Development of Education: UPSC Previous Year Questions (Modern History)

Explanation

Wood’s Dispatch (1854) is known as the Magna Carta of English Education in India. Under this government was to take up the responsibility for the Education of masses. It provided for hierarchy of Educational Institutions i.e. three tier education system. It also emphasised on Female, Vocational Education and teachers’ training. The Dispatch proposed secular education in Government Institutions.

Statement 1 is correct: The Despatch advocated for the introduction of a Grants-in-Aid system to encourage private and missionary enterprises in education. Under this scheme, financial assistance was provided to educational institutions that met certain standards thereby promoting the expansion and improvement of education.

Statement 2 is correct: It systematised the hierarchy from vernacular primary schools in villages at bottom, followed by Anglo-Vernacular High Schools and an affiliated college at the district level and affiliating universities in the presidency towns of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras.

Statement 3 is incorrect: The Woods Dispatch recommended English as the Medium of Instruction in higher studies and vernaculars language in at school level.

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct: The idea of supporting educated Indians and promoting knowledge of contemporary sciences in the country was enshrined into the Charter Act of 1813. The Charter Act of 1813 permitted Christian missionaries to propagate English and preach their religion. It mandated the company to allocate one lakh rupees annually for the revival and improvement of literature and the promotion of science among the inhabitants of British India. The Act emphasized the need to educate Indians in Western sciences and literature which indirectly laid the foundation for English education.

Statement 2 is correct: A "General Committee of Public Instruction" was established by the Governor-General-in-Council in 1823 with the task of allocating one lakh rupees for educational purposes under the Presidentship of Lord Macaulay. Lord Macaulay’s Minute resolved the debate in favor of the Anglicists, directing the limited government resources toward the teaching of Western sciences and literature through the medium of the English language.

Statement 3 is correct: The Orientalist-Anglicist Controversy in the early 19th century centered on the medium and content of education in India. Orientalists led by scholars like H.T. Prinsep advocated for preserving traditional Indian knowledge through Sanskrit, Persian, and Arabic. Anglicists led by Thomas Babington Macaulay, pushed for English education to create a class of Indians who were culturally English but Indian by birth. The debate culminated in Macaulay’s Minute of 1835 which favored English education. Governor-General Lord William Bentinck endorsed this view thereby officially making English the medium of instruction in higher education.

Explanation

Pair 1 is incorrectly matched: The Sanskrit College at Benaras was founded in 1791 by Jonathan Duncan (not William Jones). The objective was to promote the study of Hindu law and philosophy among the people of Benaras., Sir William Jones was a renowned philologist and scholar who founded the Asiatic Society in 1784 in Calcutta, aiming to encourage Oriental studies.

Pair 2 is correctly matched: The Calcutta Madrasah was established by Warren Hastings in 1781 for the study of Muslim law and related subjects to promote the study of Islamic law and jurisprudence among the Muslim population.

Pair 3 is incorrectly matched: Fort William College was set up by Lord Richard Wellesley in 1800 for training of civil servants of the Company in languages and customs of Indians.