Macaulay's Minutes: How A British Policy Treatises 'Westernised' Indian Education?

The Indian education system has continued to grow over the years. Several developments make way for an inclusive curriculum that pushes each student to do their best in every field.

In the past, education was not given the importance as it is now. Everything was rooted in traditional methods that had both benefits and drawbacks from the medium to the approach. In light of this, a certain development in 1835 changed the country's education dynamics forever.

From 'Macaulay's Minutes' To 'English Education Act'

On February 2, 1835, a British politician named Thomas Babington Macaulay introduced a set of policies that aimed to teach English as a language medium in India. He circulated 'Minute On Education', encouraging the East India Company to 'westernise' the country.

Popularly known as 'Macaulay's Minutes' or 'Macaulayism', it gave more prominence to the English language over the 'orientalist' languages. "A single shelf of a good European was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia," Scroll quotes Lord Macaulay's words.

Further, he emphasised the importance of the language in higher education, stating that the Western model of education is superior as it will teach 'a class of persons- Indian in blood and colour- but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and intellect.'

Within a month, the then Governor-General, Lord William Bentinck, introduced the English Education Act, 1835. The funds that were allocated to uplift to support traditional languages in the country were now redirected to 'westernise' the country in the process.

'White Man's Burden'

Rudyard Kipling's poem 'White Man's Burden' justified the European colonial rule worldwide. One of the many duties the British empire aimed to 'fulfil' was to 'civilise' the natives by introducing their ways of the world.

Macaulay's Minutes were progressive and problematic in equal measures, and his education policy has modernised the country in several ways. From its eventual technological boom to accessible resources, Lord Macaulay's policies have paved the way for the dynamics India follows today.

However, it has its downsides as well. While Lord Macaulay did not put down the traditional languages, he argued that they were not intellectually superior. "Which language is the best worth knowing? Sanskrit and Arabic poetry could be compared to the great European nations. From the works of imagination to works in which facts are recorded and general principles investigated, the superiority of Europeans becomes immeasurable," quotes The Wire.

Also Read: A Rare Privilege': How RK Shanmukham Chetty Presented Independent India's First Union Budget?