How the British saw the education
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Answered by
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Civilising the Native,
Educating the Nation
8
In the earlier chapters you have seen how British rule affected
rajas and nawabs, peasants and tribals. In this chapter we
will try and understand what implication it had for the
lives of students. For, the British in India wanted not only
territorial conquest and control over revenues. They also felt
that they had a cultural mission: they had to “civilise the
natives”, change their customs and values.
What changes were to be introduced? How were Indians
to be educated, “civilised”, and made into what the British
believed were “good subjects”? The British could find
no simple answers to these questions. They continued to
be debated for many decades.
How the British saw Education
Let us look at what the British thought and
did, and how some of the ideas of education
that we now take for granted evolved in the
last two hundred years. In the process of this
enquiry we will also see how Indians reacted
to British ideas, and how they developed
their own views about how Indians were to
be educated.
The tradition of Orientalism
In 1783, a person named William Jones
arrived in Calcutta. He had an appointment
as a junior judge at the Supreme Court that
the Company had set up. In addition to being
an expert in law, Jones was a linguist. He
had studied Greek and Latin at Oxford, knew
French and English, had picked up Arabic
from a friend, and had also learnt Persian.
At Calcutta, he began spending many hours
a day with pandits who taught him the
subtleties of Sanskrit language, grammar andpoetry. Soon he was studying ancient Indian texts on
law, philosophy, religion, politics, morality, arithmetic,
medicine and the other sciences.
Jones discovered that his interests were shared by
many British officials living in Calcutta at the time.
Englishmen like Henry Thomas Colebrooke and Nathaniel
Halhed were also busy discovering the ancient Indian
heritage, mastering Indian languages and translating
Sanskrit and Persian works into English. Together with
them, Jones set up the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and
started a journal called Asiatick Researches.
Jones and Colebrooke came to represent a particular
attitude towards India. They shared a deep respect for
ancient cultures, both of India and the West. Indian
civilisation, they felt, had attained its glory in the ancient
past, but had subsequently declined. In order to
understand India it was necessary to discover the sacred
and legal texts that were produced in the ancient period.
For only those texts could reveal the real ideas and laws
of the Hindus and Muslims, and only a new study of these
texts could form the basis of future development in India.
So Jones and Colebrooke went about discovering
ancient texts, understanding their meaning, translating
them, and making their findings known to others. This
project, they believed, would not only help the British learn
from Indian culture, but it would also help Indians
rediscover their own heritage, and understand the lost
glories of their past. In this process the British would become
the guardians of Indian culture as well as its masters.
Influenced by such ideas, many Company officials
argued that the British ought to promote Indian rather
than Western learning. They felt that institutions should
be set up to encourage the study of ancient Indian texts
and teach Sanskrit and Persian literature and poetry.
The officials also thought that Hindus and Muslims
ought to be taught what they were already familiar with,
and what they valued and treasured, not subjects that
were alien to them. Only then, they believed, could the
British hope to win a place in the hearts of the “natives”;
only then could the alien rulers expect to be respected by
their subjects.
With this object in view a madrasa was set up in
Calcutta in 1781 to promote the study of Arabic, Persian
and Islamic law; and the Hindu College was established
in Benaras in 1791 to encourage the study of ancient
Sanskrit texts that would be useful for the administrati
Civilising the Native,
Educating the Nation
8
In the earlier chapters you have seen how British rule affected
rajas and nawabs, peasants and tribals. In this chapter we
will try and understand what implication it had for the
lives of students. For, the British in India wanted not only
territorial conquest and control over revenues. They also felt
that they had a cultural mission: they had to “civilise the
natives”, change their customs and values.
What changes were to be introduced? How were Indians
to be educated, “civilised”, and made into what the British
believed were “good subjects”? The British could find
no simple answers to these questions. They continued to
be debated for many decades.
How the British saw Education
Let us look at what the British thought and
did, and how some of the ideas of education
that we now take for granted evolved in the
last two hundred years. In the process of this
enquiry we will also see how Indians reacted
to British ideas, and how they developed
their own views about how Indians were to
be educated.
The tradition of Orientalism
In 1783, a person named William Jones
arrived in Calcutta. He had an appointment
as a junior judge at the Supreme Court that
the Company had set up. In addition to being
an expert in law, Jones was a linguist. He
had studied Greek and Latin at Oxford, knew
French and English, had picked up Arabic
from a friend, and had also learnt Persian.
At Calcutta, he began spending many hours
a day with pandits who taught him the
subtleties of Sanskrit language, grammar andpoetry. Soon he was studying ancient Indian texts on
law, philosophy, religion, politics, morality, arithmetic,
medicine and the other sciences.
Jones discovered that his interests were shared by
many British officials living in Calcutta at the time.
Englishmen like Henry Thomas Colebrooke and Nathaniel
Halhed were also busy discovering the ancient Indian
heritage, mastering Indian languages and translating
Sanskrit and Persian works into English. Together with
them, Jones set up the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and
started a journal called Asiatick Researches.
Jones and Colebrooke came to represent a particular
attitude towards India. They shared a deep respect for
ancient cultures, both of India and the West. Indian
civilisation, they felt, had attained its glory in the ancient
past, but had subsequently declined. In order to
understand India it was necessary to discover the sacred
and legal texts that were produced in the ancient period.
For only those texts could reveal the real ideas and laws
of the Hindus and Muslims, and only a new study of these
texts could form the basis of future development in India.
So Jones and Colebrooke went about discovering
ancient texts, understanding their meaning, translating
them, and making their findings known to others. This
project, they believed, would not only help the British learn
from Indian culture, but it would also help Indians
rediscover their own heritage, and understand the lost
glories of their past. In this process the British would become
the guardians of Indian culture as well as its masters.
Influenced by such ideas, many Company officials
argued that the British ought to promote Indian rather
than Western learning. They felt that institutions should
be set up to encourage the study of ancient Indian texts
and teach Sanskrit and Persian literature and poetry.
The officials also thought that Hindus and Muslims
ought to be taught what they were already familiar with,
and what they valued and treasured, not subjects that
were alien to them. Only then, they believed, could the
British hope to win a place in the hearts of the “natives”;
only then could the alien rulers expect to be respected by
their subjects.
With this object in view a madrasa was set up in
Calcutta in 1781 to promote the study of Arabic, Persian
and Islamic law; and the Hindu College was established
in Benaras in 1791 to encourage the study of ancient
Sanskrit texts that would be useful for the administrati
Answered by
5
British support education as they thought will help them in ruling India.
Explanation:
- Britishers were always eager to bring the education system in India as they believe it will help them in appointing native Indian in their offices.
- Thomas Babington Macaulay introduced English education in India as he understands that it will create a new class of Indians who would serve between the British and the Indians.
- The main purpose of education for the British was the economic reason. As Britishers came in India to establish a trading connection, they ended up dominating India under colonization.
Learn More:
Indian system of education saw no change under the british ?why.
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