Author: Tapanjyoti Malakar
DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.70798/PP/020400019
Abstract: The second phase of social reform movements in colonial Bengal marked a critical transition in the relationship between education and social transformation. Emerging in the mid-nineteenth century, this phase witnessed the intensification of modern education as a deliberate strategy to challenge entrenched social practices related to caste hierarchy, gender inequality, and cultural orthodoxy. The study examines the role of modern educational institutions in promoting social reform, the contributions of key reformers in linking education with cultural transformation, and the impact of women’s education on advancing social change. Drawing on historical documents, reformist writings, and scholarly interpretations, the research highlights how education evolved from an elite intellectual pursuit into an institutionalized social mission grounded in ideals of self-reliance, moral reform, and national consciousness. The findings suggest that the synergy between educational expansion and reformist ideology during this period played a decisive role in shaping modern Bengali society and laid the foundations for broader nationalist and social movements in the early twentieth century.
Keywords: Social Reform Movement, Modern Education, Bengal Renaissance, Women’s Education, Cultural Transformation.
Page No: 129-136