Macaulay sent to end India’s traditional education system, says Rajnath Singh

Rajnath Singh spoke at a large gathering of seers and students at the foundation laying ceremony of Patanjali Gurukulam in Haridwar

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during the foundation stone laying of ‘Gurukulam Evam Acharyakulam’, at Swami Darshanand Gurukul Mahavidyalay in Haridwar, on January 6, 2024. Yoga Guru Ramdev, Union Minister of State (I/C) for Law & Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal, Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav and Uttarakhand’s Pushkar Singh Dhami are also seen. | Photo Credit: PTI

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on January 6 said Lord Macaulay was sent to throttle India’s traditional system of education and to mentally enslave the people. Mr. Singh said that the revival of ‘gurukuls’ was necessary to counter the effects of the Macaulayist system of education on Indian minds.

Mr. Singh shared his views in Haridwar, where he lay the foundation stone of Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Gurukulam avam Acharyakulam, a school which purportedly runs on ancient education system and will be built at an estimated cost of ₹250 crore.

“You people must have heard the name of Macaulay. He was a British officer, who was sent from Britain to India so that Indians could be mentally enslaved,” Mr. Singh said.

Thomas Babington Macaulay, a British historian and politician, had played a key role in introducing English as the medium of instruction for education in India in the 1800s.

“The British official had once declared that ‘an almirah in a European library has more content than all of India’s cultural and literary heritage,” Mr. Singh said, paraphrasing Macaulay’s words.

“Macaulay had introduced such an education system in India that spawned generations of Indians who grew up with a sense of inferiority about their own culture and traditions and almost ended the gurukul education system,” Mr. Singh said.

The Defence Minister pointed out that although gurukuls were seen as following ancient methods of didacticism for many years they have kept pace with modern educational trends in recent years. He exhorted the gurukuls to advance in the areas of emerging technology, such as artificial intelligence, and quantum computing, along with their traditional educational schema, so that they keep in sync with evolving times.

“Develop such technologies that will make the nation a leader in this field. Gurukuls should act as a guide for other educational institutions. In the times to come, they should once again represent the country, and its culture, and become the new identity of India,” Mr. Singh said.

Referring to the National Education Policy - 2020, Mr. Singh voiced the government’s resolve to inculcate moral values in young minds starting from an early age.

“The new education policy is being implemented in many institutions across the country. The process is long as no change in the educational system takes place suddenly. Gurukuls can play a very important role in this long process,” he said.