Tracing the roots of missionary education in Darjeeling hills

Abstract

This is a brief historical narrative on the Christian missionary education in India, particularly in Darjeeling hills. The article examines whether missionary education was an agent of enlightenment, emancipation or as an instrument of colonial conquest. The history of colonial/missionary education has been examined in the light of Gramscian concept of ‘cultural hegemony’ and Althusser’s concept of ‘ideological state apparatus’, highlighting the strategies of the colonial governance. Darjeeling, a colonial enclave, more like a private domain to the ruling race then, turned out to be a hunting ground for the missionary, who, among other activities, played a lead role in spreading Western education which continued to shape post-colonial education not only in Darjeeling but in the rest of India.