Read the passage given below and answer the question that follow: Before…
2026
Read the passage given below and answer the question that follow:
Before delving into the role that missionary schools played in the emergence of Indian nationalism, it is necessary to understand the broader context in which Christian missionaries had been religious actors in the Indian subcontinent since the 1700s. With the rise of British power under the East India Company, and later the crown, missionaries of various denominations made India one of their largest areas of activity. This was especially true after the amendment of the company’s charter in 1813, which allowed missionaries unhindered access to the company’s domains. But it was through their involvement in new forms of education that the missionaries made a significant and perhaps the most lasting impact.
Many ‘educational missionaries’ initially saw Western learning and knowledge as a stepping stone to spreading Christianity. By the 1870s, however, this approach to the conversion of India’s Brahmans and other high castes had largely fallen out of favor. By then, the most active Anglican missionary societies – The Church Missionary Society (CMS), The London Missionary Society (LMS), The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG), and the Cambridge Mission to Delhi (CMD) – were mostly involved in teaching in high schools and colleges across North India. In the United Provinces, India’s most populous province, these societies ran half of the high schools and colleges. American missionary societies, by contrast, worked overwhelmingly with the lower-caste communities and were far less involved in higher levels of education. Anglican mission schools, therefore, interacted with the very groups and communities who would go on to lead the Indian nationalist movement.
'Educational missionaries' initially find western learning as:
- A.
A way to spread business
- B.
A way to improve community health
- C.
A way to have a political control
- D.
A way to spread Christianity
Attempted by 2 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
According to the passage, many 'educational missionaries' initially viewed Western learning and knowledge as a stepping stone to spreading Christianity. This indicates that their primary initial motivation for introducing Western education was religious conversion.