The English Education Act was a legislative Act of the Council of India in 1835 giving effect to a decision in 1835 by Lord William Bentinck to reallocate funds the East India Company was required by the British Parliament to spend on education and literature in India. It made English the language of Indian education system. Also it became the language of administration and of the higher law courts (replacing Persian). This led eventually to English becoming one of the languages of India, rather than simply the native tongue of its foreign rulers.