During India’s Colonial Period, the Theory of Downward Filtration was Related to

By Balaji

Updated on: March 21st, 2023

During India’s Colonial Period, the Theory of Downward Filtration was Related to Education. The East India Company wanted to educate the Indian people about profits in their business through the downward filtration theory. As per this theory, education was initially disseminated to a small group of people, and through them, it was then conveyed to the masses.

Thus, through this theory, education was imparted to some favorable people that they liked to engage with. Lord Macaulay’s Education Policy, 1835, attempted to create a system of education where only the upper strata of society are educated.

Table of content

1. Relation of Downward Filtration Theory in India’s Colonial Period
2. During India’s Colonial Period, the Theory of Downward Filtration was Related to

Relation of Downward Filtration Theory in India’s Colonial Period

As per the downward filtration theory, the Britishers believed that if they educated only a few upper-class Indians, then the government was paving way for educating the masses. Then these Indians would spread the education to the masses. Through this system, education was expected to filter downwards. However, this system of education did not work out.

Lord Macaulay was the one to propagate the filtration theory. Let us look at some of the salient features of the downward filtration theory:

Charles Wood prepared a dispatch on the educational system for India in 1854.
It was considered as the “Magna Carta of English education in India” that laid the plans for spreading education in India.
The General Committee of Public Instruction was appointed in 1823, and in 1833 Lord Macaulay arrived in India.
Macaulay, in his minutes, paved the way for the Anglicization of education in India.

Summary: