DENIZENS OF ALIEN WORLDS

53
Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India (1898-1905), believed that the young chiefs who were
supposed to ‗learn the English language, and [become] sufficiently familiar with English
customs, literature, science, mode of thought, standards of truth and honour‘, would be
allies of the British (Raleigh 1906: 245). The assumption that these English values and
norms of conduct were intrinsically superior was, of course, part of Curzon‘s world view,
as it was of most Englishmen. The political motive of making the chiefs loyal to the
Crown and so consolidating the empire was justified on the assumption that it was
morally necessary to civilize Indians.
Accordingly, between 1897 and 1902, English was taught on an average of 9 out
of a total of 25 hours in classes one and two at Aitchison College. In the other Chiefs‘
Colleges too, it was given more teaching hours than any other subject (Mangan 1986:
131). The Chiefs‘ Colleges, patronized by eminent members of the ruling elite (including
governors and the Viceroy), had imposing buildings, excellent facilities for games and
sports, paid high salaries to their British administrators (Rs 1250 per month to the
Principal of Mayo College), and charged very high tuition fees from their pupils (Rs
4,300 per year at Mayo and Rs 1,250 at Aitchison) Mangan 128-31). Such exorbitant
education costs excluded all but the wealthiest from such institutions.
Children of the newly emerging professional upper middle class Indian families
sought admission in the European schools. Here too, because such schools admitted only
15 per cent Indians (except in Bombay where 20 per cent were allowed), not everybody
could get in. The schools which admitted more than 20 per cent Indian students were
called English-teaching schools (PEI 1918: 185). These schools generally granted the
Senior School Certificate to pupils at the end of their schooling. According to Sharp, this
certificate is ‗in the opinion of those who have had long experience of both systems of
examination, equal to an ordinary degree of the University of Calcutta‘ (PEI 1918: 180).
Such high educational standards did not prevail in the Chiefs‘ Colleges (where the pupils
did not have to compete for jobs) though they were much improved by reforms instituted
by Lord Curzon and his successors in the first two decades of the twentieth century
(Mangan 140-1).
The English schools---to choose a convenient term for all such institutions which
taught most subjects through English---were generally run on the lines of British public