Educating future citizens : the introduction of compulsory education in the Madras Presidency in the 1920s and 1930s

Ellis, Catriona (2021) Educating future citizens : the introduction of compulsory education in the Madras Presidency in the 1920s and 1930s. Pariprekshya: A Hindi Journal of NIEPA, 28 (1-2). pp. 49-72.

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Abstract

The 1920 Madras Elementary Education Act attempted to reorganise educational provision within the Madras Presidency and provide opportunities for local authorities to introduce compulsory education if they could raise the funds and enthusiasm from the voters in their areas. This paper considers the political and administrative debates surrounding the Madras Elementary Education Act 1920. In particular it considers the motivating ideas behind this, especially the ways in which children were constructed as future citizens and as learners. Using a case study of the Madras Municipal Corporation, it will consider how the idea of compulsory education as free and equal functioned in practice, with an emphasis on funding, on enforcement and on how these new provisions reinforced educational differences between communities. The aim in writing is to balance the focus on political debates, educational policy, policy implementation and a desire to situate the schoolchild at the centre of the educational process.

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