Who led the orientalists in the General Committee of Public Instructions formed in 1823 A. D. ?

Question

Accepted Answer

The correct option is 1:

The General Committee of Public Instruction (GCPI) was established in 1823 by the East India Company government to look after education in India. However, the committee soon became divided into two opposing factions over the medium of instruction: the Orientalists and the Anglicists. The Orientalists advocated for the promotion of traditional Indian learning through classical languages like Sanskrit and Persian, believing that Western knowledge should be disseminated via these languages. The Orientalist faction was strongly led by **H. T. Princep** (Henry Thoby Princep), who served as the Secretary to the GCPI and championed indigenous education, supporting institutions like the Calcutta Madrasa and the Sanskrit College. This conflict, known as the Orientalist-Anglicist controversy, dominated educational policy debates for a decade until Macaulay's Minute shifted the balance.

The incorrect option is 2: Macaulay was the leader of the Anglicist faction, which opposed the Orientalists. He famously authored the 'Minute upon Indian Education' in 1835, advocating for the promotion of Western education exclusively through the English language, ultimately leading to the decline of the Orientalist approach.

The incorrect option is 3: David Hair was a watchmaker and philanthropist who played a key role in founding several Western education institutions in Calcutta, most notably the Hindu College (now Presidency University). While he was a supporter of English education, he was not the leader of the Orientalist faction in the GCPI.

The incorrect option is 4: Cicil Rhodes (likely Cecil Rhodes, the British imperialist and politician) was active much later and primarily in Southern Africa. He had no involvement with the General Committee of Public Instruction or the Orientalist-Anglicist controversy in India in 1823 A.D. His focus was on colonial expansion and diamond mining in the late 19th century.