Class 8 Social Science History Chapter 7 Question Answer | Civilising the Native Educating the Nation | English Medium

Class 8 Social Science History Chapter 7 Question Answer | Civilising the Native Educating the Nation | English Medium | ASSEB

Civilising the “Native”, Educating the Nation

Welcome to HSLC Guru! This page offers a complete English-medium study guide for Class 8 Social Science (History) Chapter 7 — Civilising the “Native”, Educating the Nation, prepared in line with the ASSEB syllabus. You will find a clear chapter summary, full textbook question and answer solutions, additional MCQs, fill-in-the-blanks, true/false items, and a glossary. The notes are written in simple language so that learners can quickly understand how the British shaped Indian education and how Indian thinkers responded with their own vision of learning.

Chapter Summary

In the late eighteenth century, several British officials in India believed that to govern the country effectively they needed to understand its ancient texts, customs and laws. William Jones, a linguist and judge, arrived in Calcutta in 1783 and, along with Henry Thomas Colebrooke and Nathaniel Halhed, founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784. These scholars, called Orientalists, studied Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic literature, translated old Indian legal and religious texts, and argued that India had a glorious classical past which deserved respect. They believed Indians should be educated in their own classical languages and traditions. Following this view, the East India Company supported the Calcutta Madrasa, set up in 1781 for the study of Arabic, Persian and Islamic law, and the Hindu College at Banaras, established in 1791 to encourage the study of ancient Sanskrit texts.

By the 1830s, however, a new group of British officials began to attack the Orientalist position. Thomas Babington Macaulay wrote his famous Minute on Indian Education in 1835, in which he described Indian learning as inferior and called for English to become the medium of higher education. He argued that English would open the doors to the world’s best knowledge in science, literature and philosophy, and would help create a class of Indians who were “Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes”. Lord William Bentinck accepted this view and passed the English Education Act of 1835, which made English the medium of instruction in higher education and stopped the promotion of Oriental institutions. Funds were now spent on schools and colleges teaching Western subjects through English.

The next big step was Wood’s Despatch of 1854, sent by Charles Wood, the President of the Board of Control. It is often called the “Magna Carta of English Education in India”. Wood’s Despatch outlined a complete system from primary schools to universities, recommended English for higher studies and Indian languages for the lower levels, encouraged female education, and supported the founding of universities at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1857. Side by side, missionary schools were spreading in many parts of India and the North-East, teaching Christianity along with reading, writing and arithmetic. In contrast, traditional pathshalas in Bengal and other regions taught local children flexibly, with no fixed timetable, no rigid syllabus, no fee, and lessons given orally under a guru. New rules introduced printed books, fixed fees, regular attendance and government inspection, which slowly weakened these pathshalas.

Many Indian thinkers felt that colonial education was disrespectful of Indian culture and made students servile. Rabindranath Tagore set up Shantiniketan in 1901, a school in a natural setting where children could learn freely, in close contact with nature, music, art and Indian traditions, while also being open to the best of the West. Mahatma Gandhi argued that English education had created a sense of inferiority in Indians, cut them off from their roots, and made them admire foreign rule. In 1937 he proposed the Wardha Scheme of Basic Education (Nai Talim), which placed productive handicraft and the mother tongue at the centre of learning, and aimed to make education self-supporting and useful to village life. Together with the wider National Education Movement — including the founding of national schools and colleges during the Swadeshi Movement — these efforts tried to build an alternative to government and missionary schools and to link education with the freedom struggle.

Textbook Question and Answer

1 Mark Questions

Q1. Who founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal?

Answer: William Jones founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784, along with Henry Thomas Colebrooke and others.

Q2. When was the Calcutta Madrasa set up and for what purpose?

Answer: The Calcutta Madrasa was set up in 1781 to promote the study of Arabic, Persian and Islamic law.

Q3. When was the Hindu College at Banaras founded?

Answer: The Hindu College at Banaras was founded in 1791 to encourage the study of ancient Sanskrit texts.

Q4. Who wrote the famous Minute on Indian Education in 1835?

Answer: Thomas Babington Macaulay wrote the Minute on Indian Education in 1835.

Q5. What was the English Education Act of 1835?

Answer: The English Education Act of 1835 was a law passed under Lord William Bentinck which made English the medium of higher education in India.

Q6. Who sent Wood’s Despatch and in which year?

Answer: Charles Wood, the President of the Board of Control of the Company, sent the Despatch in 1854.

Q7. What is a pathshala?

Answer: A pathshala was a traditional indigenous school, mostly in Bengal and Bihar, where a guru taught local children reading, writing and arithmetic in a flexible manner.

Q8. Where and in which year did Rabindranath Tagore set up his school?

Answer: Rabindranath Tagore set up his school Shantiniketan in 1901, in rural Bengal.

Q9. What is the Wardha Scheme of Education?

Answer: The Wardha Scheme, proposed by Mahatma Gandhi in 1937, was a plan of basic education through productive work and the mother tongue, also called Nai Talim.

Q10. Name the three universities founded as a result of Wood’s Despatch.

Answer: The universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras were founded in 1857.

2 to 3 Marks Questions

Q1. Who were the Orientalists? Mention any two of their contributions.

Answer: Orientalists were British scholars such as William Jones and Henry Thomas Colebrooke who admired Indian classical learning and culture. Their main contributions were:

They founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784 to promote research on Indian languages and texts.
They translated and printed many ancient Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic works, helping to revive interest in India’s classical heritage.

Q2. What were the main arguments of Macaulay in his Minute of 1835?

Answer: Macaulay argued that:

European, especially English, learning was far superior to Indian classical learning.
English should become the medium of education in India to give Indians access to modern knowledge.
The aim should be to create a class of Indians who were Indian in blood and colour but English in taste, opinion and intellect.

Q3. What were the main features of Wood’s Despatch of 1854?

Answer: Wood’s Despatch outlined a complete educational policy for India. Its main features were:

A graded system of education from primary schools to universities.
English as the medium for higher education and Indian languages for primary and secondary levels.
Encouragement of female education and the establishment of universities at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1857.

Q4. How did the new system of schooling change the traditional pathshalas?

Answer: Earlier, pathshalas had no fixed fees, printed books, timetable or seating arrangement. Lessons were oral and the guru adjusted the teaching to the needs of the children. Under the new rules introduced by the Company, pathshalas were inspected by government officers, were forced to use printed textbooks, follow a fixed timetable, take fees and keep regular attendance. Many gurus could not adjust to these new conditions, and the freedom and flexibility of the pathshalas was lost.

Q5. Why did Mahatma Gandhi criticise English education?

Answer: Gandhi felt that English education:

Created a sense of inferiority in the minds of Indians and made them slaves of Western culture.
Cut Indians off from their own languages, traditions and rural life.
Produced clerks for the British administration rather than confident citizens able to serve their own people.

Q6. What was the difference between missionary schools and the National Education Movement schools?

Answer: Missionary schools were run by Christian missionaries and combined modern subjects with religious teaching aimed at converting students. The schools of the National Education Movement, set up especially during the Swadeshi Movement, taught modern subjects through Indian languages, kept Indian culture at the centre, and tried to free education from foreign control and prepare students for participation in the freedom struggle.

5 to 6 Marks Questions

Q1. Discuss the views of the Orientalists on Indian education and the steps they took.

Answer: The Orientalists were a group of British scholars and officials in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries who took deep interest in Indian languages, literature, religion and law. Important figures among them were William Jones, Henry Thomas Colebrooke and Nathaniel Halhed. They believed that India had a great civilisation in the past and that to govern Indians wisely, the British must understand the country’s classical traditions.

To carry out this work, they founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784 in Calcutta. They translated several Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic texts, including ancient law books, and published research on Indian history and culture. The Company was persuaded to support institutions for traditional learning, leading to the establishment of the Calcutta Madrasa in 1781 for the study of Arabic and Persian, and the Hindu College at Banaras in 1791 for Sanskrit learning. The Orientalists believed that education for Indians should be based on Indian texts and classical languages, and that gradual reform from within was better than imposing a foreign culture.

Q2. Explain Macaulay’s Minute of 1835 and the English Education Act of 1835. How did they change the direction of education in India?

Answer: Thomas Babington Macaulay was a member of the Governor-General’s Council. In 1835 he wrote a Minute in which he strongly attacked the Orientalists. He claimed that “a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia”. He argued that English education would bring Indians the best modern knowledge of science, history and literature, and would create a small class of educated Indians who would help the British rule by acting as interpreters between the rulers and the masses.

Lord William Bentinck accepted Macaulay’s view and passed the English Education Act of 1835. The Act made English the official medium of higher education and ended government support to traditional Oriental institutions. Funds were directed to schools and colleges that taught Western subjects through English.

This decision changed the direction of Indian education in deep ways. It cut off many learners from their classical heritage, gave English-knowing Indians a privileged place in administration and law, and made English the language of opportunity. At the same time, it slowly produced a class of Western-educated Indians who later began to question colonial rule itself.

Q3. Describe the educational vision of Rabindranath Tagore at Shantiniketan.

Answer: Rabindranath Tagore was unhappy with the strict, examination-driven schools of the colonial government, where children had to sit in classrooms, memorise lessons and obey teachers without much freedom. He believed that childhood should be a time of joy, creativity and contact with nature.

In 1901, he set up Shantiniketan, “the abode of peace”, at a quiet rural spot in Bengal. There, classes were often held under trees, music, dance, painting and theatre were given as much importance as books, and children learned in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Tagore wanted his school to combine the best of Indian traditions with the best of Western thought, so students were also exposed to modern science and world literature. The aim was to develop the full personality of the child — body, mind, imagination and moral sense — and to create human beings who loved their country but were also citizens of the world.

Q4. Explain Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of basic education (Wardha Scheme).

Answer: Mahatma Gandhi felt that English education had separated Indians from their own culture and made them feel inferior to the British. He wanted an education that would respect Indian traditions, draw children closer to their villages and prepare them to serve the country.

In 1937 he proposed the Wardha Scheme of Basic Education, also called Nai Talim. Its main features were:

Free and compulsory education for all children for seven years.
The mother tongue as the medium of instruction.
A productive craft (such as spinning, weaving, agriculture or carpentry) at the centre of the curriculum, around which other subjects were taught.
Education that was self-supporting, where the goods made by students helped meet some costs of the school.
Strong emphasis on the dignity of labour, equality, non-violence and rural reconstruction.

Through this scheme, Gandhi hoped to create self-reliant, hard-working citizens who valued manual work as much as book learning.

Q5. Discuss the role of the National Education Movement and Indian responses to colonial education.

Answer: Many Indian thinkers and leaders felt that the colonial system of education served British interests and weakened Indian self-respect. They responded in different ways. Some, like Raja Rammohun Roy, welcomed Western science but also valued Indian traditions. Others built parallel institutions of their own.

During the Swadeshi Movement of 1905–07, when people protested against the Partition of Bengal, the National Education Movement spread rapidly. National schools and colleges were started, where Indian languages were used, Indian history and culture were taught with pride, and links were made with the freedom struggle. Bodies like the National Council of Education in Bengal were set up to plan this work.

At the same time, individual experiments such as Tagore’s Shantiniketan and Gandhi’s Wardha Scheme tried to give education a more humane, rooted and creative shape. Together, the National Education Movement, missionary schools, government schools and these alternative experiments shaped the complex world of Indian education in colonial times, and helped Indians question the idea that the British were “civilising” them.

Additional Multiple Choice Questions

Q1. The Asiatic Society of Bengal was founded in:

(a) 1774
(b) 1781
(c) 1784
(d) 1791

Answer: (c) 1784

Q2. Who founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal?

(a) Macaulay
(b) William Jones
(c) Charles Wood
(d) William Bentinck

Answer: (b) William Jones

Q3. The Calcutta Madrasa was set up in:

(a) 1781
(b) 1784
(c) 1791
(d) 1835

Answer: (a) 1781

Q4. The Hindu College at Banaras was founded in:

(a) 1781
(b) 1784
(c) 1791
(d) 1854

Answer: (c) 1791

Q5. Macaulay’s Minute on Indian Education was written in:

(a) 1813
(b) 1830
(c) 1835
(d) 1854

Answer: (c) 1835

Q6. Wood’s Despatch was issued in:

(a) 1854
(b) 1857
(c) 1858
(d) 1882

Answer: (a) 1854

Q7. The universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras were established in:

(a) 1854
(b) 1857
(c) 1861
(d) 1882

Answer: (b) 1857

Q8. Shantiniketan was founded by:

(a) Mahatma Gandhi
(b) Rabindranath Tagore
(c) William Jones
(d) Macaulay

Answer: (b) Rabindranath Tagore

Q9. The Wardha Scheme of Education was proposed by:

(a) Tagore
(b) Gandhi
(c) Nehru
(d) Tilak

Answer: (b) Gandhi

Q10. Which Governor-General passed the English Education Act of 1835?

(a) Warren Hastings
(b) Lord Cornwallis
(c) Lord William Bentinck
(d) Lord Dalhousie

Answer: (c) Lord William Bentinck

Fill in the Blanks

Q1. The Asiatic Society of Bengal was founded in the year ______.

Answer: 1784

Q2. ______ wrote the famous Minute on Indian Education in 1835.

Answer: Thomas Babington Macaulay

Q3. Wood’s Despatch is often called the ______ of English Education in India.

Answer: Magna Carta

Q4. Tagore set up the school named ______ in 1901.

Answer: Shantiniketan

Q5. Gandhi’s scheme of basic education is also called ______.

Answer: Nai Talim

True or False

Q1. William Jones founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784.

Answer: True

Q2. Macaulay supported Indian classical learning and opposed English education.

Answer: False

Q3. Wood’s Despatch was sent in 1854.

Answer: True

Q4. Tagore’s Shantiniketan was started in 1937.

Answer: False

Q5. Mahatma Gandhi’s Wardha Scheme placed productive craft at the centre of education.

Answer: True

Glossary

Term	Meaning
Orientalists	British scholars who studied and admired Indian classical languages, texts and culture.
Asiatic Society of Bengal	A society founded in Calcutta in 1784 by William Jones for the study of Indian languages and learning.
Madrasa	An Islamic school, especially for the study of Arabic, Persian and Islamic law.
Hindu College, Banaras	An institution founded in 1791 to promote the study of ancient Sanskrit texts.
Macaulay’s Minute	A document of 1835 in which Macaulay argued for English as the medium of higher education in India.
English Education Act, 1835	The law that made English the official medium of higher education in colonial India.
Wood’s Despatch, 1854	An official British document outlining a complete educational policy for India, often called the Magna Carta of English education in India.
Pathshala	A traditional indigenous school where a guru taught local children in a flexible, mostly oral way.
Missionary schools	Schools run by Christian missionaries that combined modern subjects with religious teaching.
Shantiniketan	A school founded by Rabindranath Tagore in 1901 that stressed learning in close contact with nature, art and Indian traditions.
Wardha Scheme / Nai Talim	Gandhi’s plan of basic education in 1937, centred on productive craft and the mother tongue.
National Education Movement	The movement to set up Indian-run national schools and colleges, especially during the Swadeshi years, free from colonial control.