Under A Regional Shadow : Colonial Education Policy in 19th Century Orissa

In the early nineteenth century Orissa was subsumed in an entrenched bastion of traditionalism which its new British administrators vainly tried to prod as they attempted to bring it at par with the rest of the Bengal Presidency of which Orissa was a part. This forced scheme of homogenization was most evident in the educational system of the region. It generated mutual distrust, impeded quicker assimilation in a westernized educational project and gave rise to a linguistic cultural awareness which strengthened nationalistic feelings as well as a strong sense of regional identity. This work is a factual delineation of the main contours of the British educational system in nineteenth century Orissa. It includes a detailed analysis of colonial educational policy making in a wider context of paternalistic governance embedded with supremacist overtones. It is bound to be of relevance to scholars of latecomer development, educational history and the general writer interested in Orissa.