In a keynote address delivered at the launch of the book “The First Native Voice of Madras: Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty,” authored by B Jagannath, Governor R N Ravi emphasized the historical roots of social justice and free education in mother tongues that existed in India prior to British colonization. The event took place on Monday with several distinguished guests in attendance.
Governor Ravi asserted that the Indian education system, before the arrival of the British, was robust and inclusive, offering free education in regional languages. He lamented the deliberate dismantling of this system by the British colonial administration. “Social justice and free education in our mother tongue were being provided long before the British arrived. They deliberately destroyed our mother tongue-based education,” he stated.
Ravi elaborated on the profession of teaching, which was highly regarded as a virtuous endeavor, primarily undertaken by economically backward Brahmins. “Brahmins were mostly teachers and they were economically backward. The British systematically destroyed this system of education,” he said.
He also noted that since 1823, education in the Madras province was imparted without any discrimination based on caste, religion, or gender. “Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Sanskrit, and other educational institutions functioned separately and according to their convenience. In the 1820s, our society’s education system was free for students,” Ravi observed.
Interestingly, Ravi highlighted that Shudras were more educated than Brahmins in these mother tongue educational institutions before the British era. This underscores the inclusive nature of the pre-colonial education system in India.