CBSE Class 8 History Chapter 7 Notes - Civilising the Native, Educating the Nation

In the year 1783, a linguist named Wiliam Jones was made the judge of the Supreme Court that was set up by the Company. He then started the study of different Indian values and customs on religion, law, philosophy, and much more.

Englishmen were also pretty busy trying to figure out different facts about Indian heritage and discover new Indian languages such as Sanskrit and much more.

In 1781, there was a Madrasa set up in order to promote the study of Persian, Arabic, and some other Islamic law. The Madrasa was set up in Calcutta. There are some more details about it in the NCERT Notes for Class 8 Social Science History Chapter 7.

With the establishment of Hindu College in the year 1791, there was a new era of practising ancient Sanskrit which could be further used for administration purposes.

Errors Made by The East

There was a lot of criticism by the British Official for the Orientalist versions of education. So, they raised some questions about the Eastern method of knowledge gathering. This was because of the light-hearted and non-serious nature of knowledge in the East.

One of the critics of the Orientalists method of learning was Thomas Babington Macaulay. He considered India to be completely uncivilized and pushed for civilization more. He also made emphasis on the teaching of the English language. Due to his actions, the English Education Act of 1835 came into existence.

The Fate of Local Schools

For understanding the progress made by education methods in vernacular schools, a Scottish missionary by the name of William Adam toured along with the locations of Bihar and Bengal in the 1830s.

He found that there was an establishment of a very flexible education system in the local schools. Mostly called “pathshalas”, these local schools had no fees for the students and there were no books as well. The students also didn’t have school buildings and had to study in the open with the lack of chairs and benches. Not to mention that there were no registers for roll-calls, no separate rooms for classes, no blackboards, and most importantly no examinations. The classes would be held by a teacher under some tree in the centre or the corner of the village. Students can have a look at the Class 8 History Chapter 7 notes for more information.

The process of teaching was completely oral and the local guru would be the one to decide what would be taught that day. 

The Establishment of New Education Rules

After the year 1854, East India Company decided that there would be an improvement in the system of local education. So, the order was introduced with the addition of more routines, rules, and some inspections.

There were innumerable government pundits appointed by the Company. These people would be in charge of taking care of about 4-5 different schools.

Most textbooks and learning methods were introduced to increase the scope and betterment of teaching. Students also were asked to pay a certain amount of fee to continue with their education and attend some general classes regularly.

The Importance of National Education

Most of the Indians who were impressed with certain developments that were made by the invasion of Europe's education methods would help them in modernizing India in the best way.

There was a huge investment of capital in order to establish better colleges, schools as well as universities. However, with that in tow, Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi reacted against these tactics of Western Education.

Mahatma Gandhi said that the imparting of colonial education would only result in the increase of inferiority in several young minds and hence should be cancelled. He wanted to have an education system that would be of help to Indians who wanted their dignity and sense of pride back.

The Introduction of Shantiniketan: The Abode of Peace by Tagore

In 1901, Shantiniketan was started by Rabindranath Tagore. As a little child, Tagore didn’t like the idea of going to school. He considered the place as a jail or a prison.

The idea to set up a space for children where they could pretty much do anything that they wanted and be happy came from that realization.

Also, Tagore wanted to push the need for teaching the kids about technology and science in the Abode of Peace. Also, Art and music became a very integral part of Shantiniketan. Students can find more details in the NCERT notes for Class 8 Social Science History Chapter 7.