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Higher Education for a Few

Higher Education for a Few

By Himanshi Nagpal

Teaching has for long held a culturally exalted status in the Indian public and collective imagination. How that status is given to teachers, however, is a different story. On the one hand, the upper caste idiom of guru-shishya relationship builds on the idea of servitude. This idea also straddles the traditional and modern sense of the category of teacher. On the other hand, anti-caste teachers Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule, and Fatima Sheikh are celebrated as leaders and path makers of the anti-caste movement of which education is an integral part.

Early 19th Century Transformation

While in pre-colonial times the teachers were employed locally through collective responsibility of the villages, the early 19th century saw changes in the profession. There was a gradual but deliberate effort to bring new technologies of education – new school timings, differently organised school space, boards or wall tables, textbooks on elementary reading, grammar, spelling books, dictionaries inspired in structure and model of English language – which engendered a need for teachers trained in the new ways.

The Macaulay Debate

Macaulay, a highly misunderstood figure, is mainly known for his Minute of 1835, which ostensibly dismissed the entire Indian literature in comparison to English literature. However, in most of its readings, the Minute has been looked at out of context. Macaulay and Anglicists wanted to establish modern schools accessible to everyone, with Europeans and Indians, upper castes and lower castes, studying together.

The Orientalists found Sanskrit and Arabic to be better adapted to spreading higher education including European science and philosophy along with Indian knowledge systems. The early 19th century saw the establishment of Calcutta Sanskrit College and Madrasa for this purpose.

Educational Reform and Societies

Educational reform was carried out by a nexus of three agencies: the state, missionaries and Indians. While missionaries largely directed their efforts towards elementary education, both the state and Indian reformers pursued a policy of differentiated education, that is, English higher education and vernacular primary education.

While English was not supported by the Orientalists in the Bengal government, CSBS was much more enthusiastic towards higher education in English as a way to create a distinct Hindu cultural identity for the Bhadralok.

Institutional Exclusion

Another example of differentiated education could be seen in the Poona Sanskrit College in the Bombay Presidency. The government in the Bombay Presidency was much more open to English education at the collegiate level, though cautious in its approach towards the Brahmins, who as a caste had held supreme authority under the Peshwa regime.

The caste hierarchies were reformulated in the modern educational domain. The practice of differentiated education was cemented with the policy guidelines of 1854, famously called the Wood's Despatch, which led to the establishment of the first three universities in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras with affiliated colleges.

The grant-in-aid system constituted 50% funding from the state and the other half from private entities. However, how could marginalised sections raise 50% of the amount or procure resources equalling such? Such lack in the educational domain also led to a limited number of people – upper castes – having opportunities to pursue teaching or other occupations that required high levels of education.

Himanshi Nagpal

Himanshi Nagpal has recently completed her master’s in Modern Indian Studies from the Centre of Modern Indian Studies, Göttingen University. Currently, she is preparing for a PhD in the field of history of education.

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