<P> Ellis argues that historians of Indian education have generally confined their arguments to very narrow themes linked to colonial dominance and education as a means of control, resistance, and dialogue . Ellis emphasizes the need to evaluate the education actually experienced by most Indian children, which was outside the classroom . Public education expenditures varied dramatically across regions with the western and southern provinces spending three to four times as much as the eastern provinces . The reason involved historical differences in land taxes . However the rates of attendance and literacy were not nearly as skewed . </P> <P> Jha argues that local schools for pre-adolescent children were in a flourishing state in thousands of villages of Bihar and Bengal until the early decades of the nineteenth century . They were village institutions, maintained by village elders with local funds, where their children (from all caste clusters and communities) could, if the father wished, receive useful skills . However, the British policies in respect of education and land control adversely affected both the village structure and the village institutions of secular education . The British legal system and the rise of caste consciousness since the second half of the nineteenth century made it worse . Gradually, village as the base of secular identity and solidarity became too weak to create and maintain its own institution by the end of the nineteenth century and the traditional system decayed . </P> <P> Kumar argues the British rule during the 19th century did not take adequate measures to help develop Western science and technology in India and instead focused more on arts and humanities . Till 1899 only the University of Bombay offered a separate degree in sciences . In 1899 B.Sc and M.Sc . courses were also supported by the University of Calcutta . By the late 19th century India had lagged behind in Western science and technology and related education . However, the nobility and aristocracy in India largely continued to encourage the development of sciences and technical education, both traditional and western . </P> <P> While some science related subjects were not allowed in the government curriculum in the 1850s the private institutions could also not follow science courses due to lack of funds required to establish laboratories etc . The fees for scientific education under the British rule were also high . The salary that one would get in the colonial administration was meager and made the prospect of attaining higher education bleak since the native population was not employed for high positions in the colonial setup . Even the natives who did manage to attain higher education faced issues of discrimination in terms of wages and privileges . </P>

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