Analysis Of Thomas Babington Macaulay's Minute On Indian Education

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Thomas Babington Macaulay was a British historian and a Whig politician. He also was an essayist and his books on British history were highly praised and seen as masterpieces. Macaulay was Secretary to the Board of Control under Lord Grey from 1832 to 1833. Its role was to support the President of the Board of Control who was responsible for the command of the British East India Company. When the Government of India Act was passed in 1833, Thomas Macaulay was appointed as the first Law Member of the Governor-General 's Council. Also known as the Council of India, it was composed of four advisors to the Governor-General at Fort William. He went to India in 1834 and served as a member of the Supreme Council of India between 1834 and 1838. He was also appointed as president of the General Committee of Public Instruction. In this position, he oversaw major educational and legal reforms. It is during this period that he introduced his famous “Minute on Indian Education” on February 2, 1835 in which he supported the education of the classes through the medium of English. We are going to see to what extent we can say that Macaulay’s “Minute on Indian Education” reflects British society and the western point of view at the time. In a first part, we will focus on the opposition between Orientalists and Anglicists and in a second part, we will see about the western society seen as culturally superior compared to other nations and societies. On one hand, there was an opposition