Our Past Iii Part Ii Chapter 8 Civilising The Native: Educating The Nation

Both James Mill and Thomas Macaulay saw India as an uncivilised country that needed to be civilised.

No branch of Eastern knowledge, according to them could be compared to what England had produced. They felt that knowledge of English would allow Indians to read some of the finest literature of the world, it would make them aware of the developments in Western science and philosophy. Teaching of English could thus be a way of civilising people, changing their tastes, values and culture.

D.

Henry Thomas Colebrooke

B.

Arabic

C.

Both (a) to (b)

C.

William Carey

B.

Bihar and Bengal

Madrasa

customs

oriental

uncivilised

civilised

Asiatic Society

Asiaticle Researches

east

unscientific

Pathshalas

Shantiniketan

He studied Greek, Latin, English, French, Arabic and Persian.

Madrasa in Calcutta was set up to promote the study of Arabic, Persian and Islamic law.

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Imp.

The Hindu College was established in Benaras to encourage the study of ancient Sanskrit texts that would be useful for the administration of the country.

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Imp.

James Mill and Thomas Babington Macaulay had attacked Orientalists.

Thomas Macaulay had urged the British government in India to stop wasting public money in promoting Oriental learning for it was of no practical use.

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V. Imp.

These Oriental institutions were seen as temples of darkness that were falling of themselves into decay.

The universities were established in Calcutta, Madras and Bombay.

Classes were held under a banyan tree or in the corner of a village shop or temple or at the guru’s home.

Teaching was oral, and the guru decided what to teach, in accordance with the needs of the students. Students were not separated out into different classes: all of them sat together in one place. The guru interacted separately with groups of children with different levels of learning.

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Imp.

Pathshala were not held during harvest time because rural children had to work in the fields.

The task of the pandit was to visit the pathshalas and try and improve the standard of teaching. Each guru was asked to submit periodic reports and take classes according to a regular timetable.

Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore were against western education in India.

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V. Imp.

Tagore was of the view that creative learning could be encouraged only within a natural environment. So he chose to set up his school 100 kilometres away from Calcutta, in a rural setting. He saw it as an abode of peace (santiniketan), where living in harmony with nature, children could cultivate their natural creativity.

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V. Imp.

Tagore viewed his school, Shantiniketan as an abode of peace where living in harmony with nature, children would cultivate their natural creativity.

Many Company officials argued that the British ought to promote Indian rather than Western learning:

(i)They felt that institutions should be set up to encourage the study of ancient Indian texts and teach Sanskrit and Persian literature and poetry. 

(ii)The officials also thought that Hindus and Muslims ought to be taught what they were already familiar with, and what they valued and treasured, not subjects that were alien to them.

(iii)Only then, they believed, could the British hope to win a place in the hearts of the “natives”; only then could the alien rulers expect to be respected by their subjects.

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Imp.

British officials had criticised the Orientalist vision of learning. They said that the knowledge of the East was full of errors and unscientific thought. They saw Eastern literature as non-serious and light-hearted. So they argued that it was wrong on the part of the British to spend so much effort in encouraging the study of Arabic and Sanskrit language and literature.

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Imp.

In many senses Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi thought about education in similar ways. There were, however, differences too.

Gandhiji was highly critical of Western civilisation and its worship of machines and technology. Tagore wanted to combine elements of modern Western civilisation with what he saw as the best within Indian tradition. He emphasised the need to teach science and technology at Santiniketan, along with art, music and dance.

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V. Imp.

Charles Wood

Tips: -

V. Imp.

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Imp.

Mahatma Gandhi strongly felt that Indian languages
ought to be the medium of teaching. Education in
English crippled Indians, distanced them from their
own social surroundings, and made them “strangers in their own lands”. Speaking a foreign tongue, despising local culture, the English educated did not know how to relate to the masses.

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V. Imp.

Tagore was of the view that creative learning could be encouraged only within a natural environment. So he chose to set up his school 100 kilometres away from Calcutta, in a rural setting.

He saw it as an abode of peace (santiniketan), where living in harmony with nature, children could cultivate their natural creativity.

Tips: -

Imp.

A.

(i) Wood’s Despatch came in light in 1854.

(ii) he Despatch advocated for European learning, because it was the only way to make Indians perfect in all sense. It would introduce them the European ways of life and would change their tastes and desires.

B.

(i) According to Mahatma Gandhi literacy in itself is not education. It is not the end of education nor even the beginning. It is only one of the means whereby man and woman can get education. Hence, it should not be anyone's goal.

(ii) He gives much emphasis on learning a useful handicraft because it enables the child to produce from the moment he Begins its training. It makes him aware of how different things are operated.

(i) He is Henry Thomas Colebrooke.
(ii) He was a great scholar of Sanskrit and ancient sacred writings of Hinduism.

(i)It is a village pathshala.
(ii)The system of education that existed here was flexible. There were no rules and regulations. There were no roll-call registers, no annual examinations and no regular time-table. In some places classes were held under a banyan tree. Students were given oral teaching. They were taught in accordance with their needs.