आधार पर भारतवर्ष में शिक्षा-प्रणाली का आयोजन हुआ। इस आज्ञा-पत्र मे यह स्पष्ट कहा गया कि जन साधारण की शिक्षा का माध्यम अँगरेजी भाषा को बनाने के मार्ग में कई कठिनाइयाँ हैं और भारतीय जन साधारण की शिक्षा उनकी मातृभाषा-द्वारा ही भली भाॅति हो सकती है। उस आज्ञा-पत्र के नीचे लिखे वाक्य बड़े महत्व के हैं―
“It is neither our aim nor desire to substitute the English language for the vernacular dialects of the country. We have always been most sensible of the importance of the use of the languages which alone are understood by the great mass of the population. These languages and not English have been fixed by us in the place of Persian in the administration of justice and in the intercourse between the officers of Government and the people. It is indispensable, therefore, that in any general system of education the study of them should be assiduously attended to and any acquaintance with improved European knowledge which is to be communicated to the great mass of the people-whose circumstances prevent them from acquiring a higher order of education and who cannot be expected to over-come the difficulties of a foreign language―can only be conveyed to them through one or other of these vernacular languages.
