বলয পশচতয শকষ নত পরণযন মকওলর পরভব (Influence of Macaulay in the Formation of Western Education Policy in Bengal)
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The East-India Company government tried to appease Bengal by establishing first the Calcutta Madrasa in 1781 and the Benares Sanskrit College in 1792. The nature of teaching in both the institutions, religious and secular, enabled the state to make both the Hindu and Muslim communities of the country understand the purpose and importance of education, while the goal of education for the individual was mainly self-improvement and global improvement, the state's objective was quite different. The main aim of the state intervention was to create a dedicated attendant class of the state. Those who will work for the rulers in revenue, justice and other matters. As a result, a special class was being integrated through education in company-ruled Bengal, not as a nation. Although the development of such education could be seen as enlightening, but it could not play a role in creating the context for a social and cultural revolution. Rather, education itself became a social dividing line. The literate-illiterate class gap developed under British rule was unprecedented. At the initial stage, the company government expressed reluctance to take responsibility for the education of Indians, but the Court of Directors and Member of Parliament Charles Grant formed an evangelist movement called the Clapham Sect and continued to pressurize Parliament to carry out missionary activities on Indians. However, after 1823, the Anglo-Orientalist conflict between Indian education and Western advanced literature and science practice began. According to some anylizer, the crisis between the Anglophones and the Orientalists in this dispute is not mainly about the purpose of education but about its means. The inclusion of C. E. Trevelyan and T. B. Macaulay on the Education Committee in 1834 combined utilitarian and evangelical approaches to educational problems. Besides, the position of the Anglicist party also became very strong. As a result, the negative impact of British attitude towards Indians became very evident. Finally, in 1835, Macaulay's proposal was accepted. The main theme of which was to create a loyal class of so-called literates in English education. Whose devotion to Lord will be eternal and full of gratitude. Who will not care about the loss of the value of their own land, but will always be busy with the gains of the British Empire. The cause of which was by no means spiritual but entirely material. Besides, in 1837 the perfect combination of the state language replaced Persian with English.
Source: History and Heritage
DOI: 10.70775/hnh/v010005
Author: H M Jalal Uddin Choudhury
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4407571515