The Routledge Companion to the History of Education in India, 1780-1947

This companion presents a comprehensive overview of educational policies in India, tracing the development of modern education from the late eighteenth century until Indian independence. It also studies various aspects of indigenous education and examines the education system under the British administration.

Drawing on archival and contemporary sources, the book explores the influence of geopolitics on educational policies and gives an in-depth analysis of debates related to access, curriculum, textbooks, funding, girls’ education, missionary education, and the education of the Muslim community. It analyses school and collegiate education, various Education Commissions, and the Government of India Resolutions. It surveys Indian response to modern education and various forms of National Education. It also discusses Gandhi’s educational ideas and brings forth the entire curriculum of Nai Talim.

An important contribution to the history of education in India, the companion will be indispensable to scholars and researchers of history, education, history of education, sociology, colonial education, Indian education, and political science.

Parimala V. Rao teaches history of education at Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. Twice, she was a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Education, London (2011, 2014). As a historian, Rao has worked extensively on educational policies and practices of the colonial state, Indian nationalists, curriculum, girls’ education and funding of schools. She has authored Foundations of Tilak’s Nationalism: Discrimination, Education, and Hindutva (2010/2011) and edited New Perspectives in the History of Indian Education (2014/2016). She has co-edited the Encyclopaedia of Asian Educators (2020) and a special issue on modern education in Asia for the journal Espacio, Tiempo y Educación (2018).