The progress of education continued to be reviewed by different Commissions and Committees, some of whose recommendations were put into practice by the Government. These bodies were the Calcutta University Commission with Dr. (afterwards Sir) Michael Sadler as its Chairman and Sir Asutosh Mookerjee as a leading member, whose report was published in August, 1919; the Auxiliary Committee of the Indian Statutory Commission under the Chairmanship of Sir Philip Hartog, which published its Report in 1929; the Lindsay Commission, appointed in 1929 by the International Missionary Council, with Dr. A. D. Lindsay, Master of Balliol College, Oxford, as Chairman, which visited India in 1930-1931 and whose report was published in 1931; and the Unemployment Committee, United Provinces, popularly known as the Sapru Committee after the name of its President, the Rt. Hon. Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, which was appointed by the Government of the United Provinces in 1934 and whose report was published in 1936.
There were three important bodies to look after the progress of eduation in general and to consider changes, if necessary. The Central Advisory Board of Education, created first in 1920 under the Chairmanship of the Educational Commissioner of the Government of India, but abolished in 1923 as a measure of economy on the recommendation of the Indian Retrenchment Committee presided over by Lord Inchcape, was revived in 1935. Since then it has made many suggestions regarding the reform of the present system of education in all stages, higher, secondary or primary, and of all types, literary or vocational. According to the recommendation of the Universities Conference at Simla, summoned by the Government of India in May, 1924, an Inter-University Board for India came into existence during 1925, and has since then been discharging useful functions by collecting information and stimulating thought about present-day University problems. The Bureau of Education in India, abolished in 1923 as a measure of retrenchment, was revived by the Government of India in 1937 ” for dealing specially with the collection and dissemination of literature relating to educational problems in the various Provinces”.
The Reforms of 1919, supplemented by those of 1935, placed education in the Provinces under the control of their Ministers of Education. The numerical strength of the students in the secondary and primary schools undoubtedly increased. During the year 1935-1936, 51 per cent of the boys and 17 percent of the girls of school-going age were on the school rolls. But at the same time it is true that there has been much ” stagnation” and “wastage” in secondary and primary education. The state of literacy in India, as compared with that of other countries, has been unsatisfactory. The introduction of compulsory and free primary education is one of the important problems of India today. As early as 1911 the Honourable Mr. G. K. Gokhale introduced a Bill for this purpose in the Imperial Legislative Council. In later years the question assumed greater and greater importance. Indian leaders of all shades of opinion constantly urged upon the Government the supreme need of the measure. Some attempts were made to drive away illiteracy. Thus eight Provincial Legislatures passed Primary Education Acts “authorising the introduction of compulsory education by local option”; and the Education Minister of one Province inaugurated an Adult Education campaign to make adults able to read and write. Plans to give secondary education a vocational bias were also considered.
The question of the medium of instruction in educational institutions attracted serious attention under the pressure of national awakening. A representative Conference, which met at Simla in 1917 under the Chairmanship of Sir Sankaran Nair, the then Education Member, discussed the position of English as a foreign language and as a medium of instruction in public schools. Its decisions were not conducive. But the use of the modern Provincial languages as the medium of instruction and examination in schools and in some places in colleges gradually increased. Some educationists also thought of evolving a common script for the whole of India. Good pioneer work in this direction was done by Mr. A. Latiff, I.C.S., by the introduction of the Romanised Urdu Script.
It is interesting to note that education of women, attempts for the spread of which began in the nineteenth century, has progressed greatly during the present century through State efforts and the activities of various reformed Samajas and Societies, like the Brahma Samaj, the Arya Samaj and the Servants of India Society. Colleges specially meant for girls were established, and in some Provinces co-education made good progress; for example, in Madras and Assam more girls studied in boys’ institutions than in those for girls. Co-education is, however, itself a delicate problem, which requires tactful handling. The Indian Women’s University, started at Poona in 1916 by Professor Karve and transferred to Bombay in 1936, has done much valuable work. Custom and prejudices which had so long been detrimental to the growth of education of women are fast disappearing, and a strong public opinion has grown up in its favour, though there are differences of opinion amongst educationists and other thinkers about the nature of education suitable for our womenfolk. Very valuable work of Educational Reform is being done by the All-India-Women’s Conference, which holds its meetings annually and has constituent conferences in different parts of the country. An All-India Women’s Educational Fund Association has been started in connection with this Conference. In 1930 a special Committee was appointed by this Association to determine the feasibility of establishing a central Teachers’ Training College. The recommendation of the Committee for the establishment of a college, “on absolutely new lines which would synthesise the work of existing provincial colleges by psychological research”, was accepted by the Association, and accordingly the Lady Irwin College was established in New Delhi. This College provides a three years’ Teachers’ course for those who intend to qualify themselves as High School teachers of Home Science; others may take the Home course of two years.
Several factors, such as growing contact with the outside world, eager yearning for the revival of the cultural treasures of the past, the desire to reform all aspects of life, and speculations about the problems of common weal and common woe, have profoundly stimulated Indian thought and have caused a comprehensive cultural renaissance, the influence of which is visible on modern Indian Literature as well as Art. Indeed, we have a new age for the Indian regional literatures, Bengali, Oriya, Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, each of which presents a harmonious blending of Eastern ideas with those of the West. High-class works have been produced during the last hundred years in different branches of literature, fiction, drama, poetry and essay. In modern Bengali literature, the influence and contributions of Iswara Gupta, Madhusudan Dutt, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Rabindranath Tagore have been unique. Shreejut Sarat Chandra Chatterjee’s contributions in the sphere of Bengali literature are also of profound significance. His novels present an interesting picture of the Bengali society of modern times–its merits and demerits, its sorrows and joys–and thus supply sufficient food for reflection to those who seek to reform our social life. The drama has been enriched by the writings of Madhusudan Dutt, Dinabandhu Mitra, Girish Chandra Ghosh, D. L. Roy, Amritalal Basu, and others. This period has further witnessed the production of outstanding biographies and autobiographies; and some notable attempts have been made to reconstruct the history of Bengali literature, largely through the encouragement of the late Sir Asutosh Mookerjee. The Vangiya Sahitya Parishad has been doing much to revive the lost treasures of Bengali literature. Some Indians have to their credit important compositions in English; the names of Toru Dutta and of Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, deserve special mention in this respect.
Urdu, Hindi and Oriya literatures are showing signs of advance. The writings of Sir Muhammad Iqbal of the Punjab have given birth to a new age in the history of Urdu literature. A great movement is now on foot for the development of Hindi literature.
One very striking feature of Indian cultural renaissance is the spirit of research which animates the study of the past history and antiquities of this country. Since the foundation of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784, a large number of European as well as Indian scholars have devoted themselves earnestly to this branch of study, and their labours have produced marvellous results. The ancient Monuments Preservation Act, passed during the Viceroyalty of Lord Curzon, for the protection of historic monuments and relics, and also for State control over the excavation of ancient sites and traffic in antiquities, gave an immense impetus to the cause of research. Under the guidance of the Archaeological Department of the Government of India, and a few other institutions, valuable scientific excavations, which have considerably modified many of the old views about the ancient history of India, have been made on historic sites. Those at Mohenjo-daro in Sind, Harappa and Taxila in the Punjab, Pataliputra and Nalanda in Bihar, Paharpur, Mahasthan and Bangad in Bengal, Sanchi in the Bhopal State, Sarnath near Benares and Nagarjunikonda in the Madras Presidency deserve special mention. Much attention has been paid to the establishment and development of museums, in different places, as centres of research and education. Further, the epigraphical materials disclosed by official as well as non-official efforts have supplied us with valuable details about the history and chronology of various dynasties of India. Some of the Indian Universities notably the Universities of Calcutta Dacca Benares and Madras, and organizations like the All-India Oriental Conference, the Indian History Congress, the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute and the Bharat Ithihasa Samsodhaka Mandala at Poona, the Indian Historical Records Commission and the Vangia Sahitya Parishad, are giving considerable impetus to the scientific study of Indian history and antiquities.
Indians have also made in the present century remarkable progress in the study of science, philosophy and politics. The valuable discoveries of Sir J.C. Bose, Sir P. C. Ray, Sir C. V. Raman and Dr. Meghnad Saha, and the painstaking as well as fruitful anthropological studies of Rai Bahadur S. C. Roy of Chotanagpur, have earned them a wide reputation. The cause of scientific research in India is being furthered by scientific surveys, like the Zoological Survey of India, the Botanical Survey of India and the Geological Survey of India, and by the activities of the Indian Science Congress, which meet each year in January. Attention has also been devoted to philosophic studies, through the inspiration of teachers like Sir B. N. Seal, Sir S. Radhakrishnan, and others. The Indian Universities have become keenly interested in the study of Political Science, and much useful work has been done by the Indian Institute of Political and Social Science, started on 30th March, 1917, “to promote a systematic study of political and social science in general and Indian political and social problems in particular in all their aspects….”
The spirit of renaissance has also produced a finer appreciation and cultivation of the Fine Arts such as painting and music. Dr. Rabindranath Tagore has taught and inspired a group of artists; other famous artists of the period are Nandalal Bose of Bengal and ‘Abdur Rahman Chaghatai of the Punjab, and some members of the Ukil family. The Bombay School of Art has tried to develop a new style by the application of Western technique and methods to current Indian conditions. The artistic renaissance of India owes a great deal to Mr. E. B. Havell, who was for some years Principal of the Government School of Art in Calcutta and left India in 1907, and to Dr. A. K. Coomaraswamy, who did much to preach the majesty and glory of Indian art. As with painting, there has also been a revival of sculpture. Modern lndian architecture divides itself sharply into two classes: (i) that of the indigenous Indian “Master-builder”, to be found chiefly in the Indian States, particularly in Rajputana, and (ii) that based on an imitation of Western models. During recent years, there has been a tendency to revive old architectural styles. A new spirit in the cultivation of music is evident in our country. The efforts of some members of the Tagore family are largely responsible for a finer appreciation of music; and new schools for the scientific study and practice of Indian music, vocal as well as instrumental, have sprung up in Calcutta, Bombay, Poona, Baroda and several other places. Earnest efforts are being made to revive indigenous types of dances and drama. The Prachin Kamarupi Nritya Sangha of Assam is trying to train boys and girls in the characteristic dances of that Province. In South India efforts are being made for the revival and development of Kathakali. Good work is being done in this field by Rabindranath Tagore’s Vishwabharati, the Travancore University and the Kerala Kalamandalam.
