British educational in India was a mixed blessing.do you agree?give points
Answers
The British educational policy in the first place was never meant to educate the masses in general. The only reason they setup colleges in Calcutta and Madras was to train civil servants to understand and carry out the work force of the British administration and serve in the British army. Initially education was only favoured to the upper classes and there was no primary school at that time, only higher education in colleges like Fort William college and presidency was preferred. Although with the advent of western educational system, vernacular teachings soared the masses till as late as the 18th century. In hindsight, one could argue that because of the introduction of Western style of education our country could do away with many shady and patriarchal norms of the society and it also highlighted the plight of the weaker sections of the society. Modern education produced some of the significant national leaders, social reformers, freedom fighters, intellectuals and liberal thinkers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rabindranath tagore and so many more. Education brought these people face to face to the need of the hour, that was to introduce cultural reforms, to breakaway social barriers and to empower women and the need to free themselves from the shackles of the British Raj. So it's safe to say that the British education in India was a mixed blessing, because they never wanted to empower Indians with education but it generated great visionary leaders and reformers who then went on to great lengths to fuel the freedom struggle against their very own oppressors.