In order to analyse the educational policy of 19th-century Bengal, two factors should be studied and evaluated critically. These are the changing notions of British imperialism and the educational development of contemporary Britain. The reasons for the neglect of natives’ education are many. These included keeping the Indians dependent on foreign rule for as long as possible, a fear that education would encourage liberal ideas and create a large class which would demand independence, or perhaps because Britain was backward in the development of education in the 19th century.
