WOOD's Dispatch

The most important part of the development of the education in the 19th century, especially English education, was the guidelines prepared by Sir Charles Wood, the Secretary of State, in 1854, popularly known as the Wood's Dispatch. This comprehensive scheme dominated education policy in the second half of the 19th century, that supported the view that English education in India would create a class of persons Indian in blood and colour; but English in taste.

 

The essential features of Wood's Dispatch were:

- it declared the aim of the education in  India to be diffusion of European knowledge

- for higher education, English would be the preferred medium of instruction

- vernacular languages would be the medium through which European knowledge could in filter masses

- proposed a hierarchy of schools

- vernacular primary schools at the village level, followed by Anglo Vernacular high schools

and affiliated college at teh district level

- recommended grants-in aids for the first time to encourage private efforts in the field of education

- proposed to set up a Department of Public Instruction to be headed by a director, one in each of the 5 provinces under the British rule to review the progress of education

- proposed to set up the universities in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras on the model of London University which would hold examinations and confer degrees.

- it underlines the importance of vocational education and emphasized the need to set up technical schools and colleges

- recommended setting up of training institutes for prospective teachers

- also supported education for women.