28 provided that such information be given out of school hours#”

The substantial influence of Duff*s Memorandum upon "Wood’s Education Despatch" is undeniable# However, Wood and Baring did 29 far more than merely embody Duff*s ideas in an official paper# When Wood presented the despatch to the Commons, he stressed that

"by far the greatest defect of the education given in India •#• 30

[was] its want of a practical character#" Duff had advocated "useful" learning for the "mass"# However, he neither emphasised its significance in the context of existing educational policy, nor considered the implications of such an emphasis for Indian policy generally# Wood stressed his intention to depart from the policy of only encouraging higher education among the upper classes

31

of society# The despatch promised "opportunities for the acquisition of such an improved education as ••• [would] make those who possess[ed] it more useful members of society in every

2 7

Wood to Dalhousie, 8 February 1854, W#P# 28_ Q/

Para# 84#

2 9

Cf# the claim of George Smith, that "Dr Duff and Mr Marshman worked out the educational portion of their statements before the [Lords1] Committee, in a form which Lord Northbrook •#* embodied in ##• the memorable despatch" (The Life of Alexander Duff • ##, 2 vols«, London 1879, II, PP* 24l, 245)*

3 0 0p. cit#, col# 1459.

32

condition of life**' The new policy would be to convey "useful and practical knowledge, suited to every station in life *** to

33

the great mass of the people*" This involved not only imparting useful elementary knowledge to the masses, but also adapting

higher education to the needs of society*

In Bengal, where higher education was most advanced, the policy had been to direct students' ambitions to higher distinctions in European literature and philosophy* This reflected the "Anglicist" policy of providing a "class of interpreters" between the English governors and the millions of Indians whom they governed* Wood believed the policy unwise unless suitable careens could be provided

34

by the government for those who distinguished themselves* Though he pressed Dalhousie to instal a certain number of them in elevated posts, he affirmed that high public places could not be found for

35

all* On the other hand, India lacked "good clerks, good judges, perhaps, good railroad servants, good civil engineers for ordinary works, good policemen and village accountants and measurers*"

Hence, in the despatch Wood provided channels through which Indians might be given practical education and their energies poured into

tasks of regenerating the backward economy* Encouragement to pursue training in engineering, teaching and medicine, by offering

prospects of government employment in these fields, was mentioned

3 2Para. 42* ^ P a r a * 4l*

^S/ood to Dalhousie, 8 June 1 8 5 4, W*P*

^ W o o d to Dalhousie, 24 November 1853» W #P* 36

37

specifically* Wood summed up thus the integration of the new stress in higher education within Indian policy generally;

You want Surgeons and Engineers, & Superintendents of railroad works & of irrigation works, fit so forth* Train up men for practical purposes* Give the means of

conferring distinction on people who choose to educate themselves highly, but educate yourself for practical

employment* These are my principles, & I have endeavoured to carry them out as far & fast as I can in the

dispatch ****38

Wood underlined this shift in higher educational policy

by a fresh approach to the question of scholarships* He deprecated the existing system of offering senior scholarships, which were invariably taken by those who could well pay their way, and which served only to swell that class of "highly educated gentlemen", learned in literature and philosophy* "whom you cannot employ*" He favoured the use of scholarships to provide a path from the lowest school to the highest, and ultimately into technical and

30

professional careers* He was dissatisfied with the expression of these principles in the earlier drafts and continued to work over the question assiduously until the phrasing of paragraphs 63-4 of the despatch was achieved* Scholarships would give to

"superior talent in every class ••• that encouragement and develop- 40

ment which it deserves," thereby associating the improvement of the individual with the forward thrust of society* For this to

^Paras* 6 5, 6 6, 6 8, 7 9, 8 0*

38

Wood to F* Halliday (Lieut*-Gov* of Bengal), 24 July 1854, W*P*

3 9Ibid. 4o__ ,,

occur, of course, the language barrier between lower and higher schools had to be surmountable* Here again Wood went beyond

Duff* For where Duff continued to speak of "two sets of schools", the lower teaching "the great mass" through the vernaculars, the higher instructing the "middle and higher classes" through

English, Wood refused from the outset to grade schools on a

linguistic basis* The pressure of declared policy would be applied at once to make the vernaculars an adequate medium for a "superior

4l education"*

The charter for education is probably the most eloquent expression of Britain's hopes for regenerating the society and

economy of India to appear during the false dawn of an age of reform which preceded the mutiny* Baring had reported to his chief that

"wherever practical education had been attempted it had been most successful", and that "a general scheme *•• to make Native Education an integral part of the ordinary administration of India" might

be constructed* Wood aimed to develop a "general scheme" of

"practical education" as part of a larger policy for regenerating the country* He built upon Duff's expression of principles to

produce a despatch that was in harmony with the reforming note which had already been sounded in the changes projected for the Indian legislature, the law and the civil administration* It was also consonant with extensive plans which he had in hand for the

42

construction of railways and public works* England, in the words of paragraph 4 of the despatch, would "teach the natives of India the marvellous results of the employment of labour and capital, rouse them*** in the development of the vast resources of their country ••• {[and]] confer upon them all the advantages

of wealth and commerce *•••" This was the keynote of the 43

despatch, and Baring and Wood were responsible for it* The Court of Directors signed the document after making some trifling

44

amendments to the draft, and Dalhousie, moved by a similar impulse to improve India as the reformers at home, acclaimed the scheme "a very great one"* He assured Wood of his "cordial

45