Discussion On The Role Of English In India As A Political Issue

This is an extract from a full essay written as my final paper for the Worlds of English Module

Date : 07/02/2016

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Uploaded by : Rachel
Uploaded on : 07/02/2016
Subject : English

In India, the role of English has been a political
issue for over three hundred years and continues to be so today.  In order
to explore this issue, examination of the educational and language policies
which were first advocated by the British Anglicists of the late 18th century
is necessary. Implementation of those policies aimed to educate and govern the
masses by introducing English literature to a select few. Pennycook (2012)
supports the view that the British colonialists were not entirely in favour of
spreading English. He suggests rather, that English was viewed as a `dangerous
weapon` which was likely to lead to unrest within the colonies.

However, the language of the colonists did become
and remains one of India’s official languages. There are differing theories to
how this transpired. In 1797, British politician and Chairman of the British
East India, Charles Grant, argued that English was the key which would open a
world of new ideas to the Indian populace (Pennycook 2012). Considering that
Grant was a `born again Christian` (Nault, 2011), it is possible that the `new
ideas` he referred to may have included religious teachings, especially in
light of Ghosh`s comments that Grant`s agenda for India aimed to eradicate `backward
and superstitious religious beliefs` (cited in Nault, 2012, p.71). However,
Johnson (2012, p.188) argues that due to Hinduism`s strong hold in India, the
British were not able to institute an education system based on Christian
beliefs.

While proselytising may not have been the sole, or
even the main aim of the British colonial rulers in introducing English
education, without the Bible to help them, the administration needed an
alternative approach to educating the workforce and controlling the masses. In
1835, Thomas Macaulay’s solution was to set out a language policy for India
which argued in favour of the British government financially supporting English
education rather than vernacular education.

[...]

Implementation of this policy was affected by
‘limited means’ (Macauley cited in Pennycook 2012) and resulted in the
unforeseen development of what was considered to be an ‘elite class’ of Indians
(Rajan, 2012). Moreover, this policy also helped to educate young men who would
later be able use English in their fight against colonial rule, the most famous
of these being Gandhi, a British educated lawyer.

This resource was uploaded by: Rachel