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EDUCATION
Eternal India
encyclopedia
The new scheme created a framework of education from the
lowest to the highest stage with the establishment of primary
schools, high schools and colleges. A special department of edu-
cation was to be created for each province to oversee the system.
don University model would be established in each presidency
town. It would mainly be an examining body with higher teaching
being chiefly imparted through colleges. The university might
institute professorships in Law, Civil Engineering, vernaculars
and classical languages.
The inherent objectives of establishing universities in India
were :
(i)
diffusion of the knowledge of arts, sciences, language,
literature and philosophy of Europe
(ii)
to provide the knowledge and skills necessary for loyal
service to the rulers through employment under the gov-
ernment
(iii)
incidentally to implant Western culture on the Indian soil.
These objectives were sought to be achieved through (a) pre-
scribed curricula based on the first objective; (b) English as the sole
medium of education in colleges and universities; (c) administra-
tive structure and processes on the British model; (d) a rigid exami-
nation system passing through which was the gateway to govern-
ment jobs; and (e) personal contact between teachers and students
as well as between British administrators and Indian elite.
Stress was laid on the importance of mass education, female
education, improvement of the vernaculars and the training of
teachers. Every district was to have schools "whose objects should
be not to train highly a few youths but to provide more opportuni-
ties than now exist for the acquisition of such an improvement as
will make those that possess it more useful members of society in
every condition of life."
It was stated that the medium of instruction would be the
vernacular languages. "It is neither our aim nor desire", said the
Despatch, "to substitute the English language for the vernacular
dialects of the country........... It is indispensable, therefore, that in
any general system of education the study of these should be
assiduously attended to, and any acquaintance with improved
European knowledge which is to be communicated to the great
mass of the people can only be conveyed to them through one or the
other of these vernacular languages."
The policy outlined in the Despatch was implemented by Lord
Dalhousie. Departments of Public Instruction were established in
the provinces. The first university in India, that of Calcutta, was
founded in 1857. Between 1857 and 1887 four new universities
were added, Bombay, Madras, Lahore and Allahabad.
The Revolt of 1857 intervened before further changes could be
effected. The rule of the East India Company came to an end and
India came under the rule of the British Crown.
In 1902 Lord Curzon appointed a universities commission
headed by Sir Thomas Raleigh to investigate the conditions and
prospects of the Indian universities and recommend measures for
their improvement. Its report came out in June 1904 and its recom-
mendations were embodied in the Universities Act of 1904. This
Act tightened Government control over the educational institu-
tions by limiting the number of senators and creating a majority of
nominated members in the senate. It assigned territorial limits to
each university, laid down stringent conditions for the affiliation
of new colleges and prescribed a systematic inspection of colleges
by the university.
Lord Curzon's educational code and the universities code of
1904 heralded the dawn of unitary and centralised system of edu-
cation. The universities which were hitherto only affiliating
bodies, not only instituted regular inspection of colleges affiliated
to them, but also transformed themselves into teaching institu-
tions. Immediately after the passing of the Act the Government of
India made a recurring grant of five lakhs of rupees per annum for
a period of five years for the improvement of university and
collegiate education. Curzon was not only for the education of the
many but also for linking technical education with industrial de-
velopment. He even visualised the replacement of Europeans in
Indian industry with Indian engineers and technical men.
Another Commission was established in 1913 and based on its
recommendations, the government's resolution on Education Pol-
icy was adopted in that year. Between 1857 and 1922, the number
of colleges of general education in the country also increased from
a bare 21 to 172 with enrolment of students increasing from only
4355 in 1857 to 58,837 in 1922. Secondly in accordance with the
policy adopted in 1913, establishment of separate universities for
each of the leading provinces was taken up. Initially six new
universities came into existence between 1913 and 1920. Among
these was Mysore University by the erstwhile princely state ruler
with the special efforts of the well-known Diwan Sir M.
Vishvesvaraiah. This was followed by another princely state
namely Hyderabad, with the establishment of Osmania University
in 1918.
With two more universities - one at Patna and another at
Lucknow in the same year 1920 - the total number of universities
rose to ten. But by 1947, the total number of universities had gone
up to 19. The number of colleges was 496 with a total enrolment
of 2,37,546 students.
ENGINEERING AND MEDICAL EDUCATION
The East India Company required engineers and doctors for
its engineering and medical services in subordinate positions. It
therefore took steps to establish the minimum number of engineer-
ing and medical institutions.
Madras had a survey school started in 1794 by Michael Top-
ping, the East India Company's Astronomer and Geographical
Marine Surveyor at Fort St. George. The school trained a number
of apprentices who were taught subjects like algebra, mensuration,
building construction, surveying, plan drawing etc. In 1842 an
attempt was made to establish a college of engineers. It material-
ised in 1855 due to the encouragement of Arbuthnot who was Di-
rector of Public Instruction in the Madras Presidency. This
became the civil engineering college in 1859 and in 1877 was af-
filiated to the Madras University. The college made rapid
progress and emerged as one of the best engineering institutions in
the country.
An engineering college was started in Calcutta in 1856. It was
affiliated a year later to the Calcutta University.
In the Bombay Presidency Elphinstone founded in Bombay in
1821 an engineering institution which developed later into a
For co-ordinating higher education, a university on the Lon-