Wood's despatch is the informal name for a formal despatch that was sent by Sir Charles Wood, the President of the Board of Control of the British East India Company to Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-General of India. Wood's communique suggested a major shift to popularising the use of English within India. As for the language of instruction, Wood recommended that primary schools adopt vernacular languages, for secondary schools to adopt both English and vernacular languages and for colleges to adopt English. The letter played an important role in spreading English-language learning and female education in British India. One of the most favourable steps taken was to create an English-speaking class among the Indian people to be used as a workforce in the company's administration. Vocational and women's education also became more heavily emphasised. This period of time in the British Raj was part of a final phase in which the British government administration brought social reforms to India. The governing policies later tended to become more reactionary, notably in the wake of major social and political unrest surrounding the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

Background

The East India Company (EIC) largely ignored development of education in India until the mid-19th century. Some of its members thought that they should transform India into a civilised society and convert the Indian mindset by making rapid changes. Others thought that it was best to educate Indians and recruit them in Indian Civil Services (ICS). By learning English, Indians would adopt British rule. Those were some of the reasons that the EIC wanted Indians to learn English. Lord Macaulay said, "We (Britishers) should try to create a class of people, who would work as translators between the people who we are ruling and us, even though they may look like Indians by color; but their likes and dislikes, morals and thinking will be like an Englishman".

Recommendations

Wood's recommendations were the following:

Measures taken

After Wood's despatch, several measures were taken by the East India Company:

Consequences

Merits: According to the recommendations of Sir Charles Wood- Demerits :

Sources