The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Vijayawada News : Call to rid Indian education system of British influence

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Monday, Jan 31, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada

Call to rid Indian education system of British influence

By Our Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA, JAN. 30. Speakers at a State-level seminar on `Indianisation of education' organised by Vidya Parirakshana Udyama Samithi here on Sunday stressed the need for steps to rid the country's youth of the ghost of Macaulay, the British educationist.

They expressed concern over the growing interference of political parties in academic matters and criticised the leaders' tendency to politicise efforts that were made earlier to free the Indian education system from British influence.

Delivering the keynote address, the Director of Delhi Institute of Heritage Research & Management, Makkhan Lal, said none other than the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, stressed the need to `rid youth of Macaulay ghost' when he was in the midst of preparing the education policy during his tenure. Rajiv Gandhi made real attempts to bring in reforms. However, subsequent efforts to `Indianise' education were met with resistance, Prof. Lal said.

An eminent historian and author of several NCERT books, Prof. Lal said Indianness in our system was very much necessary and this should be pondered over by all sections, not leaving the task to the Government alone.

Macaulay's ghost

Narrating the impact of foreign influence, he said: "Macaulay's correspondence revealed that they wanted the system here to be Indian in colour but British in tastes and morals. It was one of making a nation lose its identity. They wanted to see an enslaved nation. Max Mueller in his letters to his wife talked of a second conquest of India through education."

Prof. Lal pointed out that the erstwhile Government in continuation of the Rajiv Gandhi policy attempted education reforms by seeking to impart a native identity reflective of `our roots'. But these efforts were not realised, he said.

Rethink, a good sign

The Head of Department of History, Kakatiya University, Y. Sudarshana Rao, said it was unfortunate that "we are talking about Indianisation of education" 57 years after independence. In his presidential remarks, Prof. Rao described as a good sign that there was a rethinking in general on the issue. The vice-president of Siddhartha Academy, N. Venkateswarlu, and others were present.

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