Chapter Info (Click Here)
Book No. – 19 (Sociology)
Book Name – Social Background of Indian Nationalism (A.R. Desai)
What’s Inside the Chapter? (After Subscription)
1. Education and its Social Significance
2. Pre-British Indian Culture, Two Misconceptions
3. Education in Pre-British India
4. Introduction of Modern Education
5. Unhealthy Reactions to Modern Education
6. Growth of Modern Education upto 1854
7. From Wood’s Dispatch to Lord Curzon’s University Act
8. Third Phase, 1901-1921
9. Fourth Phase, 1921-1939
10. Modern Education in India, Main Criticisms
11. Its Progressive Essense
12. Indian Nationalism, No Offspring of Modern Education
13. Modern Education and its Advantages
14. Prerequisites of its Healthy Development
Note: The first chapter of every book is free.
Access this chapter with any subscription below:
- Half Yearly Plan (All Subject)
- Annual Plan (All Subject)
- Sociology (Single Subject)
- CUET PG + Sociology
LANGUAGE
The Role of Modern Education in the Development of Indian Nationalism
Chapter – 9
Table of Contents
Education and its Social Significance
- No society can exist without economic activity, as it must engage in production to maintain the bare physical existence of its members.
- To produce, societies must understand Nature and develop scientific knowledge.
- The process of social practice for biological existence led to the development of mechanics, physics, chemistry, agronomy, and other sciences.
- Societies apply scientific knowledge to evolve technology, creating means of production like the plough and handicraft tools, later advancing to machinery powered by steam, electricity, and atomic energy.
- Every society, regardless of its level, possesses some scientific knowledge and technology, and a philosophy or worldview.
- Pre-British Indian society had agricultural and handicraft-based economies, with knowledge in astronomy, agronomy, mathematics, mechanics, and medicine.
- Though pioneering work was done in mathematics, chemistry, and medicine, pre-British India remained at a low level of economic development for a long period.
- During this time, India focused on interpreting the idealistic philosophy of the Upanishads rather than progressing in natural sciences and technology.
- The British introduced modern education in India, bringing the Indian people in contact with the scientific and social scientific achievements of the modern West.
- The passage highlights the idea that Europe owes a debt of civilization to Asia, as Eastern sciences, once nurtured in the East, were brought to maturity in the West and are now spreading globally.
Pre-British Indian Culture, Two Misconceptions
- Two misconceptions about pre-British Indian culture:
- Arya Samaj’s idealization: Claimed all knowledge (scientific, social, spiritual) was achieved by the Aryans and stored in the Vedas, asserting modern discoveries were embedded in them.
- This claim stemmed from the ignorance that knowledge is historically conditioned, growing over time, and dependent on the level of social development.
- Pre-British Indian society was at a low level of socio-economic development, so its knowledge was less than that of modern humanity.
- Lord Macaulay’s misconception: Dismissed Indian culture as superstition, ridiculing aspects like medical doctrines, astronomy, history, and geography.
- Macaulay’s view was a one-sided picture of India’s past, ignoring the presence of scientific knowledge alongside superstition in every society.
- Every society needs to produce, and production requires technology and scientific knowledge, however limited.
- The fact that Indian society survived for centuries in the pre-British period indicates it possessed some level of scientific knowledge.
- The task of society is to critically carry over its past culture, assimilating the scientific elements in it.
- Macaulay’s uncritical denial of Indian culture was as unhistorical as the Arya Samaj’s uncritical idealization of it.
Education in Pre-British India
- Hindu society was caste-stratified, with the Brahmin caste having the exclusive right to preach, officiate as priests, and function as teachers.
- Brahmins had the privilege to study higher religious and secular knowledge; other castes were debarred from higher studies by religious edicts enforced by the Hindu state.
- Brahmins studied in specialized seminaries like Tols, Vidyalayas, and Chatuspathis, with the medium of instruction being Sanskrit, the sacred language of the Hindus.
- Vernacular schools existed for common people, teaching mainly reading, writing, and basic arithmetic, along with some religious instruction. These schools were mainly attended by the sons of traders.
- Women, lower castes, and agriculturists had limited access to education. Education among Hindus was highly restricted and predominantly for Brahmins.
- Brahmins enjoyed a monopoly on higher education, and the education system reinforced the existing caste structureand belief in the Vedas and Brahmin authority.
- Education taught the virtues of unconditional allegiance to elders, parents, teachers, and the king, helping individuals conform to the hierarchic structure of society.
- In contrast, among Muslims, higher education was not monopolized by a particular section due to the democratic nature of Islam.
- Any Muslim could study at a Madarasa, but education was taught in Arabic, the language of the Koran, which was foreign to most Indians.
- Muslim schools also taught vernaculars, Persian (the language of Islamic culture and administration), and other subjects.
- The Hindu and Muslim education systems had similarities: both were religion-based, used foreign languages, discouraged free inquiry, and resisted change.
- The key difference was that while Hindu schools were exclusive to a certain caste, Muslim schools were open to any individual who believed in one God and Muhammad as his prophet.
- Neither system encouraged the development of individuality or a rationalist outlook. The education system aimed to make students staunch Hindus or Muslims, conforming to the religions and social structures of those religions.
- The introduction of modern education was a significant and progressive event in India’s history, marking a shift under British rule.