Q. Which of the following led to the introduction of English Education in India?
- Charter Act of 1813
- General Committee of Public Instruction, 1823
- Orientalist and Anglicist Controversy
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
- 1 and 2 only
- 2 only
- 1 and 3 only
- 1, 2 and 3
Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3
Notes:
- Charter Act of 1813:
- The monopoly of EIC was abolished in terms of trade with India.
- The company still enjoyed the monopoly in terms of tea and china trade for 20 more years.
- This act provided a grant of one lakh rupees per annum for the promotion of education in India.
- This act gave power to local governments to impose and collect taxes.
- It included a clause asserting the Crown’s undoubted sovereignty over all of the Company’s territories and required it to open up India to Christian missionaries.
- The Charter Act 1813 created a controversy between the anglicist and classicist on the medium of instruction and so the fund was kept unspent till 1823 due to the controversy.
- General Committee of Public Instruction:
- In 1823, the Governor-General-in Council appointed a “General Committee of Public Instruction”, which had the responsibility to grant the one lakh of rupees for education.
- That committee was headed by Lord Macaulay consisting of ten European members.
- The committee decided to spend major portions from the grant for the improvement of oriental literature.
- Even, the General Committee of Public Instruction also was not able to decide the medium of instruction by vote; because out of ten members, five were supporters of the English language as the medium of instruction and the rest were supporters of oriental or classic language as a medium of instruction.
- As a President of the General Committee of Public Instruction, Lord Macaulay wrote a minute on 2nd February 1835, where he made the conclusion regarding the controversy.
- Lord Macaulay stressed the implementation of the English language as a medium of instruction through his minute.