8Q.

CHRISTIAN CONTRIBUTIONS FOR EDUCATION IN INDIA

Christianity came into India, even before it reached the West. There is a strong tradition that St.
Thomas one the twelve disciples of Jesus came to India in 52 A.D. and later died as martyr in
Mylapore (Chennai - Madras). The history of Christianity in the state of Kerala is in its 20th century.
But the Christian faith was limited to the geographical boundaries of Kerala until 15th century. Then a
new surge began as Vasco da Gama reached Kerala in 1498. This was followed by Catholic
missionaries like St. Francis Xavier (1542) who came to India and evangelized coastal areas of South
India. Thus he was able to plant strong churches among the fishermen in the Western and Eastern
coastal regions of the country. The first Protestant global mission was Danish Mission that sent
missionaries to Indian in 1706 A.D. Zeigenbalg and Plauetau came to Tranquebar which is in the
shores of Tanjore in Tamil Nadu. But flood gates of mission opened after William Carey, under the
banner of a para church organization Baptist Missionary Society reached India in 1792. Thus an era
of modern missions began. Then there were many missionary agencies that emerged in North
America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand who started reaching to many parts of the world. India
was also one of the great beneficiaries of the Global Advance of missions.
Missionaries should have the approach to mission as holistic as evident from their approaches
through out history. Naturally, many Indian Christian leaders who followed their foot steps also were
holistic in their approach. It is obvious from the Bible: When Adam and Eve sinned against God the
consequences or effect was holistic impacting their spiritual, moral, emotional, social, economic and
relational life and Lord Jesus Christ death and resurrection brings holistic restoration of a person who
puts his/her faith in Lord Jesus Christ. Missions could not be other wise by any means.
It would be instructive and exciting to take a bird's eye view of missionaries who were transformation
agents making qualitative difference in the lives of millions of Indians. The list here is not exhaustive
but representative of colossal achievement of Christian contribution to India.
Democratization of education
Education in India was a privilege of elite upper classes. It was limited to gurukuls where upper caste
young boys would go to study under the tutorship of a guru. Even women from the upper caste
families were not provided opportunity to learn. Common people were aliens to this elite education
system. When missionaries arrived they began to start schools for common people, generally in the
vernacular language. Moni Bagchee writes critically about "Christian Missionaries in Bengal". Though,

written with the negative attitude, the author acknowledges the contribution of missionaries in Bengal
to the cause of mass education. Missionaries educated children in local language, raised the
standard of education, trained teachers and improved methods of teaching.
Missionaries were ahead of their times. Women empowerment would be possible only when women
are educated. So, they began to open schools for girls. Upper caste men used to ridicule missionaries
requesting them to educate their cows instead of girls. Some times missionaries had to pay incentives
to families for sending their girls to school. Modern Indian women have entered in almost all fields in
the nation should be grateful to missionaries who created opportunities for their empowerment.
Education that was window to the world, key to knowledge, wheels for progress was made available
widely for all children irrespective of their caste or economic status or sex. Today, India aspires for a
superpower status in the globalized world for which missionaries sowed the seed more than two
hundred years ago.
The tribal people in Northeast India and in Chotanagpur region are prosperous and progressive. S.K.
Barpujari, University of Gauhati writes the teaching of Christ changed the evil practices of Nagas like
practices of head-hunting and bloody warfare.
Literature Development
The first book to be published in India was the Tamil Bible. Zigenbalg who came to Tranquebar in
1706 translated the Bible in Tamil language. Following his footsteps, William Carey translated Bible
into several languages. Missionaries not only translated Bible, but also wrote grammar and produced
dictionaries for several languages like Tamil, Bengali, etc