Wood’s  Despatch  Recommendation

Two groups of People Associated with this Controversy are:

1. Orientalist:...

1. Orientalist:

Orientalists were the group of people who wanted to give education to Indian people in the Indian language. The emphasis was on the knowledge of the East. They wanted Indians to learn about Indian philosophy, science, and literature. In the Initial stage, company officials favored oriental learning....

2. Anglicist:

Anglicists were those people who supported the teaching of modern western education to Indian people in the English language. People who favored Anglicists were Thomas Babington, Macaulay, James’s mill, Charles wood, Charles Trevelyan, and Elphinstone. The Anglicists were supported by the most advanced Indians like Raja Ram Mohan Roy....

How was the Controversy Solved?

Lord William Bentinck, became governor-general in 1833. In 1835, to address the controversy he formed a General Committee of Public Instruction under the chairmanship of Lord Macaulay. Lord Macaulay through his famous Macaulay’s minute settled the debate in the favor of Anglicists....

Macaulay’s Minute:

The resources and grants devoted to educational reforms in India would be used for spreading western science and literature through the English medium only.  The government made English a medium of instruction and opened schools and colleges. Recommended to close all the colleges that taught only eastern subjects and literature. Macaulay introduced ‘Infiltration theory’ through Macaulay’s Minute. The government was intended to educate the upper-middle class who was supposed to take up the task of educating and spreading modern ideas to the lower class. Students and professors continue to get stipends under committee supervision but no stipend to oriental college professors and students.  No government fund for the printing of oriental works....

Wood’s  Despatch  Recommendation:

Introducing vernacular language at primary level, Anglo vernacular at high school, and English medium in higher studies. Recommended reorganizing the whole structure of education. Establishing a department of public instruction in each of the Bengal provinces. University at Bengal, Bombay, and Madras presidencies was established in 1857. Expansion of mass education was a major focus and it was started by discarding Downward filtration theory. Common people lacked educational opportunities so they focused on increasing no. of primary schools and colleges. Woods dispatch focused on teaching English but never discarded Indian languages.  Women’s education was given importance, and Bethune school was established for girls.  It focused on teacher training and separate training for engineering, medicine, and law which were organized in the mother tongue for the natives. Grant-in-aid to encourage private schools....

Conclusion:

Hunter commission becomes the way forward of the wood’s dispatch. It was constituted by viceroy Lord Ripon for investigating complaints about wood’s despatch of 1854, with the focus on primary education and primary education should be in vernacular language. It focused on the development of female education. Certain recommendations on secondary school with introducing vocational and academic courses were done....