Get complete information on the standard of education in India during Britishers

During the 18th century the Hindu and-Muslim seats of learning languished. The numerous political convulsions in the country created abnormal conditions hardly conducive to intellectual pursuits both in teachers and pupils.

The loss of political power deprived the native schools of learning of their public endowments. In a letter to the Court of Directors dated 21 February 1784, Warren Hastings referred to the decayed remain of schools in every capital town and city of Northern India and the Deccan.

The East India Company became a ruling power in Bengal in 1765. Following the example of contemporary English Government, the Court of Directors refused to take on itself the responsibility for the education of the people of India and decided to leave education to private effort.

However, the Indian officers of the East India Company urged the Court of Directors to do something for the promotion of learning. Some half-hearted efforts were made by the -Company’s Government to foster oriental learning. Warren Hastings, himself an intellectual, set up the Calcutta Madrasa in 1781 for the study and learning of Persian and Arabic.

In 1791 the efforts of Jonathan Duncan, the British Resident at Benares, bore fruit and a Sanskrit College was opened at Benares for ‘the cultivation of the laws, literature and religion of the Hindus.’ These early attempts for the education of the people in oriental languages met with little success. It was found that there were more teachers than students.

The Christian missionaries the attempts to revive an out-of-date system of education and advocated the teaching of Western literature and Christian religion through the medium of English.

The Serampore missionaries, in particular, were very enthusiastic for the spread of education. Mention may be made of the Fort William College set up by Lord Wellesley in 1800 for the training of the civil servants of the Company, in the languages and customs of India. The College published an English-Hindustani Dictionary, a Hindustani grammar and some other books.

The Court of Directors ordered the closure of the college in 1802. The Court of Directors made a humble beginning towards the development of education in India in 1813 when the Charter Act provided for an annual expenditure of one lakhs rupees “for the revival and promotion of literature and the encouragement of the learned natives of India and for the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences among the inhabitants of the British territories.

“Administrative needs of the Company required Indians well-versed in the classical and vernacular languages. In the Judicial Department Indians conversant with Sanskrit, Arabic or Persian were required to sit as assessors with English judges and expound Hindu or Muslim law from Sanskrit or Persian or Arabic books.

Besides, the knowledge of Persian and vernaculars was valued in the Political Department for correspondence with rulers of Indian states. The clerical staff in the revenue and commercial departments had contacts with uneducated masses and for them knowledge of vernaculars was a must. Higher grade of staff in the Company’s services, knowledge of English as well as vernaculars was essential.