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Development of Education System

Notes • Oriental Print of View: This 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. Among the important supporters of this policy were.
• William Adam (1789-1868) lived in India for 27 years. Through journalism and educational
situation of Bengal between (1835) and (1838) and submitted important reports.
• William Adam was born in Scotland in (1789) and became a priest in (1815) in a Baptist
Mission Society. In (1818) he reached Serampore and studied Bengali and Sanskrit. He
came in contact with Raja Ram Mohan Roy in Calcutta.
• Wood’s Despatch on Education in 1854 laid the foundation of Indian educational system
and the establishments of Universities in Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai
• Wood‘s Despatch on Education in 1854 laid the foundation on which the educational
system has since developed. Various problems related to education in India had become
one of the key concerns of the British government by 1853.
• The Wood‘s despatch proposed several recommendations in order to improve the system
of education. According the recommendations, it was declared that the aim of Government‘s
policy was the promotion of the western education.
• Government’s acceptance of educational responsibility: The Despatch for the first time
clearly accepted that the responsibility of education in India lies on British Government.
• Aims of education: The Despatch defined the aim of education keeping in view the interests
of Indians and British rule.
• Oriental languages: The Despatch emphasized the importance of Oriental languages. Mr.
Wood had recognized the usefulness of Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian and recommended
them as subjects of study in regular institutions.
• The Despatch recommended that owing to the shortage of books in Indian languages, the
medium of instruction should be English
• The despatch had the following objectives of education :
1. To enable the natives of India to have those vast and material blessings which flow form
the general diffusion of Western knowledge.
2. To produce high degree of intellectual fitness and also to raise the moral character of
those who partake of the above advantages;
• The main recommendations of the Commission were as under :
1. In the field of primary education, the Commission made elaborate recommendations on
the lines of country Council Act of England with regard to its policy, objectives
curriculum, methods of teaching, teachers training, finance and administration etc. The
responsibility of imparting primary education was fixed on local bodies.
2. The curriculum should be framed according to local needs and its practical aspects properly
emphasised.
3. Mother tongue should be the medium of instruction at the primary stage. The
Commission was silent about the secondary stage. Hence, indirectly, it supported the
cause of English..
4. The Commission recommended the establishment of a model government high school
in each district.
• The Commission gave the following suggestions with regard to women education.

1. Education in Special Subjects: The Commission said that the curriculum for girls should
be different from that of boys, because of the different nature of their life duties. Subjects
useful in their life should be included in their curriculum.
• The Commission recommended that only lady teachers should be appointed in girl’s schools.

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