school as a prison. He said he could never do what he felt like
doing in school.
(iii) He wanted to set up schools where children were happy,
where they could be free and creative, where the child was
able to explore their own thoughts and desires. He felt that
childhood ought to be a time of self-learning.

(iv) He emphasized the need to teach Science and technology


at Shanti Niketan along with art, music and dance.
(v) According to him, creative learning be encouraged only
within a natural environment and hence set up his school 100
kilometres away from Calcutta in a rural setting. He saw it as
an "abode of peace" (shanti Niketan), where living in
harmony with nature, children could cultivate their natural
creativity.

 The difference between the educational views of


Mahatma Gandhi & Rabindranath Tagore

Mahatma Gandhi thought that the western education was


hampering the Indian culture. He also felt that the ideas of
western education could modernise the Indian people but
could not educate them.
Tagore wanted to combine the good aspects of it with the
Indian traditions. He recognised the importance of science
and technology and wanted to promote them along with art,
music and dance at Shanti Niketan.

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