Modern education involves a system of scientific enquiry into a subject. Reasoning and observation are its essence. This method of education was prevalent in the Western countries. But the East India Company did not take any initiative to introduce this system in India upto 1813.
Thereafter the main phases of the spread of modern education are given as under:
I. In 1813 the East India Company earmarked the sum rupees of Ten-hundred thousand to be spent annually over the education of the Indians.
II. In 1835 the British Government accepted the Anglicists’ view to spend the whole amount over the teaching of western sciences and literature through the medium of English.
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III. In 1854, the government accepted the recommendations of Wood’s Dispatch. Local languages were made the medium of instruction at the school level and English at the college level. Universities were also established at Calcutta, Mumbai (Bombay), and Chennai (Madras).
IV. On the advice of Hunter’s Commission, the government agreed to transfer the primary education to the local bodies,
Agencies which helped in the Spread of English Education:
(i) The Christian Missionaries.
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(ii) Various reformers and their movements (e.g., the Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, Theosophical Society, The Mohammedan Literary Society, the Aligarh Movement, Ramakrishna Mission, the Deoband School, the Ahmedia Movement etc,).
(iii) The Indian Educational Establishments.
(iv) Vidyapeeths and Jamia Millia Islamia.
(v) The British Government itself opened many schools and colleges throughout the country for imparting modern education to Indians.