Education under British rule

Education under British rule

The term western education is generally used to refer the type of education started and propagated in India by the Europeans, especially the British through the medium of English. The introduction of British rule in India brought with it western civilization, and culture into the country. It shortly subjugated all socio-cultural domains of Indian life and subsequently replaced the traditional Indian education with the western science oriented pragmatic education.

British education had its beginning in India with the coming of East India Company in 1600 AD. At first, they did not pay any attention to the education of Indians. The Charter Act of 1813 was an important landmark in the history of Indian education. The Charter made the East India Company responsible for the education in India. It also made a provision for an annual grant of a sum of not less than one lakh rupees for the promotion of education in India. As a result, from 1813 to 1857, the company opened many schools and colleges under their control, which laid the foundation of the English system of education in India.This charter laid the foundation for a state policy of education in India. It also marks the beginning of the Modern period in Indian Education.

The Oriental-Occidental Controversy

The Oriental-Occidental Controversy(East-West Controversy) refers to the long severe debate between the Oreantalists and the Anglicists on the issue of the type of education to be imparted to Indians and the medium of instruction to be followed. The argument was about the indigenous system of education as opposed to the western system of education. The central point of controversy was whether Indians should be given western education through English language or indigenous education through Indian languages. The Oreantalists stood for mass education, vernacular medium and indigenous knowledge while the Occidentals for western education through the medium of English for the spreading of European culture and knowledge.

Lord Macaulay was a central figure in the language debate over which language should be used as the medium of education in India. The Oreantalists were in favour of use of classical languages of Indian tradition, such as Sanskrit, Persian, and Arabic, which were not spoken as native languages. The Anglicists, on the other hand, supported English. Neither of these groups wanted to suppress the local vernaculars, mother tongue of the people. Both the groups agreed that education should be conducted in vernacular during the first years of education.

Macaulay’s Minutes (1835)

Thomas Babington Macaulay, who is generally regarded as the architect of the system of education in India during the British rule, was a great essayist, historian, linguist, orator, politician, statesman and thinker. He was regarded as one of the first rate literary figure of his times. He came to India in 1834 and joined as the law member of the executive council of the governor-General. He was also appointed as the president of the general committee on Public instruction by governor general Lord William Bentinck.

Macaulay wrote his famous minute on Feb. 2, 1835 in which he vehemently criticized almost everything Indian: astronomy, culture, history, philosophy, religion etc., and praised everything western. Macaulay wrote in his minute “We must at present do our best to form a class of persons Indian in blood and colour and English in taste, opinions in morals and in intellect.” He attached importance t the education of the higher classes and thus emphasized the theory of downward filtration.

Downward Filtration Theory

During the British rule in India the downward filtration theory was emphasized in the country. Filtration means coming of something to the bottom from the top. Thus the filtration theory in education meant coming down of education or knowledge from the top to the bottom, i.e., from the higher class people to the lower classes or the general people. The British argued that they will educate only the Indian elite or top class people and through them the lower class people would also be benefitted. The masses will follow the elite gradually and education will reach down to common citizens.

Lord Macaulay was of the opinion that English education in India would create a class or persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes and opinions. Their idea was to educate only the high class people in order to give them higher posts in the administration with a view to strengthening the roots of British empire in the Country.

The major observations made by Macaulay in his minutes are:

1. English should be the medium of instruction especially at higher levels, as it is the best vehicle for thought and expression,

2. The oriental law institutions should be closed down, and all law books in Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit should be translated.

3. The institutions of oriental learning should be used for the promotion of English Education

4. The grants given to oreantal institutions should be stopped and diverted to the opening of new English schools.

5. All the grants given for education should be utilized for the spread of European literature and science.

6. The aim of education should be to develop such personalities who are Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and intellect.

Macaulay’s Contributions

1. Macaulay’s minutes helped to wind up the Oriental-Occidental Controversy which went on in the fight of Indian education for decades.

2. He laid the foundation stone of modern education system in India.

3. He contributed to the spread of science, western literature and values in India.

4. His minutes encouraged the initiation of more English schools and higher education centres by Western Missionaries in India

5. The spread of English education helped Indians to became acquainted with latest developments in the world and got inspiration for fighting foe their political independence.

Merits of Macaulay’s minutes

 A straightforward policy of education

 Definite purpose of education

 Lead to establishment of more English schools

 English is accepted as the medium of instruction

 Proposition of filtration theory

Demerits of Macaulay’s minutes

 Lead to the closure of Sanskrit Patashalas and Arabic Madrassas

 Caused the setback of oriental learning

 Neglected local languages

 Abandoned mass education

 Opposed Indian culture and religion

Wood’s Despatch (1854)

Wood’s Dispatch is a very important educational document and holds a unique place in the history of Indian education. It placed the responsibility of education of the Indian people fully on the Company and stated quite explicitly that it must never be neglected. The Despatch gave new direction to education in India. The East India Company had to renew its Charter after every twenty years. Before renewing the Charter in 1853, the British Parliament constitutes a Selection Committee to inquiry into the Progress of education in India and suggests reform. The suggestions of the Committee were issued as a Charter of Education on July 19, 1854 Charles Wood was the president of the Board of Control. So this is known as Wood’s Dispatch of 1854. This dispatch was considered to be the ‘Magna Carta of modern education in India’.

Major Recommendations

Wood‘s Dispatch is a long document of 100 paragraphs and deals with the various aspects of great educational importance.The Dispatch first throws light on the aims and objectives of educational policy of the Company in India. It gave highest priority to the responsibility of Indian Education and other responsibilities of the Company.

1. The British government should take the direct responsibility of education in India

2. An education department was to be set in every province.

3. Universities on the model of the London University be established in big cities such as Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.

4. At least one government school be opened in every district.

5. Affiliated private schools should be given grant in aid.

6. English should be accepted as the medium of instruction but due importance should be given to vernacular languages also.

7. Education of women should be encouraged

8. Recommended the establishment of teacher training schools in each of the provinces. 9. Recommended that there should be graded schools all over the country as Universities, Colleges, High Schools, Middle Schools, Primary Schools

Self reporting - General Techniques of Assessment

Self reporting

Self-report techniques describe methods of gathering data where participants provide information about themselves without interference from the experimenter. A self-report study is a type of survey, questionnaire, or poll in which respondents read the question and select a response by themselves without researcher interference. A self-report is any method which involves asking a participant about their feelings, attitudes, beliefs and so on. Examples of self-reports are questionnaires and interviews or even diaries; self-reports are often used as a way of gaining participants' responses in observational studies and experiments. The main strength of self report methods are that they allow participants to describe their own experiences rather than inferring from observation. It is relatively simple way to collect data from many people quickly and at low cost.

Questionnaires are a type of self-report method which consists of a set of questions usually in a highly structured written form. Questionnaires can contain both open questions and closed questions and participants record their own answers. Interviews are a type of spoken questionnaire where the interviewer records the responses. Interviews can be structured whereby there is a predetermined set of questions or unstructured whereby no questions are decided in advance. Questionnaires and interviews are often able to study large samples of people fairly easy and quickly. They are able to examine a large number of variables and can ask people to reveal behaviour and feelings which have been experienced in real situations.

Questionnaires and interviews can use open or closed questions, or both. Closed questions are questions which provide a limited choice (for example, a participant's age or their favourite type of football team), especially if the answer must be taken from a predetermined list. Such questions provide quantitative data, which is easy to analyse. However these questions do not allow the participant to give in-depth insights. Open questions are those questions which invite the respondent to provide answers in their own words and provide qualitative data. Although these type of questions are more difficult to analyse, they can produce more in-depth responses and tell the researcher what the participant actually thinks, rather than being restricted by categories.

Rating scales : One of the most common rating scales is the Likert scale. A statement is used and the participant decides how strongly they agree or disagree with the statements.

Fixed-choice questions : Fixed-choice questions are phrased so that the respondent has to make a fixed-choice answer, usually 'yes' or 'no'.This type of questionnaire is easy to measure and quantify. It also prevents a participant from choosing an option that is not in the list.

Advantages

 Good Validity - you ask people directly and get their opinions and what they think.

 Lots of data both qualitative and quantitative and can be gathered quickly and cheaply from different groups and large sample.

 Can be easily replicated - reliable.

 Closed questions are quantifiable - they can be summarised into tables and graphs and compared.

 researchers can collect data regarding behaviors that cannot be observed directly

Disadvantages

 Fixed choice questions lack flexibility and forces people to answer - lowers validity.

 Social desirability bias

 Acquiescence - yes more than no or just agree.

 Set response.

 Question may be misunderstood - lowers reliability.

 Low response rate.

 Participants may try to give the ‘correct’ responses they think researchers are looking for (or deliberately do the opposite)

 Gathering information about thoughts or feelings is only useful if participants are willing to disclose them to the experimenter.

Using self report is the easiest and fastest way to collect data and it can be used to collect both types. However it can be subject to things like social desirability bias where people want to seem good and even leading questions in interviews. When using self-report it is important to use a variety of question types and no leading questions and make questions relevant to the topic. Although there may be high risks involving reliability, we cannot assume that all participants are liars. When good data is provided, self reporting provide big amounts of rich, good quality data in a way that techniques such as observation cannot. Despite their disadvantages, self-report techniques are extremely useful and provide an efficient method for gathering data.