RAS question
Macaulay's Minute on Education (1835) recommended:
Correct answer: (A) English medium education.
Macaulay's Minute on Education in 1835 recommended English-medium education in India.
Explanation
Macaulay's 1835 proposal was about changing the medium of instruction. The NCERT chapter notes that education in India was then in Persian and Sanskrit, and that Macaulay suggested a change: Indians should be taught through English. The aim was not merely to add a subject, but to create an English-educated class shaped by English tastes, opinions, morals and intellect. Therefore, in an RAS MCQ, the safest reading is English-medium education, because the contrast is between older Persian-Sanskrit learning and English as the language through which education would be delivered.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Sanskrit and Arabic medium education reverses the thrust of Macaulay's proposal, which shifted away from the existing Persian-Sanskrit pattern towards English.
- (C) Technical education only is too narrow, because Macaulay's proposal identified English as the medium of instruction, not a restriction to technical subjects.
- (D) Vernacular medium education does not fit Macaulay's recommendation that Indians should be taught through the English language.
Concept
This tests British colonial education policy in modern Indian history. RAS asks such questions because named colonial measures often turn on a precise policy recommendation, not just the date or personality attached to it.