The Hunter Commission (1882) appointed to survey the state of education in India
- (a)deprecated University education
- (b)overruled the Despatch of 1854
- (c)endorsed the Despatch of 1854 with greater emphasis on primary education
- (d)criticized the grants-in-aid system of schooling
Correct — C, endorsed the Despatch of 1854 with greater emphasis on primary education. The Commission of 1882, presided over by William Wilson Hunter, was appointed to review how far the education policy laid down in Wood's Despatch of 1854 had actually been carried out. Its conclusion was continuity with a shift of weight: the framework of the Despatch stood, but the state's first duty was declared to be the extension and improvement of elementary education for the mass of the people, which was to be handed to the newly created district and municipal boards, while secondary and collegiate education was to be transferred progressively to private hands supported by grants-in-aid. So the Despatch was reaffirmed, not overturned, and primary schooling was pushed to the front of the queue.
- (a)deprecated University education — The Commission's terms of reference were directed at primary and secondary education, and university education was largely outside its remit. It did not condemn the universities; that criticism belongs to a later moment, in the Indian Universities Commission of 1902 and Curzon's Indian Universities Act of 1904.
- (b)overruled the Despatch of 1854 — The exact opposite of what a review commission was set up to do. The Despatch of 1854 was the charter of English education in India and the Commission was appointed to assess progress under it, which it endorsed.
- (d)criticized the grants-in-aid system of schooling — The Commission leaned on the grants-in-aid system rather than against it. Its recommendation that secondary and collegiate education pass increasingly to private management worked only because grants-in-aid would support that management.
Wood's Despatch of 1854 is often called the Magna Carta of English education in India. It proposed departments of public instruction in each province, universities on the London model at the presidency towns, a graded school system from vernacular primary schools to affiliated colleges, teacher training, women's education, and a grants-in-aid system to support private effort. The Hunter Commission of 1882 is the first full audit of what had come of that programme.
The stem tells you the answer's shape before you know any content. A body 'appointed to survey the state of education' is a review commission, and review commissions ordinarily endorse the existing charter and redirect emphasis rather than tear it up — which eliminates the 'overruled' option at once. Two cautions. First, there are two Hunter Commissions in Indian history and they have nothing to do with each other: this one on education in 1882, and the Disorders Inquiry Committee of 1919 under Lord William Hunter that examined the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. UPSC has asked about the second. Second, the detail of the recommendations comes from the Commission's own report, and the checkable anchors here are the year, the presiding officer and the fact that the body was a review of progress under the 1854 Despatch.
- The Indian Education Commission of 1882 was presided over by William Wilson Hunter.
- It was appointed to review progress under Wood's Despatch of 1854, and it endorsed that framework.
- It placed the state's first responsibility on the extension and improvement of primary education for the masses.
- It recommended that primary education be handed to district and municipal boards, and that secondary and collegiate education pass progressively to private management aided by grants.
- A different Hunter Commission — the Disorders Inquiry Committee of 1919 — investigated the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
- 1813 — the Charter Act sets aside one lakh rupees a year for education
- 1835 — Macaulay's Minute settles the question in favour of English
- 1854 — Wood's Despatch: departments of public instruction, universities, graded schools and grants-in-aid
- 1882 — the Hunter Commission reviews progress under the Despatch and pushes primary education to the front
- 1902 to 1904 — the Indian Universities Commission and Curzon's Act turn attention, and criticism, to the universities
- 1944 — the Sargent Report proposes a national system of education
The Commission of 1882 sits between the charter it audited and the university reforms that followed twenty years later.
- Confusing the education Hunter Commission of 1882 with the Hunter Committee of 1919 on Jallianwala Bagh.
- Assuming a review commission overturns the policy it reviews; this one endorsed it.
- Attributing criticism of university education to 1882 rather than to the Universities Commission of 1902.
As a chronological sequence of education landmarks, or as a single-line question on what a named commission or despatch recommended.
What is the correct chronological sequence of the following? I. Wood's Education Despatch II. Macaulay's Minute on Education III. The Sargeant Education Report IV. Indian Education (Hunter Commission)
- (a) II, I, IV, III
- (b) II, I, III, IV
- (c) I, II, IV, III
- (d) IV, III, I, II
Answer(a) II, I, IV, III
The same body placed in its sequence — Macaulay in 1835, the Despatch in 1854, this Commission in 1882 and Sargent in 1944. Learning the order also settles which document the Commission was reviewing.
The Hunter Commission was appointed after the
- (a) Black hole incident
- (b) Jalian Walla Bagh massacre
- (c) Uprising of 1857
- (d) Partition of Bengal
Answer(b) Jalian Walla Bagh massacre
The name clash, and why it matters. UPSC's 'Hunter Commission' is the 1919 inquiry into Jallianwala Bagh; the CDS one is the education commission of 1882. Same surname, unrelated bodies, and either can be asked without the year attached.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Wood's Despatch of 1854 is often described as
- (a)the Magna Carta of English education in India
- (b)the first plan for compulsory primary education
- (c)the charter of vernacular education
- (d)the foundation of technical education in India
Answer(a) the Magna Carta of English education in India — it proposed departments of public instruction, universities on the London model, a graded school system and grants-in-aid.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Indian Universities Act, which tightened government control over universities in India, was passed in
- (a)1882
- (b)1892
- (c)1904
- (d)1919
Answer(c) 1904 — following the Indian Universities Commission of 1902, during Curzon's viceroyalty.