How did the educational reforms introduced by the British to help India?

Lord William Bentinck was the pioneer in introducing the educational reforms in India. Some of his achievements in the educational sector which had helped India are mentioned below:

● The Charter Act of 1813 had made a provision of 100000 rupees per year for the promotion of education in India. This money kept on to be accumulating for a very long time because no proper arrangement could be made.

● Before the arrival of Lord Bentinck, a lot of argument was made regarding the medium of education in the academic zone.

● The main question was- Whether the education should be imparted through the Indian language or the English language?

● Some of the orientalists such as Heyman Wilson and H.T. Princes were in the opinion of using Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian as the medium of education.

● Some of the Indian liberals like Raja Ram Mohan Roy was in favour of using the English language as the medium of education.

● Lord Macaulay who was a law member of the Council gave recommendations on this topic. This was called the Macaulay's minutes.

● According to this, it was decided to spend the above-mentioned amount for the education of Indians, and education was to be imparted through English.

● On March 7, 1835, Lord Bentinck declared “His Lordship in Council is of the opinion that the great object of the British Government ought to be the promotion of European literature and science among the natives of India and that all the fund appropriated for the purpose of education would be best employed on English education alone.”

● Christian missionaries were also encouraged to set up schools and colleges in India.

● The Elphinstone college was set up in Mumbai. It is one of the oldest colleges in the University of Mumbai.

● A Medical College was also set up in Kolkata.

Thus, the Britishers had greatly helped India unto the path of education.