Our educational problem

Lala Har Dayal's Our Educational Problem, published in 1922 by Tagore & Co. in Madras with an introduction by nationalist leader Lala Lajpat Rai, collects the author's incisive critiques of British educational policy in colonial India, originally written as articles for Punjabi newspapers around 1908. Har Dayal (1884-1939), a brilliant scholar who earned both bachelor's and master's degrees in Sanskrit before winning scholarships to Oxford University (including the prestigious Boden Sanskrit Scholarship in 1907), rejected a promising Indian Civil Service career to become a revolutionary dedicated to Indian independence. This collection represents his educational philosophy developed before founding the Ghadar Party in 1913, arguing that British education deliberately undermined Indian cultural identity and patriotic consciousness. The work's central arguments address: the Sanskrit versus English language debate, advocating that education rooted in indigenous languages and traditions better serves national awakening; the necessity of teaching national history to develop patriotic sentiment, asserting that 'the awakening of patriotism through the teaching of national history is the first requisite of a sound educational system'; the importance of education reflecting 'national modes of life and thought' rather than imposing alien cultural values; and the connection between popular education and political freedom, arguing education must cultivate demand for free institutions. Dayal contends British educational policy intentionally created an anglicized elite disconnected from Indian masses and cultural traditions, serving colonial administration rather than genuine enlightenment. His vision linked educational reform with broader revolutionary goals: the Ghadar movement emphasized both political agitation and social reform, recognizing that genuine independence required cultural and intellectual decolonization alongside political liberation. The work reflects early twentieth-century nationalist intellectuals' engagement with education as a site of colonial power and resistance. Har Dayal's trajectory—from Oxford Sanskrit scholar to revolutionary activist to eventual Berkeley Sanskrit professor—embodied tensions between Western academic training and anti-colonial commitment. Our Educational Problem remains significant for understanding how nationalist thinkers critiqued colonial education's cultural violence while articulating alternatives grounded in indigenous knowledge systems, anticipating later postcolonial critiques of education's role in cultural imperialism and debates over decolonizing curricula that continue resonating globally.