Previous Year Question
Which of the following languages was the British government keen to introduce/promote in Indian society?
Correct Answer: C
Detailed Solution
British educational policy was not uniform throughout the entire colonial period. Earlier British Orientalists supported education through classical Indian languages such as Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian. By the 1830s, however, the Anglicist position gained dominance.
A crucial turning point was Thomas Babington Macaulay's
Minute on Indian Education of 1835. The current NCERT textbook explains that Macaulay favoured British education based on European knowledge. The policy that prevailed subsequently increased the role of English in colonial education, and English became associated with prestige and the colonial administrative system.
Another NCERT textbook presents the 1835 shift very directly, recording Macaulay's proposal that Indians should be educated through the English language.