Political Agenda of Education

POLITICAL AGENDA OF EDUCATION POLITICAL AGENDA OF EDUCATION A study of colonialist and nationalist ideas SECOND EDITION KRISHNA KUMAR SAGE Publications New Delhi Thousand Oaks London POLITICAL AGENDA OF EDUCATION A study of colonialist and nationalist ideas SECOND EDITION KRISHNA KUMAR SAGE Publications New Delhi Thousand Oaks London Copyright © Krishna Kumar, 1991, 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. First published in 1991 This second edition published in 2005 by Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd B-42, Panchsheel Enclave New Delhi 110 017 Sage Publications Inc Sage Publications Ltd 2455 Teller Road 1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 London EC1Y 1SP Published by Tejeshwar Singh for Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd, phototypeset by S.R. Enterprises in 10/12 Usherwood Medium and printed To the memory of J.P. Naik at Chaman Enterprises, New Delhi. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Krishna Kumar, 1951– Political agenda of education: a study of colonialist and nationalist ideas/ Krishna Kumar.—2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Education—Political aspects—India—History. 2. Education—Social aspects—India—History. 3. India—History—British occupation, 1765– 1947 I. Title LC94.I4K75 379.54—dc22 2005 2004028975 ISBN: 0-7619-3316-6 (Hb) 81-7829-446-X (India-Hb) 0-7619-3317-4 (Pb) 81-7829-447-8 (India-Pb) Sage Production Team: Shinjini Chatterjee, Rajib Chatterjee and Santosh Rawat Copyright © Krishna Kumar, 1991, 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. First published in 1991 This second edition published in 2005 by Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd B-42, Panchsheel Enclave New Delhi 110 017 Sage Publications Inc Sage Publications Ltd 2455 Teller Road 1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 London EC1Y 1SP Published by Tejeshwar Singh for Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd, phototypeset by S.R. Enterprises in 10/12 Usherwood Medium and printed To the memory of J.P. Naik at Chaman Enterprises, New Delhi. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Krishna Kumar, 1951– Political agenda of education: a study of colonialist and nationalist ideas/ Krishna Kumar.—2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Education—Political aspects—India—History. 2. Education—Social aspects—India—History. 3. India—History—British occupation, 1765– 1947 I. Title LC94.I4K75 379.54—dc22 2005 2004028975 ISBN: 0-7619-3316-6 (Hb) 81-7829-446-X (India-Hb) 0-7619-3317-4 (Pb) 81-7829-447-8 (India-Pb) Sage Production Team: Shinjini Chatterjee, Rajib Chatterjee and Santosh Rawat CONTENTS WX Preface to the Second Edition 9 Preface to the First Edition 11 I Introduction 13 Part I: Dynamics of Colonization II Colonial Citizen as an Educational Ideal 25 III Appropriate Knowledge: Conflict of Still more important than Wordsworth, or the eminent Curriculum and Culture 49 authors, Burke and Hare, was the art and science of IV Meek Dictator: The Paradox of mensuration. A boy who had passed his examination in Teacher’s Personality 73 these branches—for which, by the way, there were no cram books—could, by merely marching over a country Part II: Dynamics of the Freedom Struggle with a compass and a level and a straight eye, carry away V Pursuit of Equality 97 a picture of that country which might be sold for large VI Quest for Self-Identity 123 sums in coined silver. VII Meanings of Progress 156 VIII Conclusion 195 Rudyard Kipling in Kim Bibliography 204 Index 212 About the Author 224 CONTENTS WX Preface to the Second Edition 9 Preface to the First Edition 11 I Introduction 13 Part I: Dynamics of Colonization II Colonial Citizen as an Educational Ideal 25 III Appropriate Knowledge: Conflict of Still more important than Wordsworth, or the eminent Curriculum and Culture 49 authors, Burke and Hare, was the art and science of IV Meek Dictator: The Paradox of mensuration. A boy who had passed his examination in Teacher’s Personality 73 these branches—for which, by the way, there were no cram books—could, by merely marching over a country Part II: Dynamics of the Freedom Struggle with a compass and a level and a straight eye, carry away V Pursuit of Equality 97 a picture of that country which might be sold for large VI Quest for Self-Identity 123 sums in coined silver. VII Meanings of Progress 156 VIII Conclusion 195 Rudyard Kipling in Kim Bibliography 204 Index 212 About the Author 224 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION WX A lot seems to have changed since the early 1990s when this book was first published. Considerable policy-level interest has been in evidence on the matter of universalization of elementary education. An amendment in the Constitution has been made in order to make elementary education a fundamental, justiciable right of every child. This is no small measure, even though the precise meaning of this measure will only emerge when suitable laws and procedures are put in place in every state, enabling citizen groups to seek justice when children are deprived of their fundamental right to education. This book concludes by arguing that the utilitarian doctrine of the colonial state kept India divided between elites and masses. Liberal democratic procedures were set in motion in the late colonial period, but liberalism as a political and social perspective failed to develop, especially in the context of education. And now, in the early twenty-first century, India finds itself facing the onslaught of a harsh, neo-liberal doctrine. Implicit in it is the idea that the process of building the state is no longer necessary, that the market would serve better where the state has failed. At a time when the state seemed to have developed at least the urge, if not a plausible plan and credible commitment, to universalize elementary education, the popularity of neo-liberal ideas does not augur well. And these ideas are already influencing policy quite negatively. Privatization is rampant and spreading further at great speed; teachers are losing what little status they had; and the humanities are losing out in competition with high-income-oriented forms of knowledge. As the second edition of Political Agenda of Education goes to press, one does wonder what the changes mentioned in the first paragraph of this preface mean. In the book itself there are many changes. The most important one is the inclusion of a section on girls’ education in the discussion on equality in Chapter V. The absence of this topic in the last edition was a major lacuna, reflecting both a limitation in my awareness and in the discourse of the 1980s. Rarely does one know the precise source and moment of awareness: in my case it was a visit to the PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION WX A lot seems to have changed since the early 1990s when this book was first published. Considerable policy-level interest has been in evidence on the matter of universalization of elementary education. An amendment in the Constitution has been made in order to make elementary education a fundamental, justiciable right of every child. This is no small measure, even though the precise meaning of this measure will only emerge when suitable laws and procedures are put in place in every state, enabling citizen groups to seek justice when children are deprived of their fundamental right to education. This book concludes by arguing that the utilitarian doctrine of the colonial state kept India divided between elites and masses. Liberal democratic procedures were set in motion in the late colonial period, but liberalism as a political and social perspective failed to develop, especially in the context of education. And now, in the early twenty-first century, India finds itself facing the onslaught of a harsh, neo-liberal doctrine. Implicit in it is the idea that the process of building the state is no longer necessary, that the market would serve better where the state has failed. At a time when the state seemed to have developed at least the urge, if not a plausible plan and credible commitment, to universalize elementary education, the popularity of neo-liberal ideas does not augur well. And these ideas are already influencing policy quite negatively. Privatization is rampant and spreading further at great speed; teachers are losing what little status they had; and the humanities are losing out in competition with high-income-oriented forms of knowledge. As the second edition of Political Agenda of Education goes to press, one does wonder what the changes mentioned in the first paragraph of this preface mean. In the book itself there are many changes. The most important one is the inclusion of a section on girls’ education in the discussion on equality in Chapter V. The absence of this topic in the last edition was a major lacuna, reflecting both a limitation in my awareness and in the discourse of the 1980s. Rarely does one know the precise source and moment of awareness: in my case it was a visit to the 10 Political Agenda of Education photo exhibition organized by the Centre for Women’s Develop- REFACE TO THE IRST DITION ment Studies, more specifically, by my contemporary, Malavika P F E Karlekar, pictorially demonstrating women’s struggle for new roles and identity since the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

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