Educational System in Tiruchirappalli Through the Ages: A Historical Study

Abstract

The   legacy of the British rule in India was the kind of education they imparted to Indians. The native system of education was confined to mostly among the Brahmins were learned Brahmins religious education was an imperative necessity. Though the old Gurukula system had vanished, its vestiges remained in most of the agraharams in Tiruchirappalli. The palm leaves were used for writing. After using the palm leaves they were thrown in the river Kaveri on the 18^th day of the Tamil month of Adi. It was a ceremony followed by the Tamils since time immemorial. In the first stage of learning the script sand was used.  The student revered their teachers. Until the fifties of 19^th Century, education in Tiruchirappalli was left very much to the missionary enterprise and appeared to have been in a far less advanced condition.  The diffusion of education among the people started under the educational dispatch of 1854. The woods dispatch acknowledged that the education of the masses had been neglected and so it was suggested that the government should spend more on popular education. In the article analyses the education system and developments through the age in Tiruchirappalli.