Education Policy: Macaulay, Wood's Despatch and After
British education policy moved from supporting Oriental learning to promoting English-medium education, and created a new educated Indian class that later led the freedom struggle.
Early steps
- 1781: Warren Hastings founded the Calcutta Madrasa.
- 1784: Asiatic Society (William Jones). 1791: Sanskrit College, Benares (Jonathan Duncan). 1800: Fort William College (Wellesley).
- Charter Act 1813: Rs 1 lakh a year to promote education and learning.
- Orientalist-Anglicist controversy: The Orientalists (H.T. Prinsep, H.H. Wilson) wanted to teach Indian languages and learning. The Anglicists (Macaulay, Trevelyan) wanted English education. Ram Mohan Roy supported English education (his 1823 letter to Amherst).
- General Committee of Public Instruction (1823).
Macaulay's Minute (2 February 1835)
- Macaulay argued that a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, English in taste, opinions, morals and intellect, should be created to help rule.
- Bentinck's resolution (7 March 1835) adopted it: funds would go to English-medium education. The "downward filtration theory" (education would trickle from the upper classes down to the masses) was followed.
Wood's Despatch (1854)
Sir Charles Wood, President of the Board of Control, sent a long despatch called the "Magna Carta of English Education in India".
- A Department of Public Instruction in each province.
- Universities at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras (set up 1857), on the model of London University.
- A system: vernacular primary schools → Anglo-vernacular high schools → affiliated colleges.
- Grants-in-aid to private schools; teacher training; women's education; technical and vocational education.
- English for higher education; vernacular for the lower levels.
After Wood's Despatch
| Event | Details |
|---|---|
| Hunter Commission (1882) | Under William Hunter; focus on primary and secondary education; control of primary to local boards; encouraged private effort and women's education. |
| Indian Universities Act (1904) | Curzon, after the Raleigh Commission (1902); more government control over universities; stricter affiliation; fellows nominated. Nationalists disliked it. |
| Gokhale's Bill (1911) | Proposed free and compulsory primary education; defeated (1912). |
| Sadler (Calcutta University) Commission (1917 to 1919) | Advised that 12 years of school before university, a three-year degree, and new universities (Dacca, 1921). |
| Hartog Committee (1929) | Reviewed primary education; stressed quality over quantity; found wastage and stagnation. |
| Wardha Scheme / Basic Education (1937) | Gandhi's Nai Talim; Zakir Husain Committee; learning through craft; mother tongue. |
| Sargent Report (1944) | Plan for free universal compulsory education (6 to 14 years) and a national system over 40 years. |
National education movement
- Swadeshi period: the National Council of Education (1906) and the Bengal National College. Tilak's Deccan Education Society (1884) and Fergusson College (1885). DAV schools (1886), Gurukul Kangri (1902).
- Banaras Hindu University (1916), Aligarh Muslim University (1920), Jamia Millia Islamia (1920), Visva-Bharati (1921), Gujarat Vidyapith (1920), Kashi Vidyapith (1921).
Keep practising
Notes are only half the work. Test yourself with questions and discuss doubts with other aspirants.
Prepared for exam revision from standard sources such as NCERT, Bipan Chandra, Spectrum and official records. Historians differ on some dates, figures and interpretations, so check your exam syllabus and a standard textbook. Found a mistake? Tell us.