In the previous chapters we have embodied and discussed the important
parts of the Report of Mr. Montagu and Lord Chelmsford. In this chapter
we give a summary of what they say about education. The statements of
fact made by the two distinguished statesmen are so lucid and fair that
we make no apology for copying the whole article embodying the same.
"There is, however, one aspect of the general problem of political
advance which is so important as to require notice in some detail.
We have observed already that one of the greatest obstacles to
India's political development lies not only in the lack of
education among its peoples taken as a whole, but also in the
uneven distribution of educational advance. The educational policy
of Government has incurred much criticism from different points of
view. Government is charged with neglect, because after sixty
years of educational effort only 6 per cent. of the population is
literate, while under 4 per cent. of the total population is
undergoing instruction. It is charged, on the other hand, with
having given to those classes which welcomed instruction a system
which is divorced from their needs in being purely literary, in
admitting methods of unintelligent memorising and of cramming, and
in producing, far in excess of the actual demands of Indian
conditions, a body of educated young men whose training has
prepared them only for Government service or the practice of law.
The system of university education on Western lines is
represented as cutting off the students from the normal life of
the country, and the want of connection between primary education
in the vernaculars and higher education in English is regarded as
another radical defect."
The period of sixty years mentioned is evidently counted from 1858, the
year in which the rule of the East India Company ceased and the Crown
assumed direct responsibility for the Government of India. British rule
in India however began in 1757 A.D. and the foundation of public
education in India under the British might well be considered to have
been laid by Warren Hastings in 1781, in which year the Calcutta
Madrassa was established. For a period of almost 50 years the discussion
whether the Indians should be instructed in English or not went on until
it was settled in 1835 by Lord Macaulay's famous minute in favour of
English and the European system. In 1824 there were 14 public
institutions in Bengal imparting education on Western lines.
In the same year, i.e., in 1824, Monstuart Elphinstone formulated a
similar policy for the Bombay presidency.
To the remarks made in the above quotation about the extent and kind of
education imparted in India till now, the distinguished authors of the
report add:
"From the economic point of view India had been handicapped by the
want of professional and technical instruction: her colleges turn
out numbers of young men qualified for Government clerkships while
the real interests of the country require, for example, doctors
and engineers in excess of the existing supply. The charge that
Government has produced a large _intelligentsia_ which cannot find
employment has much substance in it: it is one of the facts that
lie at the root of recent political difficulties. But it is only
of late years and as part of the remarkable awakening of national
self-consciousness, that the complaint has been heard that the
system has failed to train Indians for practical work in
manufactures, commerce, and the application of science to
industrial life."
After making a few general observations on the so called difficulties in
the way of a general spread of education "the chief needs at present"
are thus pointed out:
"Primary education, as we have seen, is already practically in the
hands of local bodies, but secondary education was deliberately
left at the outset almost entirely to private agencies. The
universities, despite their connection with Government, are
largely non-official bodies with extensive powers.[1] The main
defect of the system is probably the want of co-ordination between
primary and higher education, which in turn reacts upon the
efficiency of the secondary institutions and to a great extent
confines university colleges to the unsatisfactory function of
mere finishing schools. The universities have suffered from having
been allowed to drift into the position of institutions that are
expected not so much to educate in the true sense as to provide
the student with the means of entering an official or a
professional career. Thus a high percentage of failures seems to a
large body of Indian opinion not so much a proof of the faultiness
of the methods of teaching as an example of an almost capricious
refusal of the means of obtaining a living wage to boys who have
worked for years often at the cost of real hardship to secure an
independent livelihood. The educational wastage is everywhere
excessive; and analysis shows that it is largely due to
under-payment and want of proper training in the case of teachers.
The actual recruits for normal schools are too often ill-prepared,
and the teaching career, which in India used formerly to command
respect, does not now offer adequate inducements to men of ability
and force of character. The first need, therefore, is the
improvement of teaching. Until that is attained it is vain to
expect that the continuation of studies from the primary stage can
be made attractive. But while the improvement of primary and
middle schools is the first step to be taken, very much remains to
be done in reorganising the secondary teachers and ensuring for
the schoolmaster a career that will satisfy an intelligent man.
The improvement of ordinary secondary education is obviously a
necessary condition for the development of technical instruction
and the reform of the university system. It is clear that there is
much scope for an efficient and highly trained inspectorate in
stimulating the work of the secondary schools and in helping the
inspectorate of the primary schools maintained by the local
bodies. We believe that the best minds in India, while they feel
that the educational service has not in the past been widely
enough opened to Indians trained at British universities, value
the maintenance of a close connection with educationists from the
United Kingdom.
"This survey of educational problems will show how much room there
is for advance and improvement, and also how real the difficulties
are. The defects of the present system have often been discussed
in the legislative councils, but, as was inevitable so long as the
councils had no responsibility, without due appreciation of
financial difficulties, or serious consideration of the question
how far fresh taxation for educational improvement would be
acceptable. As we shall show, it is part of the political advance
that we contemplate that the direction of Indian education should
be increasingly transferred to Indian hands. Only so, we believe,
can the stimulus be forthcoming which will enable the necessary
money to be found. The weak points are recognised. A real desire
for improvement exists. Educational extension and reform must
inevitably play an important part in the political progress of the
country. We have already made clear our conviction that political
capacity can come only through the exercise of political
responsibility; and that mere education without opportunities must
result in serious mischief. But there is another important
element. Progress must depend on the growth of electorates and the
intelligent exercise of their powers; and men will be immensely
helped to become competent electors by acquiring such education as
will enable them to judge candidates for their votes, and of the
business done in the councils. No one would propose to prescribe
an educational qualification for the vote; but no one can deny the
practical difficulties which make a very general extension of the
franchise impossible, until literacy is far more widely spread
than is the case at present. Progress was temporarily interrupted
by uncertainty as to the distribution of financial resources which
would result from the constitutional changes; but the imminence of
these has given a new importance to the question and its
consideration has been resumed. We trust that impetus will thus be
given to a widespread movement which will be taken up and carried
forward boldly by the reformed councils."
The subject has been so fairly dealt with, the defects of the present
system so frankly recognised and the need of wider dissemination of
education so forcibly explained that we need add nothing.
In our judgment the circumstances and conditions under which it is
proposed to transfer the direction of Indian education to Indian hands
are extremely unfair. It is admitted that under the present economic
conditions of the Indian people, there is little scope for further
taxation. If so, there are only two ways to find money for education,
(_a_) by economy in the other departments of public administration,
(_b_) by loans.
The recommendation made by the Secretary of State and the Viceroy for an
increase in the emoluments of the European services hardly leaves any
room for (_a_). We have discussed the matter at some length in another
chapter. The only other source left, then, is by incurring debt.
Education is so important and so fundamental to the future progress of
the country that in our judgment the ministers should feel no hesitation
in having recourse to it, but the problem is so gigantic that, lacking
material reduction in the cost of administration in other departments,
it will be extremely difficult to meet the situation without an
unreasonable increase in the public debt. Anyway, under the scheme
recommended, the Government cannot divest itself of the fullest
responsibility in the matter. The scheme gives no vital power to the
electorates or their representatives. The authority of the Executive in
the matter of appropriations remains unaffected and so long as it
retains the final say in the making of the Budget, the Indian ministers
cannot, handicapped by so many restrictions, be held responsible if the
progress is slow.
Our views on the problem of education in India have been expressed in a
separate book to which interested readers are referred.[2] We hold that
it is the duty of the Government to provide free and wholesome education
to every child at public cost, that education should be compulsory up to
the age of 18. The policy of the English Education Act of 1918 ought to
be applied to India, and if it cannot be done from current funds, loans
should be raised for the purpose. It is a matter which brooks of no
delay. The whole future of India depends upon it. Nay, the future of
humanity as a whole is affected by it. The world cannot be safe for any
kind of democracy, nor can the world make progress towards a better
order without the active coöperation of three hundred and fifteen
million Indians forming one-fifth of the human race. Not only is the
world poorer by reason of India's inability to coöperate in the work of
progress but its present educational backwardness is a serious handicap
to the rest of humanity going forward.