Indian/Hindu Identity

ramana · 04-09-2007, 11:32 PM

From Pioneer, 9 April, 2007
QUOTEColonial delusion of Indian ignorance

BB Kumar 

Education and Social Change in South Asia, Krishna Kumar and Joachim Oesterheld (ed), Orient Longman, Rs 795

The volume, Education and Social Change In South Asia, edited by Krishna Kumar and Jaochim Oesterheld, is the compilation of 16 essays written by as many scholars from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, France, Great Britain, Germany and the US, evenly grouped under four headings. The idea originated from a project conducted at the Centre for Modern Oriental Studies (CMO) in Berlin. In 2002, there was a conference organised in Berlin in which scholars deliberated on various aspects of Indian education, and the idea to publish a book on educational issues in modern South Asia emerged. The panels were convened by CMO fellows at the 16th and 17th European Conferences on Modern South Asian Studies and the second International Conference of Asian Studies held during 2000-02. Their contributions make this book.

The first four papers under the section, 'Education under Colonial Rule', deal with various theoretical and practical aspects of education, with focus on diverse educational efforts of the British colonial Government and the missionaries. It was widely believed by the British that Western education imparted since the mid-19th century would undermine Hinduism, resulting in greater converts to Christianity. This, however, did not happen despite an influential section of the Hindu community drifting away from its tradition. The colonial Government, henceforth, took neutral stand on the issue and allowed instruction in Indian religions outside school hours, Sanjay Sheth asserts in the chapter, 'Secular enlightenment and Christian conversion'. 

Haike Liebau mainly focuses on Protestant Christian colleges and a report of the 1930s on the role of Christian educational institutions. The papers of Margret Frenz and George Oommen are written from Christian angle covering parts of Kerala. Oommen discusses the activities of the Church Missionary Society in educating and converting the Pulaya community of Kerala.

Linkenbach Fuchs, in her paper under section 'Education and Cultural Change', discusses education and nation-building in colonial India in overall theoretical frameworks of the developments in Europe. She discusses identity crisis due to discrepancy between school and home, new (modern, rational, Christian) and traditional, and the emancipatory potential of colonial education.

Jaochim Oesterheld elaborates Muslim/Muslim League opposition of the Wardha Scheme of colonial education. Krishna Kumar examines the role of education in strengthening secular creed and its inability in preventing the spread of communal ideas. Basing on the articles published in the popular press, Sonia Nishat Amin discusses the conservative, centrist and liberal Muslim views, including the views of the women writers, on education for Muslim girls of Bengal between 1890 and 1930.

Two of the papers under section 'Education and Nation Building' by Martha Caddell and Rubina Saigol deal with education in Nepal and Pakistan respectively in historical perspective. Saigol massively relies on Ayub Khan's speeches and the report of the Sharif Commission. She limits her analysis of the policy covering the brief period of the Ayub era (1958-64).

Technical and professional education was highly neglected during the colonial era in India, as Padmini Swaminathan brings to focus. Perhaps the British did not need it. Anne Vaugier-Chatterji, while distinguishing between European and Indian idea of language, suggests that in a multi-lingual country like India, there is a need to promote different languages for different purposes.

The last section of the book on 'Education and Development' begins with ST Hettige's paper on education in Sri Lanka. It discusses spread of education and public sector, unemployment, frustration and youth uprising, conflict between modern and traditional, and swabasa education policy leading to monolingualism, ethno-centrism and ultimately Simhala Tamil conflict.

Sadhna Saxena discusses various aspects of mass literacy programmes and their inadequacies. Roger Jeffery et el see 'a crumbling welfare state' syndrome in their paper on privatisation of secondary schooling in Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh. To them, it was a sign of disillusionment with Government schools by parents. There have been recent developments in administration and functioning of primary schools in Madhya Pradesh, as discussed by Francois Leclercq, in the last paper of the book.

The book, as its name suggests, was supposed to provide macro-perception of education in South Asia. Contrary to that, it is full of micro-case studies with narrow focus, colonial and Christian obsolete views and perspective, obsession with caste and anti-Hindu rhetoric. It does not mention the indigenous education system thriving across the sub-continent, which was later thoroughly destroyed by the British colonial Government. Anti-Hindu, anti-culture and anti-tradition bias during the colonial days needed to be exposed in the book.

Throughout the pages of the book, one encounters several colonial myths prevailing today as the popular notions - the segregation and denial of education to so-called lower castes, Brahmin monopoly of education, the British and missionaries as promoters of literacy and education, etc.

It is pertinent to mention that massive data is available to disprove the same. The scholars have not made use of the evidences made available by Adam (One Teacher, One School: The Adam Reports on Indigenous Education in 19th Century India), GW Leitner (History of the Indigenous Education in the Punjab Since Annexation and in 1882) and Dharampal (The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century). W Adam's A Report on the State of Education in Bengal (1835, 1836, 1838), the report by Sir Thomas Munro, Governor of Madras Presidency, Survey of Indigenous Education in the Province of Bombay and many other reports show that education was quite widespread in the pre-British India than during the colonial era. Also, the avenue of education was open to all, including the untouchables. 

Even in Malabar (in Kerala), out of 1,588 scholars of higher learning, there were 639 Brahmins, 23 Vaishyas, 254 Shudras and 672 "other castes". In Bengal, Presidency, the students and teachers came from every caste.

In spite of their hollow claims, the missionary did no better for the 'low caste' students. Thirteen missionary schools of Burdwan, as Adam writes, had one Chandal, three Doms and no Mochi students, whereas indigenous schools had 60, 58 and 16 respectively. In Bengal and Bihar, Brahmin teachers and students constituted only 11 per cent and 25 per cent respectively. The studies mentioned above show that there was massive indigenous education among all the castes across the country before the British destroyed the same to a large extent.

The selection of the panel of scholars and the subjects covered in the book clearly show the inadequacy of the European understanding of India.

-- The reviewer, an academician, is editor, Dialogue Quarterly



It also represents the inadequacy of Modern Indian minds understanding of India for the very same charges are made ad hominem by DIE or WMI( Well-off Modern Indians).

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