Fake Remarks About Replacing Indian Education System Attributed to Macaulay

Macaulay had moved to West Bengal's Kolkata in December 1834.

Fact-Check | The statement was not made by Thomas Babington Macaulay.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A statement purportedly made by Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay is doing the rounds claiming that he, while addressing the British Parliament in 1835, said that India could be conquered if its education system is replaced.

What does the post say?: The image has been shared with a caption saying, "Conspiracy by the Britishers against IndoPak sub continent —document of 2nd February 1845 reveals."

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

We received a query about the viral post on our WhatsApp tipline as well. More archives of similar claims can be found here and here.

What are the facts?: The claim is false as Macaulay did not make this statement. In fact, he had shifted to Kolkata (then known as Calcutta) in December 1834.

• His 'Minute on Education' address was penned down on 2 February 1835, which further corroborated the findings.

How did we find that out?: We conducted a keyword search on Google and found Macaulay's 'Minute on Education' on the official website of IIT Kanpur.

• It was dated 2 February 1835, which contained his views about the changes that should be made in the education system.

• This document did not carry any statement as seen in the viral post.

The document dated 2 February 1835. 

(Source: ITTK/Screenshot)

• It should be noted that Macaulay moved to Kolkata in December 1834. He later returned to England in 1838.

• These findings further corroborated that he could not have made any statement in the British Parliament in February 1835.

• Moreover, we found several mistakes such as "selfesteem" seen in the viral post. It also carried more modern use of the English language, where were different than his previous writings.

Recurring claim: Team WebQoof had debunked the same claim in December 2018, when it went viral on social media platforms. You can read our previous fact-check here.

The fact-check was published on 27 December 2018.

(Source: The Quint)

Conclusion: It is evident that the claim is fake and Macaulay did not make this statement.

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