ABSTRACT
Education was a central concern in the nationalist quest for self-identity, for it was in education that the cultural agenda of colonization had been most succinctly expressed. Even if Macaulay had not used the hyperbole he did to decry India’s culture and heritage, the conflict between colonial education policy and indigenous culture would have revealed itself Long before the political struggle for freedom had started, the quest for self-identity had led to a conflict in the minds of many educated Indians. The conflict was between the perception of English education as an enriching contribution to India’s culture, and the perception that English education had cast a shadow over Indian culture. Such a conflict often arose within the educated individual’s own mind, for education was a major agency with the help of which Indians imbibed the culture of the colonizer.
