Woods Despatch: Sir Charles Wood - Class 8 History Notes

Now, let us discuss Woods Despatch. Well, in 1854, a comprehensive plan for education was worked out in a despatch of Sir Charles Wood, known as the Wood�s Despatch. The word despatch here means the act of sending people to a place for a particular purpose. The recommendations included in this official report were;

 

1. It asked the government of India to take responsibility for the education of the masses.
2. The medium of instruction should be vernacular languages at the primary level, followed by Anglo-vernacular (English and local languages) in schools at the middle and high schools levels and through the English medium at college and university levels.
3. Setting up of universities at Calcutta (Kolkata), Bombay (Mumbai) and Madras (Chennai).
4. The aim of education in India was to be the diffusion of European languages.

 

As a result of these recommendations given by the Woods Despatch; Departments of Education were set up in all the provinces, Universities were set in Calcutta (Kolkata), Bombay (Mumbai) and Madras (Chennai) in 1857. And English became the medium for the spread of modern ideas.

 

Read More:
English Education in India: Objectives Of British Education System