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Introduction: Christian missions educational activities in India
School-houses became chapels under the control of missionaries. Their use for this purpose is often more important than for education
Rev. Dr D. O. Allen
The main weapon of the Cambridge Mission as a whole is education.
-Rev. St. Clair Donaldson
“We have come to seek Christians and spices”, that is how Vasco-da-Gama explained the motive behind his visit when he landed at the famous Indian port of Calicut in May 1498. Similar motives guided the activities of other European settlers in India-the Dutch, the English, the Danes and the French. The authorities of these Companies opened educational institutions for the children of their own employees-Europeans and Indians. Admission was also granted to newly-converted Indian children to enable them to read and write.
If the main aim of the Christian missions was to convert the Indian people to Christianity, it is interesting to delve into the how and why of their drift towards educational activities. In fact, initially the governing bodies of many missions objected to the missionaries becoming teachers and refused to sanction funds for setting up schools. However, actual experience-particularly lack of contact opportunities with the people-drove them to the conclusion that mission schools could be used as very effective instruments for proselytizing purposes. Rev. Dr. D.O. Allen, an American missionary clarified:
In commencing their operations, missionaries have generally seen the propriety and importance of establishing schools. One reason for them is to educate the minds of the people, so that they may be more capable of understanding and appreciating the facts and evidences, the doctrines and duties of the Scriptures (the Bible)... And another reason for such an education is in its procuring means and opening ways of access to the people, and opportunities of preaching to them. One great difficulty which missionaries often experience, is in obtaining access to the people in circumstances where Christianity can be made the subject of communication or conversation. In such circumstances schools become very important, as means of communication with different classes of people, with children and parents, and with men and women. And school-houses also become important as places for becoming acquainted with people, for social intercourse and religious worship.
It may be no exaggeration to state that the missionaries used education not for spread of knowledge, but as a means to evangelization. To spread their message among the masses, the missionaries wrote books in vernacular languages and. translated the Bible into various Indian languages. Luckily for the missionaries, invention the printing press worked to their advantage. The lust printing press in India was set up by the Portuguese missions at Goa in 1556. The printing of the Bible into Indian languages and dissemination of other useful Western literature in English language helped in developing public opinion in favour of English education.
Initially, the missionaries could only induce the lower strata of Indian society to accept Christianity. The missionaries also opened vocational schools and helped the converts to secure employment under the Government. Thus, the missionary schools became both the cause and effect of proselytization. Non-Christian children were induced to join these mission schools and' temptations in the form of free food, clothing, books etc. Were offered to them. The teaching of the Bible was compulsory in all missionary schools.
Since the Christian missionaries were pioneers in the introduction of modern system of education (including Western Literature, Philosophy and Science) and had a tot of clout with the political authorities in England (members of parliament and the court of) and in India (with the Anglo-Indian bureaucracy and even. Governors and Governor Generals), they played a notable role both in decision-making at the official level as well in the opening of schools in India.
The Charter Act of 1813 gave a shot in the arm to missionary enterprise, for it lifted all restrictions on the entry of missionaries of the United Kingdom into India. Henceforth the missionaries could reside in India, could establish Churches and openly preach. The Charter Act of 1833 threw open India to the whole world and every honest person could settle in India. Thus, we find the much funded American missions pouring into India, Germany's Basel Mission Society, Protestant Lutheran Missionary Society and Women's Association of Education of Females started their missionary work in India. The American Mission which started work in India were the American Baptist Union, the American Board and the American Presbyterian Mission Board North.
The period between 1833-53 is classed as the age of mission schools and colleges. Many prestigious colleges came into existence during this period, viz., the Madras Christian College (1837), Noble College at Musulipatam (1841), Hislop College at Nagpur (1844), St. Joseph's College at Nagapatnam (1846) and St. John's College at Agra (1852). The addition to the number of mission schools is too extensive to be listed. It is relevant here to mention that this period was characterized by extremely cordial relations between the missionaries and the officials of the Company. Grants-in-aid were sanctioned for mission schools. There were also examples of missionaries being appointed as Inspectors of Schools.
The Revolt of 1857 brought about an element of caution in official policy towards education in India. Some political leaders cautioned the Government against giving a free hand to Christian missionaries. Some even went to the length of believing that missionary activities had injured the religious susceptibilities of the two major communities (the Hindus and the Muslims) and provided them a common plank for the anti-British Revolt of 1857. Other leaders of the public opinion in Britain doubted the wisdom of wholesale westernization of education in India, apprehending that Western education would inevitably lead to results to which it had led in the West, viz., growth of nationalism and demand for the right of self-determination. A third political current was to limit higher education and lay emphasis on school education.'
The recommendations of the Hunter Education Commission (1882-83) put a damper on missionary hopes and expectations. Their long-cherished plans were shattered. The very commission that had been set up mainly through their propaganda and efforts had refused to consider them as true private agencies. The Missionary Conference at Calcutta (1883) went into a huff and resolved that 'school teaching is not missionary work', and further that 'Missions have neither a call nor a mandate to teach English literature, History. Mathematics or Natural Science'.
After a temporary period of reluctance and hesitancy, various missionary organisations gradually picked up their missionary activities in multifarious ways. For example, Rev. St. Clair Donaldson of the Cambridge Brotherhood Mission listed four beads under which the missionary work could be more effective, viz., medical work, the zenana work, the opening of schools, and visit to the basties.
The Hunter Commission's liberalization of the grants-in-aid came as a morale booster for enlightened Indians and progressive Indian Associations that had come into existence during 1860-1880s now set up educational institutions at Aligarh, Poona and Lahore. In 1875 the MAO College at Aligarh and in 1880 the New English school at Poona were set up. At Lahore the Arya Samaj founded the D.A.V. College in 1886 with the twin objectives of imparting instruction in Western Sciences and the Vedas.
In another planned tactical move, the missionaries shifted their focus from urban centres to far-fetched areas like aboriginal and hill tribes and other backward communities. They opened school, orphanages, dispensaries and hospitals; they also doled out free food, free clothes, even money to the poor and lower caste sections of Indian society. The missionaries won many converts in the Jharkhand areas. The missionaries thrust into North Eastern States of India penetrated up to the borders of Myanmar (Burma). Almost all the States of North Eastern India came under the crusading campaign of the Christian missionaries-of various denominations. The present States of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram to a greater degree and the States of Tripura and Assam to a lesser degree came under the influence of the Christian crusade for conversion.
After Independence, the Christian Missions extended their activities from education and proselytization to politics too. As an operative step, the churches of the six different denominations formed a union known as the Church of North India. In a meeting of the united Church of North India held at New Delhi during November 1993, the main item on the synodical programme was “Towards A Holistic Understanding of Mission” conversing a period of 30 months from July 1993 to December 1995.
The Missionary Societies no longer wanted to concentrate on conversion work alone. The Bishop of Amritsar urged churchmen to come out of their narrow outlook and “join in building the nation”. The assembled church leaders expressed their deep interest in developing an integrated approach towards issues facing the nation so that the church could work towards serving the whole nation with clarity of approach and strategy. They listed some of the major issues facing the nation viz., fundamentalism, population, poverty, human rights' violations, violence, invasion of foreign culture having a degrading influence on our younger generation, economic policies that contributed to economic imperialism and consumerism.
Dr. Anand Chandu Lal, President of the Church of North India, regretted that one of the “weaknesses” of the church was that it had not been bold enough to come out of its shell and get involved in the Ayodhya issue and speak out against that which damages or destroys our society.
Perhaps, the most conspicuous achievement
of the missionaries in the field of proselytization has been in Mizoram
where almost the entire population of 6,89,756 (1991 census) is Christian.
(The author is a renowned educationist and closely associated with the
DAV movement.)
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