Question

English was made medium of higher education by
A) Lord Mayo
B) Lord Chelmsford
C) Lord Rippon
D) Lord Bentinck

Answer 1

Hint: The English Education Act 1835 was a statutory act. It was approved by the British East India Corporation by the Council of India to reallocate funds that the British Parliament needed to spend on education and literature in India.

Complete answer: Let us go through the options-
Option A- A statesman, Viceroy of India and influential member of the British Conservative Party from Dublin, Ireland, Lord Mayo was in India. This option is incorrect.
Option B- A British statesman who served as the Governor of Queensland was Frederic John Napier Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford. From 1861 until the year before his death, George Frederick Samuel Robinson. This option is incorrect.
Option C- 1st Marquess of Ripon, was a British politician who served in every Liberal cabinet.
Option D- The legislative act of the English Language Education Act of 1835 was a decision taken by Lord Willam Bentinck, already Governor-General of the British East India Company, to redistribute funds that the British Parliament wanted to spend in India on education and literature.
Previously, traditional Muslim and Hindu education had been limitedly funded and the publishing of literature in India's then traditional languages of learning was henceforth intended to support institutions teaching A Western program with the working language being English. This gradually led to English becoming one of India's languages, rather than merely the native language of its foreign rulers, along with other initiatives promoting English as the language of government and the higher courts of law (instead of Persian, as under the Mughal Empire). A British soldier and statesman, he was known as Lord William Bentinck. In India, he was credited with major social and educational reforms, including the abolition of sati, the suppression of female infanticide and human sacrifice. After passing the English Education Act 1835, Bentinck made English the medium of instruction.
This option is the correct answer.
Therefore, option D is correct.

Note: In 1839, Bentinck succeeded Lord Auckland as Governor-General, and Macaulay returned to England. Without continuing to run down traditional Oriental colleges, Auckland managed to find enough funds to support the English Colleges founded by the Bentinck Act.