Rulers, Anglo-Indians under pain of death, were forced to
re-join the Company's army and turn their swords and rifles
against Indians. This chapter therefore argues that the
Company's policy created the stereotype of Anglo-Indian
turncoats in the eighteenth century.
The policies exhibit in the history of Anglo-Indian
education the discrepancy between the rhetoric of the
Christian missionaries and the reality of the Company's
military power in colonial India. In order to extend the
frontiers of English Imperialism, the frontiers of
education had to be extended. English educated Anglo-
Indians in a subordinate level were needed by the
colonialists .
The 1780s proved a watershed. Charity, orphans and poor
were words used to describe Anglo-Indians by the end of the
eighteenth century. Orphans had to subsist on the
"benevolence" of the East India Company; whereas, the rich
and influential non Anglo-Indians were being offered school
programmes, where scholastic achievement would guarantee a
well-placed career.
This chapter argued that before 1786, Anglo-Indians
experienced little discrimination. After 1786, their
fortunes dramatically changed for the worse.
The necessary resources were made available for educating
other groups of Indians because the desire for power and
prestige under the English was a powerful motivation.
Unequal opportunities in education and acquiring skills
quickly disappeared for the Anglo-Indians.
The only educational policy the East India Company had in
the late eighteenth century was to develop education for
the privileged few; who would be competent administrators
in the service of the Company. Educational credentials
64