Regarding Wood's Dispatch, which of the following statements are true ? 1. Grants-in-Aid system was introduced. 2. Establishment of universities was recommended. 3. English as a medium of instruction at all levels of education was recommended. Select the correct answer using the code given below :
- (a) 1 and 2 only ✓ UPSC's answer
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Why the answer is (a)
• Wood's Despatch (1854), the 'Magna Carta of English education in India', laid out a graded system from village schools to universities.
• Statement 1 is correct: it introduced a grants-in-aid system to support private (mainly missionary) schools.
• Statement 2 is correct: it recommended universities on the London model, leading to the Universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1857.
• Statement 3 is wrong: it prescribed English for higher education but vernacular languages for primary and secondary schooling, not English at all levels.
• Hence 1 and 2 only, option (a).
Why the other options are wrong
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- Statement 3 is wrong: vernaculars were prescribed for school level.
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- Statement 3 is wrong; statement 2 is correct.
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
- Statement 3 is wrong.
Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2018, held on 3 June 2018. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.