Civilising the “Native”, Educating the Nation

Q1. Fill in the blanks.

i. The ideas of William Jones were supported by Colebrooke.
ii. Thomas Babington Macaulay saw India as an uncivilised country that needed to
be civilised.
iii. There was no system of annual examinations in pathshalas.
iv. Rabindranath Tagore started the Santiniketan in 1901.
.Q2. True/False
i. James Mill was a severe critic of the Orientalists. True
ii. The 1854 Despatch on education was in favour of English being introduced as a
medium of higher education in India. True
iii. Mahatma Gandhi thought that promotion of literacy was the most important aim of
education. False
iv. Rabindranath Tagore felt that children ought to be subjected to strict discipline. False
3. Who took the initiative to set up the Calcutta Madrasa?
Ans. Warren Hastings
Q4. Name the two Indian who reacted against Western education.
Ans. Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore
Q5. Who is a Linguist?
Ans. Linguist is someone who knows and studies several languages.
Q6. Name two individuals who sharply attacked the orientalists.
Ans. James Mill and Thomas Babington Macaulay attacked the Orientalists.
Q7. Who was of the opinion that Colonial education created sense of inferiority in the minds of Indians?
Ans. Mahatma Gandhi
Q8. By education I mean all round drawing out of the best in child and man- body, mind and spirit. Whose
words are these?
Ans. Mahatma Gandhi
Q9. Name the places where universities were first established by the company in India?
Ans. Calcutta, Madras and Bombay
Q10. Who started the journal Asiatick Researches?
Ans. Jones set up the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and started a journal called Asiatick Researches.
Q11. What does madrasa mean?
Ans. Madrasa is an Arabic word for a place of learning; any type of school or college.
Q12. What does munshi mean?
Ans. The word munshi was used for a person who can read, write and teach Persian.
Q13. Name the Scottish missionary who toured the districts of Bengal and Bihar in the 1830s.
Ans. In the 1830s, William Adam, a Scottish missionary, toured the districts of Bengal and Bihar.
Q14. Which year did the East India Company decide to improve the system of vernacular education?
Ans. After 1854 the Company decided to improve the system of vernacular education.
Q15. Who established Serampore Mission?
Or
Who was William Carey?
Ans. William Carey was a Scottish missionary who helped establish the Serampore Mission.
Q16. Who were called Orientalists?
Ans. Those with a scholarly knowledge of the language and culture of Asia were called Orientalists.
Q17. Why was madrasa set up in Calcutta in 1781?
Ans. Madrasa was set up in Calcutta in 1781 to promote the study of Arabic, Persian and Islamic law.
Q18. Where were classes held under the system of pathshalas?
Ans. In some places classes were held under a banyan tree, in other places in the corner of a village shop or
temple, or at the guru’s home.
Q19. What type of education was given to the children in pathshalas?
Ans. Teaching was oral, and the guru decided what to teach, in accordance with the needs of the students.
Q20. Why were classes not held during harvest time in pathshala system?
Ans. Classes were not held during harvest time in pathshala system because rural children had to work in the
fields during harvest time.
Q21. What task was assigned to the pandit by the Company?
Ans. The Company assigned the pandit to visit the pathshalas and try to improve the standard of teaching.
Q22. How were Oriental institutions like the Calcutta Madrasa and Benaras Sanskrit College viewed by the
British?
Ans. These institutions were seen as “temples of darkness that were falling of themselves into decay”.
Q23. What different languages did William Jones study?
Ans. Jones was a linguist. He had studied Greek and Latin at Oxford, knew French and English, had picked up
Arabic from a friend, and had also learnt Persian.
Q24. Why was the Hindu College established in Benaras?
Ans. The Hindu College was established in Benaras in 1791 to encourage the study of ancient Sanskrit texts that
would be useful for the administration of the country.
Q25. What did Thomas Macaulay urge the British government in India?
Ans. Thomas Macaulay urged that the British government in India stop wasting public money in promoting
Oriental learning, for it was of no practical use.
Q26. How does Mahatma Gandhi view literacy?
Ans. According to Mahatma Gandhi literacy is not the end of education nor even the beginning. It is only one of
the means whereby man and woman can be educated. Literacy in itself is not education.
Q27. Why was the East India Company opposed to missionary activities in India?
Ans. Until 1813, the East India Company was opposed to missionary activities in India. It feared that
missionary activities would provoke reaction amongst the local population and make them suspicious of British
presence in India.
Q28. What do you mean by wood's despatch?
Ans. In 1854, the Court of Directors of the East India Company in London sent an educational despatch to the
Governor-General in India. Issued by Charles Wood, the President of the Board of Control of the Company, it
has come to be known as Wood’s Despatch.
Q29. Why did William Jones feel the need to study Indian history, philosophy and law?
Ans. William Jones felt the need to study Indian history, philosophy and law because only those texts could
reveal the real ideas and laws of the Hindus and Muslims, and only a new study of these texts could form the
basis of future development in India.
Q30. Why did Mahatma Gandhi want to teach children handicrafts?
Ans. He argued that education ought to develop a person’s mind and soul. Literacy – or simply learning to read
and write – by itself did not count as education. People had to work with their hands, learn a craft, and know
how different things operated. This would develop their mind and their capacity to understand.
Q31. What does vernacular mean? Why did the British use this term in colonial countries like India?
Ans. Vernacular is a term generally used to refer to a local language or dialect as distinct from what is seen as
the standard language. In colonial countries like India, the British used the term to mark the difference between
the local languages of everyday use and English – the language of the imperial masters.
Q32. What do you mean by Tagore’s abode of peace?
Or
How did Tagore view his school namely Santiniketan?
Ans. Tagore was of the view that creative learning could be encouraged only within a natural environment. So
he chose to set up his school 100 kilometres away from Calcutta, in a rural setting. He saw it as an abode of
peace (santiniketan), where living in harmony with nature, children could cultivate their natural creativity.