SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION

Transcription

1 CHAPTER - IV SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION =============================================== 4.1 INTRODUCTION It is quite conceivable that educational development in British India may have run the same course as it did in England, were it not for one crucial difference: the strict controls on Christianizing activities. Clearly, the texts that were standard fare for the lower classes in England could not legitimately be incorporated into the Indian curriculum without inviting violent reactions from the native population, particularly the learned classes. And yet the fear lingered in the British mind that without submission of the individual to moral law or the authority of God, the control they were able to secure over the lower classes in their own country would elude them in India. Comparisons were on occasion made between the situation at home and in India, between the 'rescue' of the lower classes in England, 'those living in the dark recesses of our great cities at home, from the state of degradation consequent on their vicious and depraved habits, the offspring of ignorance and sensual indulgence', and the elevation of the Hindus and Muslims whose 'ignorance and degradation' required a remedy not adequately supplied by their respective faiths. Such comparisons served to intensify the search for other social institutions to take over from religious instruction the function of communicating the laws of the social order. 152

2 4.2 CRITICAL ANALYSIS It was at this point that British colonial administrators, provoked by missionaries on the one hand and fears of native insubordination on the other, discovered an ally in English literature to support them in maintaining control of the natives under the guise of a liberal education. With both secularism and religion appearing as political liabilities, literature appeared to represent a perfect synthesis of these two opposing positions. The idea evolved in alternating stages of affirmation and disavowal of literature's derivation from and affiliation with Christianity as a social institution. The process illuminates and substantiates what Lowenthal has called a central factor in the construction of every ideology: the self conscious glorification of existing social contradictions. A description of that process is reconstructed below from the minutes of evidence given before the British Parliament's Select Committee, and recorded in the volume of the Parliamentary Papers. These proceedings reveal not only an open assertion of British material interests but also a mapping out of strategies for promoting those interests through representations of Western literary knowledge as objective, universal, and rational (Gauri Viswanathan, 1987). The missionary description was appropriated in its entirety by government officers. But while the missionaries made such claims in order to force the government to sponsor teaching of the Bible, the administrators used the same argument to prove that English literature made such direct instruction redundant. They initiated several steps to incorporate selected English literary texts into the Indian curriculum on the claim that these works were supported in their morality by a body of evidence that also upheld the Christian faith. In their official capacity as members of the Council on Education, Macaulay and his brother-in-law Charles Trevelyan were among those engaged in a minute analysis of English texts to prove the 'diffusive benevolence of Christianity' in them. The process of curricular selection was marked by weighty pronouncements of the 'sound Protestant Bible principles' in Shakespeare, the 'strain of serious piety' in Addison's Spectator papers, the 'scriptural morality' of Bacon and Locke, the 'devout 153

3 sentiment' of Abercrombie, the 'noble Christian sentiments' in Adam Smith's Moral Sentiments (hailed as the 'best authority for the true science of morals which English literature could supply') (Great Britain ). The cataloguing of shared features had the effect of convincing detractors that the government could effectively cause voluntary reading of the Bible and at the same time disclaim any intentions of proselytizing... (ibid). The Minute only present a set of ideas, not essentially and exclusively related to either the content or the medium of education. Moreover, to make the point clear, it must be mentioned that Raja Ram Mohan Roy was a great supporter of the medium of instruction being English, instead of the then prevalent languages of the schools: Sanskrit and Arabic. His reason to support an alien language was that he believed it would create opportunities of opening the mind of the students to the western ideas, ideals of modernity and modern science. Ram Mohan in the thick of a great educational controversy. The British Government was known to be appropriating funds for the promotion of Indian education ; and the kind of promotion most desirable was the subject of eager discussion. The "Orientalists" clamoured for the exclusive pursuit of Oriental studies. They were hotly opposed by the "Anglicists," chief among whom was Ram Mohan Roy. The Government seemed inclined to yield to the Orientalist view and announced the intention of establishing a Sanskrit College in Calcutta. The step drove Ram Mohan, to address a Letter on English Education to Lord Amherst, the new Governor-General. In this letter he expresses profound regret that the Government was proposing to found a Sanskrit College "to impart such knowledge as is already current in India." His letter to Lord Amherst that he had written in the year 1823, presents his point persuasively. After further objections to the "imaginary learning" of Hindu schools, he summarily assures Lord Amherst that "the Sanskrit system of education would be the best calculated to keep this country in darkness." What he wants to see established is "a more liberal and enlightened system of instruction, embracing mathematics, natural philosophy, chemistry, anatomy, with other useful sciences." This, he urges "may be accomplished with the sums proposed, by employing a few gentlemen of talent and learning educated in Europe and providing a College furnished with necessary books, instruments, and other apparatus." Of this letter Bishop Heber wrote in March, 1824 (Bishop Heber's Journal.): Ram Mohan Roy, a learned native, who has sometimes been 154

4 called, though I fear without reason, a Christian, remonstrated with this [Orientalist] system last year, in a paper which he sent me to be put into Lord Amherst's hands and which for its good English, good, sense, and forcible arguments, is a real curiosity, as coming from an Asiatic." The patronizing tone of these remarks reveals only too plainly the unfortunate attitude which Christian missionaries, even the most devout, assumed towards natives of India, who were, to say the very least, certainly not their inferiors. "It was owing, perhaps, to this agitation," remarks Jogendra Chunder Ghose on this letter to Lord Amherst, "that the foundation stone of the building intended for the Sanskrit College was laid in the name of the Hindu College ( February, 1824 ), and the Hindu College was located there together with the Sanskrit College"( The controversy between Orientalist and Anglicist, after raging for some dozen years was brought to a conclusion by Macaulay's famous Minute of Feb. 2nd, 1835, and Lord Wm. Bentinck's consequent resolution of March 7th, which by constituting English the official language of India gave the ascendency to Western ideals of education). (The Life and Letters of Ram Mohan Roy ). The nineteenth century Indian Renaissance was largely the outcome of the exposure of the Indian intelligentsia to the Enlightenment ideas, albeit a bit belated in comparison to the other colonies viz. the USA. Roy was totally against the blind adherence to the word of the shastras that the religion of his time strongly prescribed. He favoured an education system that benefited from rational thinking and modern advances in science, medicine, technology etc. He knew that to break the clutches of a superstitious and enfeebling set of practices that was called religion in his time, he would also have to destroy the whole system that sustained it, and Sanskrit or Arabic based education system was at its root. So he prepared to do away with the very root. He opposed the opening of educational institutions that forwarded the teaching of classical and conservative Hindu or Muslim languages and education with the funds provided by the Government. These educational institutions, subsidized as they were, only fattened the evil ignorance of the masses. It is in this formative phase of Indian education system that Roy and Macaulay strove to better the lot of the masses. Macaulay s Minute has thoughts that run exactly parallel to Roy s letter and to study the Minute in this context will provide valuable insight into the working of modern minds. Roy, Macaulay and many others made their stand against the then very strong orientalist lobby and reasoned to prove the assumptions and methods of their opponents wrong. In the long run they 155

5 emerged victorious. Their side won and their victory decided the direction in which the education system of the Indian subcontinent would finally develop. In a way, it also decided bilingual system of education with English as a Second Language eventually. It is very important to focus on the Minute in detail because it is from this point of origin that whole subsequent system is alleged to have come, especially by those who criticize it. Roy wanted a system of education that gave a rational outlook and took one away from the superstitions that were fed to the masses by the then prevalent systems, viz. the madarasas and pathshalas that gave only a very conservative kind of education in Sanskrit or Arabic. Macaulay opposed the same system of education in India, just like his enlightened Indian predecessors, and very much like his enlightened Indian successors. He asserts: a Government pledging itself to teach certain languages and certain sciences, though those languages may become useless, though those sciences may be exploded, seems to me quite unmeaning (Minute by the Hon'ble T. B. Macaulay, dated the 2nd February 1835). His prophetic words were eventually proven right and his intention was adopted by patriotic Indians in the century that followed. English is the language of higher education, science and technology, medicine etc. in the Indian sub-continent, and not Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit or Arabic. Hypothetical projections of a past that could have led to an alternate present have been made by the extremists, but they disregard the simple fact that analysis of hypothetical situations doesn t yield concrete results. Today s reality is, that the books and journals in the field of higher education and research are mostly in English and not in the vernacular or classical languages, just as Macaulay had written that the intellectual improvement of those classes of the people who have the means of pursuing higher studies can at present be affected only by means of some language not vernacular amongst them. the decision taken by the history was regarding the question Macaulay had asked: What then shall that language be? which language is the best worth knowing? (Minute by the Hon'ble T. B. Macaulay, dated the 2nd February 1835).Although the first question has been answered decidedly, the question of value of the language is too subjective to be answered with finality. His infamous assertion regarding the second questions must be mentioned to in relation to the debate. He was asserting the intrinsic superiority of the literature etc. of his nation and asserting what was the most prevalent view of his times. He was wrong, as the hindsight decrees; yet, he wasn t exaggerating or being unnaturally mean. Yet, whatever he writes about the historiography of Sanskrit 156

6 texts, although a bit exaggerating has been proven to be accurate by the modern historians. The Minute had the support of the powerful government lobby and was a classic example of using language as a vehicle for destabilizing a subjugate culture with the aim of creating a subculture. As Macaulay says, this subculture in India would consist of: a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern, a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinion, in morals and in intellect. (Sharp qtd. in Kachru 37). One may insinuate towards some ulterior motive in the passage given above, but then, the same may be done with their side of discourse too. Macaulay s bona fide intention was proven exactly when he had presented the Minute before the Supreme Council of India embodying his views and announcing his intention of Resigning if they were not accepted (Bryant qtd. in Kachru 37). His honesty and intention are also reflected in the very part of his Minute that has supplied the heaviest artillery to his critics: We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern, a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect. But when we pass from works of imagination to works in which facts are recorded and general principles investigated, the superiority of the Europeans becomes absolutely immeasurable. It is, I believe, no exaggeration to say that all the historical information which has been collected from all the books written in the Sanskrit language is less valuable than what may be found in the most paltry abridgments used at preparatory schools in England. ("Extracts from Lord Macaulay s Minute on Education 1835" Lord Macaulay). NET RESULT OF MACAULAY S MINUTE: MERITS 1. A clear cut picture of the national system of education in India emerged 2. The system proved very helpful in promoting the objectives for which it was planned 3 English schools began to be established. 157

7 4. English became the medium of instruction. 5. Western arts and sciences became popular. 6. Filtration theory of education emerged DEMERITS 1. Indian culture and philosophy receded to the background 2. Vernacular languages began to be neglected 3. Mass education was neglected 4. Western culture made rapid strives. 5. Arabic and Sanskrit languages found very few takers 6. Arabic, maktabs and Sanskrit pathshalas saw gradual disappearance RESOLUTION 1. His Lordship in council is of the opinion that the great object of the British government ought to be the promotion of European literature and science among the natives of India; and that all the funds appropriate from the purpose of education would be best employed on English education alone. 2. It is not the intention of His Lordship in council to abolish any college or school of native learning, while the native population shall appear to be inclined to avail themselves of the advantages which it affords, and His Lordship in-council directs that all the existing professors and students at all institutions under the superintendence of the committee shall continue to receive their stipends. No stipends shall be given to any student that may hereafter enter at any of these institutions; and that when any professor of oriental learning shall vacate his situations, the committee shall report to the government the number and state of the class in order that the government may be able to decide upon the expediency of appointing a successor. 3. It has come to the knowledge of the governor General-in-council that a large sum has been expanded by the committee on the printing of oriental works: His Lordship-in council directs that no portion of the funds shall hereafter be so employed. 4. His Lordship-in-council directs that all funds which these reforms will leave at the disposal of the committee be henceforth employed inn imparting to the native 158

8 population a knowledge of English literature and science through the medium of the English language; and His lordship-in council requests the committee to submit to government with all exposition, a plan for the accomplishment of this purpose. The problem he presented was of educating a people who could not be educated in their mother tongues. His confident assertions may be proven fallacious, illogical, even ridiculous today, but his prediction turned out to be true. English is the coveted and the most popular medium of education in urban India, that is a part of the global village called the world. The hegemony of English language and literature is directly linked with the forces of globalization and polarization of powers both military and monetary. As far as India is concerned, English happens to be the passport for securing gainful employment in the private sector. Thus, it acts as it did nearly two centuries ago, as is mentioned in that much detested and debated about document. Macaulay had very confidently and rightly asserted: In India, English is the language spoken by the ruling class. It is spoken by the higher class of natives at the seats of Government. It is likely to become the language of commerce throughout the seas of the East. It is the language of two great European communities which are rising, the one in the south of Africa, the other in Australia, communities which are every year becoming more important and more closely connected with our Indian empire. Whether we look at the intrinsic value of our literature, or at the particular situation of this country, we shall see the strongest reason to think that, of all foreign tongues, the English tongue is that which would be the most useful to our native subjects. He was right. Even the most recent developments in history bear witness to this fact. English gave Indians advantage over the Chinese in winning considerable employment opportunities in the recent times in BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) and KPO (Knowledge Process Outsourcing sectors. So much so, that Obama himself had to exhort his countrymen to compete well with the English speaking Indian population. The large pool of Indians who know English is the main reason behind a lot of economic development, especially in the service sector. Macaulay, a great stylist of the English language, believed fervently in the clear superiority of Western knowledge, especially when taught in English. "We know that foreigners of all nations do learn our language sufficiently to have access to all the most abstruse knowledge which it contains." (Zastoupil and Moir1999). "Whoever knows 159

9 [English] has ready access to all the vast intellectual wealth which all the wisest nations of earth have created and hoarded in the course of ninety generations." (ibid ).According to Macaulay, he believed that the most successful form of literature the Eastern languages possessed was poetry, but even this did not surpass the grand English poets. When it came from works of imagination to works of fact, "the superiority of the Europeans [became] absolutely immeasurable." (ibid ). He wrote that, "the literature in England is now more valuable than that of classical antiquity. I doubt whether the Sanskrit literature be as valuable as that of our Saxon and Norman progenitors. In some departments in history for example, I am certain that it is much less so." (ibid ). Macaulay argued that acknowledgment of English guaranteed the Indians' enlightenment. "The claims of our own language it is hardly necessary to recapitulate. It stands pre-eminent even among the languages of the west." (ibid). Macaulay concludes his "Minute" by summarizing what he believed was necessary to reform educational policy in India. Like the rest of the "Minute", the conclusion contained strong animation and force. He wrote that the printing of oriental literature needed to be stopped at once and certain oriental schools must be closed right away. Only the two major centers of Hindu and Muslim learning should remain open, if this occurred, Macaulay wrote, then "we do enough and much more than enough in my opinion, for Eastern Languages." (ibid ). He argued that if no schools were closed, then no school should receive government stipends either. Instead, "people shall be left to make their own choice between the rival systems of education without being bribed by us to learn what they have no desire to know." (ibid ). This money that would be saved from halting all stipends would be used to expand English schools and build new ones throughout India. Macaulay, unlike his Anglicist colleagues, took it further and stated that unless these requests were followed, he would resign his position as President of the General Committee. "If the decision of His Lordship in Council should be such as I anticipate, I shall enter on the performance of my duties with the greatest zeal and alacrity. If, on the other hand, it be the opinion of the Government that the present system ought to remain unchanged, I beg that I may be permitted to retire from the chair of the Committee." (ibid ). Macaulay believed that it was just as useless to have him in charge of oriental policies as much as he felt oriental education to be useless. If the Board was to continue withholding the truth from students then Macaulay refused to call it a board of instruction. 160

10 Whatever Macaulay argued or suggested was logical & had a point and it was not like his baseless criticizers. It seems funny that even after 175 years of MACAULAY MINUTE & 65 years of independence, we are still blaming Macaulay for the evils of English education in India. Even after 400 years of European presence in India, we have not been able to improve the standards of our vernaculars compared to them. We are still not able to do standard researches on different subjects & even if some authentic researches have been done, they are in English, not in vernaculars. One cannot blame that government is patronizing English language because most of the Government Schools in independent India teach in Vernaculars. One also cannot blame that classical languages like Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, Arabic, Persian etc. are neglected because huge government & private funds are supporting them. The only thing Indians can blame is themselves & their impotency which shows no signs of a Versatile Living Race. One cannot kill Macaulay by abusing or criticizing him but you can by answering his questions. The every stone one throws at the Macaulay school of English education is just strengthening its base & increasing its height. One very relevant issue touched in the Minute is relevant even today. The issue was: whether the vernaculars should be promoted, instead of English, especially when good basic textbooks at the level of even secondary education, are not easily available. In the past it had been decided in favour of English. As Roy and many of his enlightened contemporaries had demanded, Maaculay too, supported teaching of European science, instead of a jumble of unsystematic and entirely confused science in the classical languages and vernaculars. The assertion he made is hotly debated even today. Makarand Paranjape, in his Decolonizing English Studies: Attaining Swaraj, very interestingly presents the case of the native science and medicine by giving one of the most popularly given example of the small rural furnaces in India that produced, and even now do so, high quality steel. Then he mentions people in the eighteenth century Bengal providing inoculation from small pox moving from one place to another, and Pune barbers performing intricate nose surgeries. He recommends more such recoveries in order to mend the rupture in the mind of the colonized from his past. Yet, he conveniently forgets to mention the fact that after the spread of the Industrial Revolution all over Europe and then, the world, cottage and small scale manufacturing of steel could not keep up with market demand, and had to give way to large scale steel 161

11 production in huge factories. He does not affirm that the majority of the people in the erstwhile colonies, once they are aware of the modern medical science s advancements even if they had never had any formal education, would trust doctors trained in western medicinal science and surgery for severe cases. What is cannot be challenged because it could have been something else. Iconoclasm, just for its own sake, is not a very advisable practice. Decolonization as a rationalizing and liberating practice, in line of the hitherto incomplete Enlightenment project, is very much a part of the grand narrative of progress that the West (from where nearly all the colonizers came) supports. Just because it is supported by the West, it doesn t become automatically wrong and opposable. Macaulay compared the opening up of India to English language, culture, stream of philosophy and literature, to the opening up of Europe to Greek and Latin cultures, languages and knowledge during the Renaissance. He very strongly presents his case with help of Russia s development as an example. The Russian young man was civilized and led to development by teaching him those foreign languages in which the greatest mass of information had been laid up, and thus putting all that information within his reach. The languages of Western Europe civilised Russia. I cannot doubt that they will do for the Hindu what they have done for the Tartar. The assumption underlying this assertion is that industrial and scientific progress and civilization are good and must be striven for. If the assumption is questioned, then Macaulay appears to be wrong, nay, evil in his intention: aiming to give progress and civilization, as he knows them, to the colonies. The strongest reason that Macaulay put forth to oppose the subsidized education of traditional type in Sanskrit and Arabic and to support modern Western Education in English medium, was the simple matter of the market demand creating its supply. The classical and vernacular medium and the traditional type of education in India forced on the native populations the mock learning which they nauseate. To prove it he presented the fact that the Arabic and Sanskrit medium students needed to be paid for studying while people pay to get education in the English medium schools. He demanded that the people shall be left to make their own choice between the rival systems of education without being bribed by us to learn what they have no desire to know (Minute by the Hon'ble T. B. Macaulay, dated the 2nd February 1835). The same is true for today s India too, where the madrasas and Sanskrit pathshalas are criticized for their supreme unconcern for what is required of their students in real life, and their 162

12 total neglect of the demands of the existence in modern society. More and more people are sending their children to the English medium schools and there is a proportionate decline in the number and popularity of schools that teach in classical languages based or vernacular mediums only. Even poor people send their children to English medium schools in hope that learning English would definitely enhance their employability and will finally help in moving up from the social stratum they belong to. The same motivation was working exactly in the same manner in Macaulay s time too. The language of power was creating market and learners at a very fast pace; just as it had done in past after the Muslim invasion and expansion in India. Macaulay very incisively opines: Nothing is more certain than that it never can in any part of the world be necessary to pay men for doing what they think pleasant or profitable (Minute by the Hon'ble T. B. Macaulay, dated the 2nd February 1835). He had ample support favouring English against the classical languages of learning. He quotes facts and statistics to support his point and illustrates it with an example of the petition that the students of the Sanskrit College had presented to the committee that had say in policy making. They needed an employment that allowed bare existence because what they head learnt devoting the best years of their lives was not the market s demand, so they were no gainfully employable. They have wasted the best years of life in learning what procures for them neither bread nor respect (Minute by the Hon'ble T. B. Macaulay, dated the 2nd February 1835). He called the state of the market the detective test of the desirability or demand of his times. It also happens to be the demand of our times. He very strongly and clearly puts forth: What we spend on the Arabic and Sanskrit Colleges is not merely a dead loss to the cause of truth. It is bounty-money paid to raise up champions of error (Minute by the Hon'ble T. B. Macaulay, dated the 2nd February 1835). His is the voice of reason and is echoed even today in many modern, liberal, even religious Hindus and Muslims. He was totally against the fostering of superstition and also against the languages that became its medium. He was like his European predecessors, especially like Diderot etc. in the 18th century France, and also like the enlightened Indians viz. Roy. He was also like many who followed the same line of thought and action later in India. Analyzing Macaulay s premises, assumptions and claims leads one to a coherent and distinct attitude he had towards life and humanity. He appears to have a firm faith in the superiority of the West over the East aesthetically and intellectually, arising implicitly 163

13 out of its geopolitical superiority. He believes in his appeal to reason and not to emotions to bring about the change that he finds to be positive after a logical analysis of facts in hand. He had a firm and unquestionable loyalty to his nation and has unshakeable faith in the bright future of the Empire and its language. He may have been proven wrong about the geopolitical and temporal strength and extent of the Empire, but he was accurate about the predictions he made regarding the strength and future of the linguistic entity called the Empire of English language. Two hundred years after the Minute were written, Randolph Quirk expressed a similar confidence in the future and power of his language: a language the language on which the sun does not set, whose users never sleep (qtd. in McArthur xiv). It is this very empire of English language of which South Asia is a part. Macaulay was not a blind racial chauvinist that many portray through the pieces from his minute. He was a liberal and rational man. He could see what was true and was ready to stand for it. He was not at all condescending like his various orientalist contemporaries in wrongly believing that no native o this country can possibly attain more than a mere smattering of English. His was a pragmatic outlook and his practical approach did prove to be the right one in the long run. EVALUATION OF BENTINCK S PROCLAMATION Bentinck s proclamation was the first declaration of the educational policy of the British government which it wanted to adopt in this country Bentinck was greatly influenced by the views of Macaulay.the orientalists lost their battle. With Bentinck s proclamation following results were clearly visible: i. The aim of education in India were defined by the British. ii. Type of education envisaged for Indian people was spelt out. iii. The promotion of western arts was acknowledged. iv. The printing of oriental works was to be stopped. v. New grants or stipends to students of oriental institutions were to be stopped in future. vi. The proclamation promised to supply government with English educated Indian servants, cheap but capable at the same time. 164

14 vii. The proclamation accelerated the growth of new learning by leaps and bounds. In "Bentinck, Macaulay and the Introduction of English Education in India" Suresh Ghosh argued that "Bentinck had been steadily pursuing a policy of gradual introduction of English education in India since 1829."(Ghosh, 1995).He was a firm believer in Utilitarian principles and took advantage of the peaceful times of his governor-generalship to mobilize these principles against what were considered the "social evils" of India. Ghosh argued, that he would have formed his own Anglicist opinions about education. "General Education is my [Bentinck's] panacea for the regeneration of India. The ground must be prepared and the jungle cleared away before the human mind can receive, with any prospect of real benefit, the seeds of improvement."(ibid).even before Macaulay, Bentinck had opened subordinate positions in judicial and revenue sections of the government to natives who had an understanding of English. "It is the wish and admitted policy of the British Government to render its own language gradually and eventually the language of public business throughout the country," wrote Bentinck. (ibid). However, when Bentinck came to power, the Orientalists held a majority on the General Committee and the Governor-General could not initiate any major changes in this area without the permission of the Board of Directors of the East India Company in London. This was an issue because when Bentinck signed the Resolution, he did so without their involvement. (ibid). According to Ghosh, Bentinck did it without the Board's consent because he had thoughts of retiring his post as Governor-General after the Tories returned to power earlier in the year. "He did not want to leave the fate of a subject so dear to his heart to a successor and acted immediately in coming to a decision." (ibid). ORIENTAL ANGLICISTS CONTROVERSY ON THE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IN INDIA AND MACAULAY S MINUTE When the east India Company embarked on its political conquests in India in 1757, there was no education system organized and supported by the state. Gradually it was realized by the rulers to take interest in education.in 1813 the company decided to spend a sum of Rs one lakh on education in India.This led to oriental-anglicists controversy on education 165

15 Oriental school of thought wanted to encourage the indigenous system of education in India and wanted the company to spend the amount on the promotion of this system.the anglicists found their supporter in lord Macaulay who translated their dream into reality to a considerable extent. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, a distinguished Indian educationist, religious and social reformer appreciated the merits of western philosophy and science and was an ardent supporter of the educational reforms advocated by the anglicists. Charles grant who had been associated with the east India company s administration in London and Calcutta believed that Britain had a mission of regenerating Hindu society He pleaded that Britain must do so through the English language. He further observed the Hindu erred because they were ignorant. This darkness could be dispelled by the introduction of Christianity and the art and sciences of Europe. In the eighteenth century, Charles Grant, who came to India as an employee of the company, recommended the introduction of English as the medium of instruction and its adoption as the official language of the Company and the Government (Krishnaswamy 2006: 12). EVALUATION OF ADAM S RECOMMENDATIONS Adam wanted that his plan may be first tried in some selected areas before final adoption. But Macaulay had pronounced his verdict already that education was to be given through English medium to the upper classes only and hence Adam s scheme for mass education fell on deaf ears. The plan was considered as impracticable and Adam was forced to resign in disgust. Such was the fate of one of the ablest reports ever written on Indian education. A golden opportunity for building up a national system of education was lost. POINTS TO REMEMBER 1. Macaulay vehemently criticized Indian Education System in his minute written on Feb, Bentinck s proclamation marks a turning point in the history of education in India. It was the first declaration of the educational policy, which, the British government wanted to adopt in this country. 166

16 3. During the dawn of nineteenth century two groups emerged. One was orientalists and the other was Anglicists. 4. Vagueness regarding the interpretation of charter act of 1813 and national system of education intensified the controversy between the two groups. 5. It was observed by S.N Mukherji that Macaulay s minute had all defects of a preliminary spadework, but it is very important document, because it influenced Britain s educational policy in this country for more than a century. It should be admitted that western learning has done good to India and better results have been achieved through Macaulay s bold policy than it would have been possible through half hearted attempts of the orientalists. 6. The new knowledge led to India s unity and her great recovery brought her into contact with scientific research of the west and developed Indian languages to a standard in which university language became possible. But his minutes can neither be regarded as the greater charter of Indian education nor can it condemn as the evil genius of Macaulay. 7. Macaulay was wedded to the Filtration Theory and believed firmly in the superiority of western civilization. Adam s reports were regarded as one of the ablest reports ever written on Indian education but it was rejected by Macaulay. Kachru (1983: 20) refers to the House of Commons that saw it as the duty of the British to educate and cultivate the Indians. The purpose was however not ideological but to make life easier for British people who lived in India or who planned to do so (ibid): The Communication of our light and knowledge to them, would prove the best remedy for their disorders (Grant 1831/32: in Kachru 2006: 333). In other words, Grant very clearly stated that the main reasons for trouble in India were the disorders, ignorance and errors of the Indians, which the communication of Western knowledge through English should prevent. The English language was thus used as a means of conquest, with the aim being trade and political power (Krishnaswamy 2006: 13). The second important phase for the spread of English in India was marked by the demand of a small group of Indians to study English in addition to Persian or Arabic (Kachru 1983: 21). This movement had prominent Indian supporters such as the Indian scholar Raja Rammohun Roy, who wanted to improve the ancient system of learning by 167

17 joining it with modern Western knowledge (Krishnaswamy 2006: 20). Roy harshly criticized the Indian system, for example, when he wrote in 1823 in a letter to the Governor General, Lord Amherst, that the Indian system of education could keep the country only in darkness (Agnihotri & Khanna 1995: 17). Krishnaswamy (2006: 21-22) however emphasizes that Roy only wanted a reform of the Indian system of learning and did not prefer the introduction of English as the medium of instruction. Nevertheless, Roy s criticism was used in promoting the English language in India (Krishnaswamy 2006:22). The so-called Oriental-Anglicist controversy over which educational policy to use in India initiated the third phase of the Government Policy, which started after 1765 when the East India Company stabilized its authority (Kachru 1983: 68). At that time, the views about educating Indians in English were divided. On the one hand, there was the Anglicist group, represented by Macaulay, which was in favour of English. On the other hand, there was the Orientalist group that was not very strong and against English as a compulsory language but this resistance could not prevent the passing of Macaulay s Minute (Kachru 1983: 68). In the Minute, Macaulay, who served on the Supreme Council in India, very clearly expressed the aim of English education in India, which was to form [...] a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern, a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinion, in morals and intellect. (Selections from Educational Records : 116 in Kachru 1983: 68) On 7 March 1835, Lord William Bentinck, the Governor General of India, had approved Macaulay s Minute and an official resolution endorsing Macaulay s policy was passed (Kachru 1983: 68). The Minute on Indian Education declared that the native population should be educated through the English medium (Mehrotra 1998: 4) and Macaulay s resolution formed the cornerstone of the implementation of a language policy in India (Kachru 1983: 68). In the following years, English in India gradually increased and gained more weight in the educational system of India. It was made the official language of the Government and of education in 1837 (Krishnaswamy 2006: 43; 46). At that time many English schools or schools which used English beside Indian languages were established (Krishnaswamy 2006: 56). In 1857, the first universities were founded in Bombay, 168

18 Calcutta and Madras and later also the Punjab and Allahabad universities (Kachru 1983: 22). However, Krishnaswamy (2006: 45) reports that English as the medium of instruction and the Western system of education envisaged considerable resistance. The plan of Macaulay only aimed at English education for the classes in urban areas and not for the masses of rural India (Krishnaswamy 2006: 45-47). They simply followed the indigenous systems and remained untouched by English (ibid). Macaulay s confident assertions may be proven fallacious, illogical, and even ridiculous today, but, ironically, his prediction turned out to be true. English is the most coveted and the most popular medium of education in urban India. The hegemony of English language and literature is directly linked with the forces of globalization and polarization of powers both military and monetary. As far as India is concerned, English happens to be the passport for securing gainful employment in the private sector. Thus, it acts as it did nearly two centuries ago, as is mentioned in that much detested and debated about document. Even poor people send their children to English medium schools in hope that learning English would definitely enhance their employability and will finally help in moving up from the social stratum they belong to. The same motivation was working exactly in the same manner in Macaulay s time too. The language of power was creating market and learners at a very fast pace; just as it had done in past after the Muslim invasion and expansion in India. Macaulay had very incisively opined about the market demand for his language and its eventual spread in India: Nothing is more certain than that it never can in any part of the world be necessary to pay men for doing what they think pleasant or profitable (Minute by the Hon'ble T. B. Macaulay, dated the 2nd February 1835). He had ample support favouring English against the classical languages of learning. Analysing Macaulay s premises, assumptions and claims leads one to a coherent and distinct attitude he had towards life and humanity. He appears to have a firm faith in the superiority of the West over the East aesthetically and intellectually, arising implicitly out of its geopolitical superiority. He may have been proven wrong about the geopolitical and temporal strength and extent of the Empire, but he was accurate about the predictions he made regarding the strength and future of the linguistic entity called the Empire of English language. Two hundred years after the Minute was written Randolph Quirk (1985) expressed a similar confidence in the future and power of his 169

19 language: a language the language on which the sun does not set, whose users never sleep. It is this very empire of English language of which South Asia is a part. Most of the erstwhile British colonies in South Asia, English stayed there, even after the Empire was done away with. It has now taken roots that have gone too deep to be uprooted in near future. Macaulay s aim of creating an intermediary class was fulfilled. He did not know it fully that his prophesy would come true one day, especially when he was mentioning the future of English language in the world. These two historical documents (Macaulay s Minute and the Vernacular Dispatch) clearly show the double tension which is at work, right from the beginning, in the language policy of the British domination: the diffusion of English aims at fabricating this class of intermediaries between dominants and dominates which Macaulay was dreaming of (a tool for collaboration), but it is also the vehicle for the progressive ideology which favours mass education and is praised for that by the reformists. English is the language of the elite, but it is also the vehicle for such notions as social progress and mass education. On the other hand, the education of the masses, which Macaulay does seem to care of, can only be achieved through the vernacular languages, and even, as is very clear from the 1854 Dispatch, in their local variety not in the learned speech such as high Hindi or Urdu which already differ from oral speech by their sanksritized or persianized lexicon respectively. The same is true for all other regional languages, which have a high learned speech far enough from the spoken language not to be understood by children from underprivileged backgrounds or living in villages where the local dialect is quite distinct from the regional language. The desirable balance could indeed never be achieved, and the combination advocated by the 1854 Dispatch between English (the means for accessing power) and vernacular languages in their local district form could never be implemented. In reality, the introduction of English in the academic curricula was accompanied by a growing neglect of the vernacular languages, and similarly, the emphasis on the socalled vernaculars was translated into an elimination of the languages of the people: the real evolution was a process of disprivileging folk languages. English in India today is a symbol of people s aspirations for quality in education and fuller participation in national and international life... The level of introduction of English has now become a matter of political response to people s aspirations, 170

20 rendering almost irrelevant an academic debate on the merits of a very early introduction. (NCERT 2006:1). THE ROLE AND PLACE OF ENGLISH English was perceived as a library language during the formative years of India s independence; indeed at one point there was a proposal that Hindi should be given fully fledged official language status and that English should be abolished from public use. However, having been granted associate official language status (though it is still not a language listed in the eighth schedule of the Indian constitution), English continued to dominate higher education. Increasingly, it has been spreading its wings and is moving into school education. This study Language policy in education and the role of English in India: From library language to language of empowerment by Ramanujam Meganathan (2011) has found that: 75 different languages are used in India s education system. 31 different languages are used as media of instruction; this is approximately half the number of languages that were being used for this purpose in the 1980s. English is taught somewhere in the curriculum of all the 32 states and Union Territories which provided data for the survey reported here. Only Hindi is taught in as many states. The percentage of schools teaching English as a first language doubled between 1993 and 2002 from five per cent to ten per cent in primary schools and from seven per cent to 13 per cent in upper primary schools. English is offered as a second language by more states than any other language. 33 of 35 states claim to offer English as a medium of instruction; this is more than any other language. Between 1993 and 2002 there was an increase in the proportion of schools offering English as a medium of instruction; the sharpest increase (from five per cent to 13 per cent) occurred in primary schools. By 2002, more than a quarter of all secondary schools were offering English as a medium of instruction. 171

21 English is offered as a second language in 19 states, of which 16 introduce it in Class I, one in Class III and two as late as Class V. The British Government was, however, the principal agent in disseminating modern education in India. It established a network of schools and colleges in India which turned out educated Indians well-versed in modern knowledge. The introduction of modern education in India was primarily motivated by politicoadministrative and economic needs of Britain in India. However, they were convinced that the spread of British culture would bring about a social and political unification of the world. The third powerful force spreading modern education in India comprised enlightened Indians. Persons like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Keshab Chandra Sen, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Ishwar Chander Vidyasagar, Ranade, Dayanand Saraswati, Ramakrishna Vivekanand, etc. worked towards the establishment of modern education. Modern education had fundamentally different orientation and organization as compared to traditional education. Thus, with the introduction of the Western system of education both the meaning and content of education underwent significant changes. Modern education was also the medium for spread of modern science and ideas of equality and liberty. It becomes less religious. Besides, many new branches of learning were introduced. The printing press revolutionized the educational system in that the emphasis shifted from personal, oral communication to impersonal communication of idea through books, journals and other media. It brought the sacred scripture within the reach of many castes who had not been allowed by custom to read them. Modern education was gradually thrown by custom to read them. Modern education was gradually thrown open to all castes, religious groups and to women. Education became the basis of exploiting new economic opportunities which were to a large extent castefree. Education opportunities helped one to acquire the necessary skills outside caste. Occupations thus become a relatively independent element. Language policy in India has adapted itself to the changing demands and aspirations of people over the period of time from 1947 to the present. Change has occurred on many counts. Firstly, the question of a national language which was wisely addressed during the formative years of independence by not declaring any language as the national language has now been permanently settled. The existence of English in India means that it is no longer necessary to consider the issue of a national language. In other 172