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| {{Short description|1854 British letter on English use in India}}
| | #REDIRECT [[Wood's despatch]] |
| {{Infobox document
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| | document_name = Wood's Despatch
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| | image = Charles Wood.jpg
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| | orig_lang_code =
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| | title_orig =
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| | date_created = 1854
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| | date_presented =
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| | commissioned = President of the Board of Control of India
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| | writer = Sir Charles Wood
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| | signers =
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| | media_type = Communiqué
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| | subject = Education
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| | purpose = To hasten the development of education in British India
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| |image_caption=Sir Charles Wood, G.C.B., 1st Viscount Halifax (1800-1885)}}
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| In 1854, [[Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax|Sir Charles Wood]], the [[President of the Board of Control]] of the British [[East India Company]], sent a formal dispatch to [[James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie|Lord Dalhousie]], the then [[Governor-General of India]], suggesting a large shift to English language use within India. Sir Charles recommended that primary schools adopt vernacular languages, high schools adopt Anglo-vernacular language and that English be the medium of education in colleges. This communiqué is informally known as '''Wood's dispatch'''.
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| Wood's letter played an important role in the spread of English learning and female education in [[British Raj|India]]. One of the most favorable steps taken was to create an English class among Indian people to be used as workforce in the company's administration. Vocational and women's education were also emphasised more heavily.
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| This period of time in the British Raj was part of a final phase where the British governmental administration brought social reforms into India. After this period, the governing policies tended to become more reactionary, notably in the wake of major social and political unrest surrounding the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]].<ref name="Mia Carter 2003 400">{{cite book|title= Archives on Empire Volume I, From East India Company to Suez Canal |first= Barbara Harlow |last= Mia Carter |publisher= Duke university Press |year=2003|page=400 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xtFRtX2PSrwC&dq=Rao+tula+ram&pg=PA400|isbn= 9780822385042 }}</ref><ref name="ARSU 2021 144">{{cite book|title= Haryana GK |first= Malik |last= ARSU |publisher= Team ARSU |year=2021|page=144 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oNMuEAAAQBAJ&dq=Rao+tula+ram&pg=PA144|isbn= 9798503514063 }}</ref>
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| == Background ==
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| East India company (EIC) largely ignored development of education in India till the mid-19th century. Some thought that they should transform India into a civilized society, to convert the Indian mindset by making rapid changes. Others thought it best to educate Indians and recruit them in [[Indian Civil Services]] (ICS). By learning English, Indians would adopt British rule. These were some of the reasons that EIC wanted Indians to learn English. [[Lord Macaulay]] said, "We (Britishers) should try to create a class of people, who would work as translators between the people who we are ruling and us, even though they may look like Indians by color; but their likes and dislikes, morals and thinking will be like an Englishman".<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Kale |first=Dr. M.V. |title=Modern India |year=2021 |edition=4 |location=Pune |pages=73 |language=Mr}}</ref>
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| ==Recommendations ==
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| {{Unreferenced section|date=March 2023}} | |
| Wood's recommendations were :
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| # English education would enhance the moral character of Indians and thus supply East India Company with civil servants who could be trusted.
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| # An education department was to be set up in every province.
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| # Universities on the model of the London university be established in big cities such as Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.
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| # At least one [[government school]] be opened in every [[district]].
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| # Affiliated private schools be given grants in aid.
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| # Indian natives be given training in their [[mother tongue]] also.
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| # Provision be made for a systematic method of education from primary level to university level.
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| # The government should support education for women.
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| # The medium of instruction at the primary level to be vernacular while at the higher levels the medium would be English.
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| # Promotion and stress on teachers’ training at all levels.
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| ==Measures taken ==
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| {{Unreferenced section|date=March 2023}}
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| After Wood's dispatch, several measures were taken by the East India Company:
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| # Setting up new institutions like the [[University of Calcutta]], the [[University of Bombay]] and the [[University of Madras]] in 1857 as well as the [[University of the Punjab]] in 1882 and the [[University of Allahabad]] in 1887.
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| # In all provinces, education departments were set up.
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| # Promotion of English education, namely within academics and the bureaucracies of companies and public services.
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| == Results ==
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| English medium schools became popular in India.<ref name=":0" />
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| ==References==
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| {{Reflist}}
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| {{refbegin}}
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| * {{Citation |last1=Bayly |first1=Christopher Alan |author-link1=Christopher Alan Bayly |year=1987 |title=Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire |series=The New Cambridge History of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fX2zMfWqIzMC |volume=II.1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-38650-0}}.
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| {{refend}}
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| [[Category:History of education in India]]
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