Minute on Indian Education by T.B Macaulay - Summary
Thomas Babington Macaulay, a noted English political and literary figure wrote this essay in 1835 and his recommendations were included in the English Education Act of 1835 along with Lord Bentinck's. The essay is about Macaulay's suggestion to fund education in India in English medium in rather than wasting 'limited' resources of British on Indian vernacular languages such as Sanskrit or Persian.
The essay begins with his idea of educating people of illiterate India in foreign medium i.e. English. He is so proud of the language that at first, he doesn't find the need to point the benefits of English language.
He then illustrates the worth of the language and the rich content available in the fields of History, Polity, Jurisprudence(law), Metaphysics, Governance and emphasizes that Greek is no superior to English from which it derived many things. He intends to build the confidence of aspiring learner by describing how all the sublime intellectual material, including Modern Sciences which tends to make our life easy, healthy and comfortable, created by various human generations across the globe are available in the English language. He also guarantees the veracity of the material available in the English language.
He also points out that English is already spoken by ruling and aristocratic class of British India. According to him, it can become the language of trade with which India can engage in economic trade with other British colonies of South Africa and Australia. Macaulay finds every reason to implement the language in the Indian context. He gives his own opinion of the cons of not implementing English and favouring vernacular languages and knowledge which he finds inferior, unreliable and have minuscule material as compared to the European one.
Macaulay, to support his opinion, gives instances of two countries which got rid of prejudices, spread knowledge and purified its taste in Arts and Sciences. This led to their coming out from dark and ignorant caverns and shedding their backwardness. The two countries about which he talks are England and Russia:-
He talks about the period of Renaissance in the fifteen-sixteen century in Europe which led to the overhaul of the Europe in positive terms. He points that at that time everything of some worth was only available in Greek and Roman writings. He asks if his ancestor hadn't taken some measures such as proclaiming the worthiness of Great authors of Roman and Greek such as Cicero and Tacitus, beginning to benefit from making good use of printing technology, changing the Academic courses in universities etc. He concludes that England would not become a powerful state if the above measures hadn't been taken. He presents an analogy between British and Indian context by noting that what Greek and Latin did for authors Thomas More and Roger Ascham and their contemporaries, English can do the same for Indians. He denounces the Sanskrit literature by raising a doubt that the latter is not as much valuable as English literature and it's only in History that he confirms his 'certainty'.
Next, he talks about Russia which he calls a promising country, predicting that it would surpass Britain and France. He praises the large civilized community and intellectuals residing in Russia who are no less educated than the ones in Europe. He also describes Russia's history that 120 years ago it was more barbarous than Europe during Crusades and was a failed state sinking in ignorance. He tells the reason of then how Russia change from a such a distressed state to a growing one. According to him, its success was due to their learning of Foreign languages in which vast and knowledge are available and thus making it accessible to them. He owes Russia's success to Western Europe and he believes that the same can do miracles for the Hindoos( Indians).
At last, he held that the Britishers can't make all Indians educated with 'limited budget' but it can help in creating a new class of Indians who would be "Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in intellect" who can work as a mediator between British and masses of Indians. And this class may work by themselves to refine and promote their vernacular languages and dialects. After that, there can be translation and transmission of Western Science and knowledge to local languages and so can be accessible to the "great mass of the population" of India.
The essay begins with his idea of educating people of illiterate India in foreign medium i.e. English. He is so proud of the language that at first, he doesn't find the need to point the benefits of English language.
He then illustrates the worth of the language and the rich content available in the fields of History, Polity, Jurisprudence(law), Metaphysics, Governance and emphasizes that Greek is no superior to English from which it derived many things. He intends to build the confidence of aspiring learner by describing how all the sublime intellectual material, including Modern Sciences which tends to make our life easy, healthy and comfortable, created by various human generations across the globe are available in the English language. He also guarantees the veracity of the material available in the English language.
He also points out that English is already spoken by ruling and aristocratic class of British India. According to him, it can become the language of trade with which India can engage in economic trade with other British colonies of South Africa and Australia. Macaulay finds every reason to implement the language in the Indian context. He gives his own opinion of the cons of not implementing English and favouring vernacular languages and knowledge which he finds inferior, unreliable and have minuscule material as compared to the European one.
Macaulay, to support his opinion, gives instances of two countries which got rid of prejudices, spread knowledge and purified its taste in Arts and Sciences. This led to their coming out from dark and ignorant caverns and shedding their backwardness. The two countries about which he talks are England and Russia:-
He talks about the period of Renaissance in the fifteen-sixteen century in Europe which led to the overhaul of the Europe in positive terms. He points that at that time everything of some worth was only available in Greek and Roman writings. He asks if his ancestor hadn't taken some measures such as proclaiming the worthiness of Great authors of Roman and Greek such as Cicero and Tacitus, beginning to benefit from making good use of printing technology, changing the Academic courses in universities etc. He concludes that England would not become a powerful state if the above measures hadn't been taken. He presents an analogy between British and Indian context by noting that what Greek and Latin did for authors Thomas More and Roger Ascham and their contemporaries, English can do the same for Indians. He denounces the Sanskrit literature by raising a doubt that the latter is not as much valuable as English literature and it's only in History that he confirms his 'certainty'.
Next, he talks about Russia which he calls a promising country, predicting that it would surpass Britain and France. He praises the large civilized community and intellectuals residing in Russia who are no less educated than the ones in Europe. He also describes Russia's history that 120 years ago it was more barbarous than Europe during Crusades and was a failed state sinking in ignorance. He tells the reason of then how Russia change from a such a distressed state to a growing one. According to him, its success was due to their learning of Foreign languages in which vast and knowledge are available and thus making it accessible to them. He owes Russia's success to Western Europe and he believes that the same can do miracles for the Hindoos( Indians).
At last, he held that the Britishers can't make all Indians educated with 'limited budget' but it can help in creating a new class of Indians who would be "Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in intellect" who can work as a mediator between British and masses of Indians. And this class may work by themselves to refine and promote their vernacular languages and dialects. After that, there can be translation and transmission of Western Science and knowledge to local languages and so can be accessible to the "great mass of the population" of India.