Discuss the contribution of Christian Missionaries in the field of Education in India
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Explanation:
Christian missionary activity in India generally involved the establishment of high-quality schools. Obviously the Christian community's impact does not end there. Accompanying the schools came printing presses, which were helpful in the dissemination of literature of all kinds. In fact, the early overseas missionaries were responsible for pioneering English and modern vernacular education. R. L. Rawat, in his History of Indian Education, suggests that India will forever be indebted to the missionaries for the production of textbooks, dictionaries, and grammars, and for their zealous pursuit of educational advancement.
The "good works" carried out by missionaries and Christians have always been understood to be an expression of their love and obedience to Jesus. The underlying motivation, of course, was their obligation to proclaim the salvation of God through the Christian faith. Indians have by and large been willing to receive the former, but many have rejected the need for the latter, particularly upper caste Hindus, who would say, "we have our own saviors." Still, the Christian community has felt that it has contributed to the building of the nation and to an upward social mobility that has changed lives and benefited families and communities, particularly among the Dalits (the former "untouchables").
In the sixteenth century it was the Jesuits who first established Christian institutions of learning. They were followed by the German Tranquebar missionaries. Later the renowned Friedrick Schwartz began Christian schools in both vernacular languages and in English. William Carey and the British Baptists who arrived in Calcutta in the late eighteenth century pioneered modern education in North India. By 1818 there were 111 schools located as far away from Calcutta as Shimla and Delhi in the north, and Rajputna in the south.
With the renewal of the British East India Company's charter in 1813 and the arrival of a host of British mission societies, there was a proliferation of schools and printing presses across the country. The first Western-type postsecondary school, Serampore College, was organized in 1818. The American Mission opened schools for boys in Bombay from 1815 and in 1829. John Wilson saw to it that a school was also set up in Bombay for girls.
The arrival in Calcutta of Alexander Duff in 1830 marked the beginning of a new approach to learning, namely, English-language education. Duff was captivated with "the glowing prospects of Christianity in [India]," and with what he referred to as the "ultimate evangelisation of India." Duff pondered the question of what was to be the future language of learning in India, wondering which would prove to be the "most effective instrument" of a liberal and enlightened education? Not surprisingly, Duff's idea to set up an English-language school was, at first, controversial. There was significant opposition, but soon Duff's modest experiment began to catch the imagination of the upper classes and those who possessed aspirations for their children. Duff's work was a great success and resulted in the expansion of English-language educational institutions throughout British India in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, at the primary, secondary, and university levels; in time English became the veritable lingua franca of India. The widespread and popular adoption of English by people of all language groups and classes has certainly given India an advantage in today's global economy, as well as in diplomacy, politics, and technology.
Christians were also pioneers in the field of female education. Much of this work was taken up by the wives of early missionaries, and by single women missionaries, of whom there were many. In the nineteenth century the commonly accepted view in India was that formal education was not for women of any kind, much less for those from respectable families. In 1834 it was reported that only 1 percent of Indian women could read and write.
Yet by 1900 an impressive number of schools and colleges had been opened in major cities, towns, and even villages throughout India for both men and women. Christians also went to live and work among both the tribal groups and the Dalits. The former were animists who lived outside the Hindu fold, while the latter were from the "untouchable" caste and were therefore excluded from the orthodox Hindu social structure. Toward the end of the nineteenth century Christian missionaries began to take more seriously the needs of the tribals and the Dalits and went to minister to them. The missionaries began schools and created written forms for many of the languages. In response, people from these groups converted to Christianity in great numbers. This was particularly so in the Northeast and in the mass movements of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.