British Educational Reforms

 INTRODCUTION:Today I'd like to share some educational history reforms by britishers in India.and Education is must for any country's administration, and Britishers had made positive role in it.I will publish this article in 4 parts .In this part I only discuss about about the introduction and some part of development of britishers in educational history.I hope you will love it and your interest would be created itself after reading this.ThanksBritish Empire and its history in India are considered one of the most remembering and remarkable historical periods in Indian history. With the advent of British ships on Indian coasts in early 16th century, things did not remain the same any more. Distinct features of each age and century underline British rule in India, starting with the British East India Company and ending with Lord Mountbatten and transfer of power in 1947.British regime in India can be named as one of contrasts; on one hand, they were hell bent to wrench havoc on hapless `natives` and `blackies`, one the other hand, they went on establishing umpteen ways to make natives educated and learned for the future. Education was such a sphere, where the British perhaps contributed the most. Development of education in India during British rule was enormous, commencing from the elementary level and reaching up to high school and doctoral levels. Though the years within the late 17th and early 18th centuries were not the serious education years, development of education under British regime was first witnessed in late 18th and early 19th centuries. The years of Sepoy Mutinyand its after-effects had passed by. The times later to Mutiny were divisional, after Quenn Victoria directly annexed India under Her ruling from England. Indians now were divided among social classes and groups - high-classed educated Indians, assisting the British government and crusading natives, also termed freedom-fighters, `swadeshis` and nationalists.The former group primarily leaned towards British-aided education, with the opening of schools, colleges and universities. In these cases also one could witness an overall bias towards educative measures. British individuals were always favoured over Indian counterparts. Yet exceptions proved these arguments as on the contrary.DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION:The turn of the century witnessed even more development in education under British ruling, when Eduacational Reforms in 1901-1904came into consideration. The reforms were primarily made under the supervision of Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India. Initial resistance were dispensed with and the politically intelligent Indian class came into proper picture. In fact, had it not been for such native men, British educational system would never have been thus popular as it is in present times. To honour Indian contribution to education, several acts were made into law by the British government of India.The purposes and structure of education as introduced closely followed British school models. So also with respect to health programs ; British administrators promoted ideas and practices of contemporary Waste medicine, while Hindu, Muslim, and other local practices and their doctors were disregarded. Local government suffered a similar treatment. The British made a little attempt to collect information about pre-British local governmental institutions or lend support to them. Instead, they established Municipal Committees, District Councils, and eventually a Provincial Council. these essentially British civil institutions were usually expected to be financially self-supporting and this severely limited their effectiveness. During the six decades from 1861 to 1921 these social and local government institutions had checkered history, being alternately promoted and ignored as personnel in the provincial administration changed. As a result they affected the lives of only a small upper segment of the provincial population. This section examines the first of these three social service institutions-education.