WOOD'S DESPATCH

WOOD'S DESPATCH

In 1854, Charles Wood prepared a despatch on an educa­tional system for India which came to be called the Magna Carta of education in the country. According to Wood's scheme, the government needed to spread western educa­tion through English medium for higher education. But vernacular primary schools should be set up in rural areas. Its other recommendations were a grants-in-aid system to encourage private enterprise's involvement in education, a Department of Public Instruction in each of the five prov­inces, universities in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras, teacher's training institutions and promotion of education for women. Most of Wood's proposals were implemented which led to westemisation of the Indian educational system.