The impact of british colonial rule on the indian education system: collapse and deterioration

Abstract

This research paper examines the detrimental impact of British colonial rule on the Indian education system, focusing on the collapse and deterioration of indigenous learning structures. Prior to Muslim and British intervention, India’s educational systems, including gurukulas, and Buddhist monasteries, offered holistic learning in subjects such as philosophy, mathematics, medicine, and astronomy. However, British policies, particularly Macaulay’s Minute on Education, 1835, introduced English-medium education designed to serve colonial interests, which marginalized traditional knowledge systems. The emphasis on producing clerks and administrators for the British Empire, the exclusion of the majority population from formal education, and the neglect of scientific and technological education led to long-term intellectual stagnation. This paper argues that the British colonial approach alienated Indians from their cultural roots and left a legacy of educational inequality, underdevelopment, and intellectual decline, consequences that have persisted into modern times.