My study today has been on “English Education in India“.
With all that is going on today about the English schools in Karnataka (they obtained licence as kannada schools but quietly taught english and now the matter is in the courts), it is interesting to know how English Education started in India.
There was debate among those who wanted regional languages, those who wanted classical languages and those who wanted English as the medium of instruction.
In 1834, Macaulay provided the following winning arguments to the East India Company.
- Educated (even if) Free India is a better market and will contribute to the company’s profitabilty than a poor, uneducated country of slaves.
- A shelf of European books has more worth than the entire knowledge base in Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic.
- A Higher Class India, English in its tastes and philosophy, though Indian in blood and colour, will guarantee the co-operation of the higher classes and a longer rule of the British in India.
I have provided the original quotes etc in the article. (By the way, I have heard that the thus educated, ”Higher class English-Indians” also called “Tanned Videsis” are also called Macaulay’s children! 
)
Taking off from there:
- I do marvel at the brilliance of Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi (our darling Gandhiji!) who hit the “markets” with the Swadeshi Movement and rejected all his western tastes and styles and went the Non Co-Operation way in the struggle for independence…
- Also while the British focussed on “higher education for the higher classes” as a cheaper alternative to education of the masses, Swami Vivekananda went to the Masses. The wikipedia article on Swami Vivekananda is simply awesome! After reading so much about Macaulay., it was a joy to read and relief about Vivekananda!
I quote from that article “ He came in contact with Professor John Henry Wright of Harvard University.[69] After inviting him to speak at Harvard and on learning of his not having credential to speak at the Parliament, Wright is quoted as having said, “To ask for your credentials is like asking the sun to state its right to shine in the heavens.” Wright then addressed a letter to the Chairman in charge of delegates writing, “Here is a man who is more learned than all of our learned professors put together…..
….The New York Critique wrote, “He is an orator by divine right, and his strong, intelligent face in its picturesque setting of yellow and orange was hardly less interesting than those earnest words, and the rich, rhythmical utterance he gave them.” The New York Herald wrote, “Vivekananda is undoubtedly the greatest figure in the Parliament of Religions. After hearing him we feel how foolish it is to send missionaries to this learned nation.”[75] The American newspapers reported Swami Vivekananda as “the greatest figure in the parliament of religions” and “the most popular and influential man in the parliament”.[76]“
Authorship and CopyRight Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula
