Civilising the Native, Educating the Nation Class 8 Notes CBSE History Chapter 7 (Free PDF Download)

Views of the British on Indian Education: 

• In 1783, the Company founded the Supreme Court, and William Jones was appointed as a junior judge. Jones also had a second identity as a linguist. He mastered a wide range of languages, including Greek, Latin, French, English, Arabic, and Persian. He had also studied Sanskrit with the Pandits of Calcutta.

• He then went on to study ancient Indian writings on philosophy, law, politics, religion, morality, medicine, arithmetic, and a variety of other subjects. Jones found that several other British residents in Calcutta shared his enthusiasm.

• Jones had founded the Asiatic Society with the help of a few individuals and started a publication called "Asiatic Researches."

• Jones and his collaborators' major goal was to promote a specific attitude toward India. They both had a great deal of respect for one other's cultures.

• Jones and his colleagues attempted to decipher ancient Indian manuscripts.

• Many British officials were inspired by Jones' effort and began to represent Indian culture instead of Western culture. They agreed that studying Indian texts such as Sanskrit and Persian literature must be valued.

• In Benaras, a Hindu College was founded in 1791 to promote the study of ancient Sanskrit writings.

• The primary motivation for developing these disciplines was to improve India's governance.

“Grave Errors of the East”: 

• Since the early eighteenth century, British officials have been criticizing the East's expertise for a variety of bizarre reasons.

• Ancient Indian scriptures were discouraged from being studied.

• The British educationalists targeted the principal advocates of Indian ancient literature, introducing the Western educational culture throughout the country.

• The study of the English language was disseminated all over the country, and the major architect behind this was Macaulay.

• The English Education Act was adopted in the year 1835 based on Macaulay's minutes.

• The main goal of the English Education Act of 1835 was to make English the primary medium of instruction for higher education. Another goal was to downplay the significance of the Calcutta Madrasa and the Benaras Sanskrit College.

Education for Commerce: The Famous Wood’s Despatch: 

• In 1854, the East India Company's Court of Directors dispatched an educational despatch to London.

• Charles Wood issued the despatch, which became known as "Wood's despatch."

• It established India's core educational system by focusing on European learning.

• Wood's dispatch emphasized practical learning, such as the expansion of trade and commerce and the most efficient use of a country's resources.

• The main objective of Wood's despatch was to produce a trusted and "yes sir" type of civil servant based on the belief that European training will improve the moral character of Indian people.

• The Indian education system has been taken over by the government education sector.

• The universities of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras were founded during the Sepoy Mutiny.

Impact on Local Schools: 

• The Company engaged William Adam, a Scottish missionary, to assess the educational framework of the vernacular schools.

• It was discovered that there were at least 1 lakh pathshalas in the Bengal and Bihar regions in the past.

• In these pathshalas, around 20 lakh students were taught.

• In the pathshalas, there was a flexible schooling system in place. The pathshalas lacked a fixed price structure, printed literature, a separate school building, benches and chairs, blackboards, separate classes, roll call registers, and annual examinations.

• The country's flexible education system was based on the country's socio economic system.

• The objective was to impose routines, establish new standards, and conduct frequent inspections within the existing educational system.

• The East India Company appointed pandits to the government. Under each pandit, there were four to five pathshalas. The government pandits were in charge of enforcing the Company's laws and regulations.

• One of the system's drawbacks was that during harvest, children from low-income households were required to attend school. Any disobedience to the rules was considered indiscipline.

The Need for National Education: 

Apart from British authorities, there were numerous Indians from every nuke and corner of the country who understood the value of education. Some of them believed that western education would improve India's educational system. As a result, they asked the British to build more schools and colleges and invest more money to improve India's educational system. the second group of Indians was adamantly hostile to western education. Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore were the most notable among them.

• The colonial education system, according to Mahatma Gandhi, had instilled a sense of inferiority in the minds of students.

• The superiority of western education was consistently pushed by colonial education, neglecting Indian culture. Our pupils were unable to learn about our own culture since the institutions only taught them to follow British rules.

• As part of a boycott of the British educational system, students were asked to abandon British institutions.

• Another part of the demonstration was the use of the Indian language.

• Mahatma Gandhi was a great believer in using the Indian language as the medium of instruction, and a wave of protest erupted in the country when British education was boycotted.

• The Wood's Despatch, the Vernacular Act, and the so-called British institutions were all boycotted by the students.

Change of Education Policy: 

A new epoch of educational policy was born. Uniform National Education Policy was the name of the strategy, which was completely different from British policy.

• Rabindranath Tagore created Visva Bharati University in Santiniketan in 1901 as a direct result.

• The primary motivation for establishing the school was to enhance national education.

• During this time, several institutions were founded to expand the National Education Policy, as well as a substantial drive to promote women's education. Calcutta, Madras, Pune, Bombay, and other cities across India have all founded colleges.

Important Questions and Answers

1. How Education Was Utilized to Civilize a Nation?

Ans: Until the creation of the Education Act in 1870, there was no widespread education for the general public. The number of schools was limited, and the majority of the children were unable to attend. It was normal to see children being forced to work. As a result of the foregoing, certain British philosophers, such as Thomas Arnold, recognized the importance of discipline in education. The importance of being disciplined was instilled in the young students' brains. Education was used as a tool to civilize a nation in this way.

2. What Was the Reason Behind the Demand for Moral Education?

Ans: The Christian Missionaries in India were adamantly opposed to the promotion of practical education. Moral education, according to Christian missionaries in India, was far more essential than practical instruction. According to their opinion, Christian education is the sole way to enrich a person's moral character. Earlier in history, the British East India Company was a staunch opponent of missionary education. The main motivation for objecting was the fear of a negative reaction from the local population, as well as the prospect of making them suspicious of the British East India Company.

3. What were the Minutes of Macaulay?

Ans: The following are Macaulay's minutes addressing India's educational policy:

a) A beautiful educational strategy.

b) A clear explanation of why education is important.

c) A proposal to establish English schools.

d) Promotes English as a medium of teaching.

e) Filtration Theory was advocated.

f) Sanskrit pathshalas and Arabic Madrasas were to be closed.

g) The use of vernaculars was overlooked.

4. What were the recommendations of Wood’s Despatch?

Ans: “Wood's dispatch made the following recommendations.”

a) Setting up parent universities; establishing a Department of Education.

b) Adopting English as the medium of instruction.

c) Implementing a grading system.

d) Initiating a grant-in-aid program.

e) Teacher skill development.

f) Widespread education.

g) Professionalism in the field of education.

5. What were the achievements of Wood’s Despatch?

Ans: The following were the accomplishments of Wood's despatch: 

a) Each province established a Department of Public Instruction.

b) There were three universities established: Calcutta University, Bombay University, and Madras University, as well as a few teacher training schools.

c) India's educational system was enhanced.

d) Several employment opportunities in the education industry were generated.

The British Way of Education: The Orientation Tradition

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.

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