Chapter no:5

Access Denied: Containing The Spread Of

English

Submitted By:
Rimsha Shahid (28531)
Syeda Arham (28535)
Subrina Saleem (28646)

Submitted To:
Mam Sobia
 The economic basis of language policy variation in the
British empire:

 With the lack of a uniform imperial policy, local conditions and

events largely shaped attitudes towards the spread of
English and English education in the dependencies.
 Frederick Lugard who set the language policy of the empire
were not imbued with ideas straight out of the boarding
schools of England.
 The spread of English was uneven due to lack of intercolonial
coordination but the educational system across
colonies were similar because they were dictated by
political and economic imperatives of colonial rules.
Need of English-educated non-natives

▶ The need of English-educated Asians and Africans occurred in

three stages:
 Stage-I: extensive economic development
discouraged
 educational needs.
Stage-II: need arose when colony integrated into
economy and more English speaking inhabitants were required
imperial
 Stage-III: desire of producing English-educated youth ensued
 Concentration for the present on improving the standard
of vernacular education.
 The Socioeconomic lines of language access:

 The point emerges very prominently from an examination of the

numbers of “vernacular schools” versus “English schools” in the
British empire. Since educational statistics kept for Asia were
much more comprehensive, an in-depth statistical portrait of
educational language policy for Asia .
 Overall children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and
whose parents have less formal education, are spoken to less and
are slower to internalize complex syntactical structures as well.
 Students Learning English versus Local
Languages:

 In 1882, 92.4% of all students enrolled in schools at all levels learned

indigenous languages. In 1919, the proportion of students learning vernacular
languages only had dropped slightly to 84%.
 In 1901, a bare 0.68% of all males and 0.07% of all females in India were
recorded as literate in English by the census (Census of the British Empire, 1906).
 “The children who are receiving no education at all are mainly those living in
outlying country district.
 In the Federated Malay States only 6.6% of Malay boys received English
education, while virtually no English education existed for Malay girls.
 Estate schools: The education of migrant workers

 The system of estate schools, exemplifies the inextricable link between

industrial/agricultural education and indigenous language education in
the colonies.
 In Ceylon, where 42% of the Tamil population were indentured workers
children were employed as tea Pluckers as soon as they could reach over the
top of tea bush.
 “There is an undefined but very real feeling that education will prevent the
children from following the vocation of their parents.”
 The foregoing discussion demonstrates that British language policy developed
in piecemeal fashion in accordance with the dictates of the local conditions
found in each colony. If an impression has been created to the contrary, it owes
to developments quite late in the history of the empire, commencing only in the
1920s. It remains only to trace those events to round out the investigation of
British language policy in its colonial empire.
 The league of nation mandates commission:

 The mandate system was established under Article 22 of the

Covenant of the League of Nations, entered into on 28 June
1919.
 The Permanent Mandates Commission (PMC) was the
commission of the League of Nations responsible for oversight of
mandated territories. The commission was established on 1
December 1920 and was headquartered at Geneva.
 The league of nations mandates commission constitutes a
neglected chapter in the history of British colonial language and
education policy the existence of league mandates commission
which interested itself in all aspects of colonial administration ,
created a forum in which British language policy in various
colonial settings would be considered jointly
 The Phelps stokes commission:

 In 1920 and 1924, Phelps-Stokes sponsored two commissions to survey

schools in Africa to advise the British Colonial Office about where the
existing education needed adjustment. Such an interpretation is misdirected
not only follows from the account of British policy provided above but also
from two salient circumstances:
 Lord Lugard was a prime mover with in the advisory committee.
He has already formulated precisely the policy it adopted before the
Phelps stokes commission performed it works in Africa taking it from British
Asia, where it was already long-standing policy.
 In the American colonies the policies advocated by the Phelps
stokes commission were never put into place, but English language
constituted the basis from the first throughout American rule.
Key Points:

 This includes Chinese and Indian students

vernacular
in school.
 This classification of school has been slightly extend.
 The students at vernacular school includes
Malay, Chinese and Indian students.
 The only major class for exception were in
Arab countries under French mandates