ABSTRACT
There were five important aspects of Macaulay’s educational policy. First, Anglo-vernacular or English and vernacular teaching schools should be established in as many towns as possible. Second, the schools should be open to all, and children from various castes, classes, and religions should sit together and intermingle in the classrooms. Indian and European students should study in the same classrooms. There should be one teacher for every 30 students. Third, schools should have good libraries, and curriculum should be student-centric, not teacher-centric. Fourth, bright students should be allowed to pursue higher education and not be appointed as schoolteachers.Finally, there should be no religious teaching in the schools, and curriculum should be secular. Governor-General Auckland set out to undo all of this within months of Macaulay’s departure. Actually, the Madras Presidency had already abolished its Anglo-vernacular schools when Macaulay was still in India. North India followed after his departure. This chapter analyses the closing down of high-quality Macaulayan schools and the establishment of low-quality Hulkabandi schools in North India. It also looks into educational policies and their implications in Bengal and Bombay Presidencies.
