ABSTRACT
By 1850, the entiretyof India was under control of the East India Company (EIC). This was also the last decade of the rule of the EIC. This chapter deals with the despatch of the Court of Directors of 1854, popularly known as Wood’s Despatch, its provisions, opposition by the British bureaucracy, and the Etawah Schools of A.O. Hume. The establishment of the Education Departments in Punjab and Sind and debates concerning the education of untouchable children are discussed in this chapter. It analyses the Revoltof 1857 and how the British elites projected it as a reaction to the introduction of modern education and not a result of their misrule and aggressive expansionist policies. It addresses the end of the rule of the EIC and the transfer of power into the hands of the British Crown.
