NCERT 8th Class (CBSE) Social Science: Education And British Rule

Question: What measures were undertaken by the Company to improve the system of vernacular education?
Or
How were the irregularities ofpathshalas checked by the Company?

Answer: There were no rules and regulations in pathshalas. Hence, the Company decided to improve the entire system. It took several measures.

1. It appointed a number of government pandits, each in charge of looking after four to five schools. The task of the pandit was to vi§it the pathshalas and try and improve the standard of teaching.
2. Each guru was asked to submit periodic reports and take classes according to a regular time table.
3. Teaching was now to be based on textbooks and learning was to be tested through a system of annual examination.
4. Students were asked to pay a regular fee, attend regular classes, sit on fixed seats, and obey the new rules of discipline.

Question: What type of education did Mahatma Gandhi want in India?

Answer: Mahatma Gandhi never approved English education because it had created a feeling of inferiority in the minds of millions of Indians. In fact he wanted an education that could help the people of India restore their sense of dignity and self-respect. During the time of the national movement he urged students to leave educational institutions to show the British that they could no longer enslave Indians.

Mahatma Gandhi never want English to be the medium of teaching. Instead he thought that students ought to be taught in the medium of Indian languages. Education in English crippled the people of India. It distanced them from their own surroundings. It made them alien in their own lands. Hence, he felt that English education ought not to flourish in India any more.

He urged that education ought to develop a person’s mind and soul. Simply learning to read and write did not matter at all. People had to learn a craft and know how different things operated. This would definitely develop their mind and their capacity to understand.

Question: Write a note on Rabindranath Tagore and his school Shantiniketan.

Answer: Rabindranath Tagore, like Mahatma Gandhi, also did not approve Western education wholeheartedly. At the time when several Indians urged the British to open more and more schools, colleges and universities in order to spread English education in India, Rabindranath Tagore reacted strongly against such education.

He was a great educationist But he hated going to school because he saw it oppressive. In fact he’wanted . to establish a school where the children were happy and were free to explore their thoughts and desires without feeling any suppression. He advocated for giving children natural surroundings where they would be able to cultivate their natural creativity.

Keeping the above ideals in mind, Rabindranath Tagore established Shantiniketan in the year 1901. He regarded it as an ‘abode of peace’. He set up his school 100 kilometers away from Calcutta, in a rural setting in order to provide children a very peaceful environment. Here, they could develop their imagination and creativity. Tagore was of the opinion that existing schools were killing the natural desires of the children to be creative. Hence, it was necessary to help them develop their curiosity by providing them good teachers who could understand them.
By establishing an institution like Shantiniketan he did a great job in the field of education.