Modern Education and Its Impact on Society in Bombay (1854-1905)

The year 1818 is a very important landmark in the history of Bombay Presidency, being the year in which the Maratha Confederacy was dissolved and Bombay came under the British rule. With Mounstuart Elphinstone taking over as the Governor of Bombay(1819-1827), a new chapter started in the history of Education. He was the first British official who made and organized effort to foster a soung system of elementary education through the language of the people. But unfortunately, Elphinstone`s enlightened educational policy was not pursued by his successors with the same zeal and diligence.

The controversy over the issue of medium of instruction which reigned well neigh for nearly four decades (1813-1853) came to an end with Wood`s Despatch in 1854. In this memorable dispatch the government accepted the systematic promotion of general the education as one of the duties of the state which marked an important departure in its policy. At primary and secondary levels the pupils were to be taught in their vernacular and modern languages respectively and only at higher level was English made compulasory. Grant-in-aid system introduced by the Dispatch, expected that private enterprise should also share the responsibility as the government would not be able to shoulder the entire burden of the population. They wanted to `educate` the `classes` who were few in number and also had money and leisure. Education was to `percolate` from this classes to the masses. Modern education signified secular and scientific knowledge. This would have been even through vernacular language. A smattering knowledge of English itself gave the classes` a pecuniary jobs in the government. As a result, they had neither the time nor the inclination to take care of mass education. Education became top heavy and lop sided.