Class – 8 Social Science
Chapter 7 – Civilizing the Native, Educating the Nation
WILLIAM JONES
In 1783, the Company founded the Supreme Court at Kolkata.
William Jones was appointed as a junior judge.
He was linguist. He mastered a wide range of languages, including Greek, Latin,
French, English, Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit.
He then went on to study ancient Indian writings on philosophy, law, politics, religion,
morality, medicine, arithmetic, and a variety of other subjects.
Jones had founded the Asiatic Society with the help of a few individuals and started a
publication called "Asiatic Researches."
Many British officials were inspired by Jones' effort and began to represent Indian
culture instead of Western culture.
In Banaras, a Hindu College was founded in 1791 to promote the study of ancient
Sanskrit writings.
The primary motivation for developing these disciplines was to improve India's
governance.
“GRAVE ERRORS OF THE EAST”:
● The British educationalists targeted the principal advocates of Indian ancient literature,
introducing the Western educational culture throughout the country.
● The study of the English language was disseminated all over the country.
● The English Education Act was adopted in the year 1835 based on Macaulay's minutes.
● The main goal of the English Education Act of 1835 was to make English the primary
medium of instruction for higher education.
WOOD’S DESPATCH:
In 1854, the East India Company's Court of Directors dispatched an educational
dispatch to London.
Charles Wood issued the dispatch, which became known as "Wood's dispatch."
Wood's dispatch emphasized practical learning, such as the expansion of trade and
commerce and the most efficient use of a country's resources.
The main objective of Wood's dispatch was to produce a trusted and "yes sir" type of
civil servant based on the belief that European training will improve the moral
character of Indian people.
The universities of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras were founded during the Sepoy
Mutiny.
LOCAL SCHOOLS:
● In the pathshalas, there was a flexible schooling system in place. The pathshalas lacked
a fixed price structure, printed literature, a separate school building, benches and chairs,
blackboards, separate classes, roll call registers, and annual examinations.
●The country's flexible education system was based on the country's socio-economic
system.
NEW ROUTINES AND RULES
● The objective was to impose routines, establish new standards, and conduct frequent
inspections within the existing educational system.
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● The East India Company appointed pandits to the government. Under each pandit,
there were four to five pathshalas. The government pandits were in charge of
enforcing the Company's laws and regulations.
● One of the system's drawbacks was that during harvest, children from low- income
households were required to attend school. Any disobedience to the rules was
considered indiscipline.
THE NEED FOR NATIONAL EDUCATION:
Apart from British authorities, there were numerous Indians from every nuke and
corner of the country who understood the value of education.
Some of them believed that western education would improve India's educational
system.
As a result, they asked the British to build more schools and colleges and invest more
money to improve India's educational system.
The second group of Indians was adamantly hostile to western education. Mahatma
Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore were the most notable among them.
MAHATMA GANDHI:
The colonial education system, according to Mahatma Gandhi, had instilled a
sense of inferiority in the minds of students.
The superiority of western education was consistently pushed by colonial education,
neglecting Indian culture. Our pupils were unable to learn about our own culture since
the institutions only taught them to follow British rules.
Mahatma Gandhi was a great believer in using the Indian language as the medium of
instruction, and a wave of protest erupted in the country when British education was
boycotted.
RABINDRANATH TAGORE:
Rabindranath Tagore created Santi Niketan in 1901.
The primary motivation for establishing the school was to enhance national education.
The main objective of Santi Niketan is to provide scientific and technical education to
Indian students in Indian style
EXERCISES
Question 1. Match the following:
Answer:
Question 2. State whether true or false
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1. James Mill was a severe critic of the Orientalists.
2. The 1854 Despatch on education was in favour of English being
introduced as a medium of higher education in India.
3. Mahatma Gandhi thought that the promotion of literacy was the most
important aim of education.
4. Rabindranath Tagore felt that children ought to be subjected to strict
discipline.
Answer:
1. True
2. True
3. False
4. False
Question 3. Why did William Jones feel the need to study Indian history, philosophy
and law?
Answer:
I. He shared a deep respect for ancient cultures, both of India and of the West.
II. Jones and Colebrooke felt that India had attained its glory in the ancient past.
In order to understand India, it was necessary to discover the sacred and legal
texts produced in the past.
III. Jones and Colebrooke believed that their project would help the British learn
from Indian culture.
IV. Indians would also rediscover their own heritage.
V. In this way the British would become guardians and masters of Indian culture.
Question 4. Why did James Mill and Thomas Macaulay think that European education
was essential in India?
Answer:
James Mill was the strongest critic of the Orientalists.
He declared that the British should not teach what the natives wanted, or what
they respected, in order to please them and “win a place in their heart”.
Indians should be made familiar with the scientific and technical advances that
the West had made, and not the sacred literature of the Orient.
Macaulay urged the British government in India to stop wasting public money
in promoting Oriental learning, for it had no practical use.
The teaching of English could thus be a way of civilizing people, changing their
tastes, values, and culture.
Question 5. Why did Mahatma Gandhi want to teach children handicrafts?
Answer: Mahatma Gandhi wanted to teach children handicraft because of the
following reasons:
People would work with their hands.
The craft would develop their minds.
It would also develop their capacities to understand.
Question 6. Why did Mahatma Gandhi think that English education had enslaved
Indians?
Answer:
1. According to Mahatma Gandhi, colonial education created a sense of
inferiority in the minds of Indians.
2. He said it made them see Western civilisation as superior which
destroyed the pride they had in their own culture.
3. He said: It was sinful—it enslaved Indians—it cast an evil spell on them.
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Education in English crippled Indians and distanced them from their own
social surroundings.
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