The history of education in India under British rule is a subject of profound significance, reflecting the complex interplay between colonial imperatives and indigenous aspirations. This book aims to provide a comprehensive examination of the major educational reforms introduced by the British and their lasting impacts on Indian society. The journey of exploring this topic has been both challenging and enlightening. It began with a deep curiosity about how colonial powers shaped the educational landscape of their colonies and evolved into a systematic analysis of the policies, their implementations, and their far-reaching consequences.

This 5 volume set tracks the various legal, administrative and social documentation on the progress of Indian education from 1780 to 1947. The documents not only map a cultural history of English education in India, but capture the debates in and around each of these domains through coverage of English (language, literature, pedagogy), the journey from school-to-university, and technical and vocational education. Produced by statesmen, educationists, administrators, teachers, Vice Chancellors and native national leaders, the documents testify to the complex processes through which colleges were set up, syllabi formed, the language of instruction determined, and infrastructure built. The sources vary from official Minutes to orders, petitions to pleas, speeches to opinion pieces. The collection contributes, through the mostly unmediated documents, to our understanding of the British Empire, of the local responses to the Empire and imperial policy and of the complex negotiations within and without the administrative structures that set about establishing the college, the training institute and the teaching profession itself.

Subject Lessons offers a fascinating account of how western knowledge “traveled” to India, changed that which it encountered, and was itself transformed in the process. Beginning in 1835, India’s British rulers funded schools and universities to disseminate modern, western knowledge in the expectation that it would gradually replace indigenous ways of knowing. From the start, western education was endowed with great significance in India, not only by the colonizers but also by the colonized, to the extent that today almost all “serious” knowledge about India—even within India—is based on western epistemologies. In Subject Lessons, Sanjay Seth’s investigation into how western knowledge was received by Indians under colonial rule becomes a broader inquiry into how modern, western epistemology came to be seen not merely as one way of knowing among others but as knowledge itself. Drawing on history, political science, anthropology, and philosophy, Seth interprets the debates and controversies that came to surround western education. Central among these were concerns that Indian students were acquiring western education by rote memorization—and were therefore not acquiring “true knowledge”—and that western education had plunged Indian students into a moral crisis, leaving them torn between modern, western knowledge and traditional Indian beliefs. Seth argues that these concerns, voiced by the British as well as by nationalists, reflected the anxiety that western education was failing to produce the modern subjects it presupposed. This failure suggested that western knowledge was not the universal epistemology it was thought to be. Turning to the production of collective identities, Seth illuminates the nationalists’ position vis-à-vis western education—which they both sought and criticized—through analyses of discussions about the education of Muslims and women.

Hardcover reprint of the original 1895 edition - beautifully bound in brown cloth covers featuring titles stamped in gold, 8vo - 6x9. No adjustments have been made to the original text, giving readers the full antiquarian experience. For quality purposes, all text and images are printed as black and white. This item is printed on demand. Book Information: Mahmood, Syed. A History Of English Education In India: Its Rise, Development, Progress, Present Condition And Prospects, Being A Narrative Of The Various Phases Of Educational Policy And Measures Adopted Under The British Rule From Its Beginning To The Present Period, 1781 To 1893. Comprising Extracts From Parliamentary Papers, Official Reports, Authoratative, Despatches, Minutes And Writings Of Statesmen, Resolutions Of The Govt. And Statistical Tables Illustrated In Coloured Diagrams. Indiana: Repressed Publishing LLC, 2012. Original Publishing: Mahmood, Syed. A History Of English Education In India: Its Rise, Development, Progress, Present Condition And Prospects, Being A Narrative Of The Various Phases Of Educational Policy And Measures Adopted Under The British Rule From Its Beginning To The Present Period, 1781 To 1893. Comprising Extracts From Parliamentary Papers, Official Reports, Authoratative, Despatches, Minutes And Writings Of Statesmen, Resolutions Of The Govt. And Statistical Tables Illustrated In Coloured Diagrams, . Aligarh: M.A.-O. College, 1895. Subject: Education India History

In retracting from the popular view that India’s modern educational policy was shaped almost entirely by Macaulay, this incisive work reveals the complex ideological and institutional rubric of the colonial educational system. It examines its wide-ranging and lasting impact on curriculum, pedagogy, textbooks, teachers’ role and status, and indigenous forms of knowledge. Recounting the nationalist response to educational reforms, the book reinforces three major quests: justice as expressed in the demand for equal educational opportunities for the lower castes; self-identity as manifest in the urge to define India’s educational needs from within its own cultural repertoire; and the idea of progress based on industrialization. An exceptional contribution to educational theory, including a nuanced discussion of caste, gender and girls’ education, this book will be invaluable to teachers, scholars and students of education, modern Indian history and sociology of education, and policy makers.