NCERT Solutions for Class 8 Social Science History Chapter 8 Civilising the Native, Educating the Nation

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Civilising the Native, Educating the Nation NCERT Solutions for Class 8 Social Science History Chapter 8

Class 8 History Chapter 8 Civilising the Native, Educating the Nation InText Questions and Answers

Activity (Page 85)

Question 1.
Imagine you are living in the 1850s. You hear of Wood’s Despatch. Write about your reactions.
Answer:
I would strongly criticise the Wood’s Despatch especially on the following issues :

1. It mentioned the practical benefits of a system of European learning as opposed to Oriental knowledge.
2. I would record strong reactions to its argument that European learning would improve the moral character of Indians.
3. I would also oppose its view that the literature of the East was full of grave errors and could not instill in people a sense of duty and a commitment to work.

Activity (Page 88)

Question 1.
Imagine you were bom in a poor family in the 1850s. How would you have responded to the coming of the new system of government-regulated Pathshalas?
Answer:

1. I would not have felt good. Being born in a poor family, I would have to supplement our family income.
2. In the earlier system, children from poor peasant families had been able to go to pathshalas, since the time-table was flexible.
3. The discipline of the new system demanded regular attendance, even during harvest time when children of poor families had to work in the fields.
4. Inability to attend school came to be seen as indiscipline, so, I would have felt difficult to attend the school.

Question 2.
Did you know that about 50 percent of the children going to primary school drop out of school by the time they are 13 or 14? Can you think of the various possible reasons for this fact?
Answer:
(1) Yes, I do know that about 50% of the children going to primary school drop out of school by the time they are 13 or 14.
(2) This has the following reasons :

• About one-third of our population still living under the poverty line. So, the children of these families have to supplement their family income.
• Many illiterate parents do not give proper importance to education.
• There is the unavailability of school in remote rural areas, the children of these areas are unable to study further.

Let’s Imagine (Page 92)

Question 1.
Imagine you were witness to a debate between Mahatma Gandhi and Macaulay on English education. Write a page on the dialogue you heard.
Answer:
I have heard the following dialogue between Mahatma Gandhi and Thomas Babington Macaulay on English education:
Gandhi: In fact, English education has enslaved us. There is poison in this education. It is sinful, it enslaved Indians.
Macaulay: Mr. Gandhi, India is an – uncivilized country that needs to be civilized. This is possible only through English education.
Gandhi: It is baseless. How do you say it?
Macaulay: No branch of Eastern knowledge can be compared to what England has produced. A single shelf of a good European library is worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia.
Gandhi: India has a very rich culture.While English education has created a sense of inferiority. in the minds of Indians. It makes them see Western civilization as superior and has destroyed the pride they had in their own culture. I want an education that could help Indians recover their sense of dignity and self- ‘ respect.
Macaulay: British government should stop wasting public money in promoting oriental learning because it has no practical use.
Gandhi: It is wrong. While western education focuses on reading and writing rather than oral language. It values textbooks rather than experience and practical knowledge. Simply learning to read and write by itself do not count as education. People should work with their hands, learn a craft, and know-how different things operate. This would develop their mind and their capacity to understand.
Macaulay: The knowledge of English would allow Indians to read some of the finest literature the world has produced. It would make them aware of developments in western science and philosophy.
Gandhi: The reality is that education in English has gripped Indians, distanced them from their own social surroundings, and made them strangers in their own lands. On the other hand, the English educated do not know how to relate to the masses.

Class 8 History Chapter 8 Civilising the Native, Educating the Nation Exercise Questions and Answers

Let’s recall

Question 1.
Match the following :

William Jones	promotion of English education
Rabindranath Tagore	respect for ancient cultures
Thomas Macaulay	gurus
Mahatma Gandhi	learning in a natural environment
Pathshalas	critical of English education

Answer:

William Jones	respect for ancient cultures
Rabindranath Tagore	learning in a natural environment
Thomas Macaulay	promotion of English education
Mahatma Gandhi	critical of English education
Pathshalas	gurus

Question 2.
State whether true or false :
(a) James Mill was a severe critic of the Orientalists.
Answer:
True

(b) The 1854 Despatch on education was in favour of English being introduced as a medium of higher education in India.
Answer:
False

(c) Mahatma Gandhi thought that the promotion of literacy was the most important aim of education.
Answer:
False

(d) Rabindranath Tagore felt that children ought to be subjected to strict discipline.
Answer:
False

Let’s discuss

Question 3.
Why did William Jones feel the need to study Indian history, philosophy, and law?
Answer:
He felt the need to study Indian history, philosophy, and law because only these texts could reveal the ideas and laws of the Hindus and Muslims, and only a new study of these texts could form the basis of future development in India.

Question 4.
Why did James Mill and Thomas Macaulay think that European education was essential in India?
Answer:

1. They thought that the aim of education ought to be to teach what was useful and practical. So, Indians should be made familiar with the scientific and technical advances that the West had made.
2. According to Macaulay, India was an uncivilized country that needed to be civilized.
3. No branches of Eastern knowledge, according to him, could be compared to what England had produced. A single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia.
4. They felt that knowledge of English would allow Indians to read some of the finest literature the world had produced. I would make them aware of the development in Western science and philosophy.

Question 5.
Why did Mahatma Gandhi want to teach children handicrafts?
Answer:
Mahatma Gandhi wanted to teach children handicrafts because only then they would be able to know how different things were operated. This would develop their mind and then- capacity to understand.

Question 6.
Why did Mahatma Gandhi think that English education had enslaved Indians?
Answer:
This was because English education Created a sense of inferiority in the minds of Indians. It made them see western civilization as superior and destroyed the pride they had in their own culture. So, he called it sinful. Mahatma Gandhi wanted an education that could help Indians recover their sense of dignity and self-respect.

Let’s do

Question 7.
Find out from your grandparents about what they studied in school.
Answer:

• Urdu/Hindi language
• Mathematics
• The social study, Drawing.

Question 8.
Find out about the history of your school or any other school in the area you live.
Answer:
History of our school

• Established as a middle school — Organised in tents.
• No furniture.
• Supplied furniture by Government.
• Rooms got constructed.
• Raised to secondary than to senior school.
• After 10 years Pucca building got constructed.
• All the amenities provided.
• Now a full-fledged and flourishing Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya upto 12th standard.