GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION IN INDIA DURING BRITISH PERIOD IN A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

From the ancient period Indians have enjoyed the reputation of being a learned people. Some of the early Hindu and Buddhist centre of learning such as Taxila and Nalanda university were the very famous institution during that time. Education in the beginning was confined to the priestly class with teaching of traditional elements such as religion, logic etc. Then Islamic education introduced in India with the establishment of the Islamic empires and Mqtabas and Madrasas became the seats of learning. The advent of British in India opened a new era in the field of education and the vast changes and development of Indian education had mainly occurred during British era.They brought a new system of education to India which was different from earlier education system.During the British period, education was first ignored but later a series of measures continuing throughout the early half of the 20th century ultimately laid the foundation of education in modern India. They organized the Indian education system and introduced modern scientific learning in India. As a result India had been preceded to a new era under British. In this paper an attempt is made to analyse critically the development of education in India during British period.