The Calcutta Madrasah was established by Warren Hastings in 1781 for the study of Muslim law and related subjects.
The Sanskrit College was established by Jonathan Duncan, the resident, at Benaras in 1791 for study of Hindu law and philosophy.
The Calcutta Madrasah and the Sanskrit College were designed to provide a regular supply of qualified Indians to help the administration of law in the Company’s court, and the knowledge of classical languages and vernaculars was useful in correspondence with Indian states.
Fort William College was set up by Wellesley in 1800 for training of civil servants of the Company in languages and customs of Indians (closed in 1802).
Charter Act of 1813:
Incorporated the principle of encouraging education and promoting knowledge of modern sciences in the country.
The Act directed the Company to sanction one lakh rupees annually for this purpose.
The reason behind the move was that enlightened Indians and missionaries started exerting pressure on the Government to promote modern, secular, Western education, as they thought that Western education was the remedy for social, economic and political ills of the country.
Efforts of enlightened Indians such as Raja Rammohan Roy bore fruit and a grant was sanctioned for Calcutta College set up in 1817 by educated Bengalis, imparting English education in Western humanities and sciences.
In 1823, the Governor-General in Council appointed a “General Committee of Public Instruction“, which had the responsibility to grant the one lakh of rupees for education.
