The idea behind RBSI is to understand that 'there is more than one truth in history' and what better way than to expose oneself to as many original works 'of all persuasions and motivations' to arrive at one's own conclusions in history.

History like religion has always been manipulated by a 'select few' (generally the victors)...whose motive has been to present 'their version' to the masses in order to perpetuate their view-point. The individual would therefore accept this version to be indeed history.

But if the same individual is challenged by more than more view-point and some even contradicting the other...he is forced to think for himself and create his own version of the event. This is how true learning begins. More so...since much of history has always been inflammatory and people have stopped learning and thinking for themselves and are even prepared to fight for wrongs done in the past !

In the same vein, if a person is interested to learn about the status of 'education in India under the British Rule' which by itself is as inflammatory as it can get (thanks to Macaulay's minute and those email forwards) … he would have a choice of six books on RBSI today to broaden his perspective. Namely :

1. A History of English Education in India - Its rise,
development, progress, present condition and prospects,
being a narrative of the various phases of educational policy
and measures adopted under the British rule from its
beginning to the present period, 1781 to 1893.
By Justice Syed Mahmood
Published by Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College (later
developed into Aligarh Muslim University), Aligarh - 1895

2. On the Education of the People of India
By Charles Edward Trevelyan
Published by Longman, Orme, Brown, Green & Longmans, London - 1838

3. History of Education in India under the rule of the East India
Company
By Major Baman Das Basu
Published by Modern Review Office, Calcutta - 1922

4. Education in India
By William I. Chamberlain
Published by the Columbia University, New York - 1899

5. Education In Ancient India
By A.S.Altekar
Published by Nand Kishore & Brothers, Benares - 1944

6. History of Education in the Madras Presidency
By S. Satthianandhan
Published by Srinivasa, Varadchari & Co., Madras - 1894

I agree not many of us would have the patience and time to read all these books (including myself) to get a holistic view of this subject. But even a casual perusal of the 'Preface' of each of these books would give the reader an idea of how complex a topic this is and how exactly each of the writers (possibly under directions) viewed it at that time. This realization would itself caution the reader to conclude a bit more carefully on historical events… and not come to immediate and inflammatory conclusions. And that... I consider, would be a worthy achievement of any endeavor !

And thanks to the brilliant and articulate members (of many persuasions) on RBSI for their lively and at times fiery discussions on these posts to endlessly educate and engage the readers.