Wood's dispatch is the informal name for a formal dispatch that was sent by Sir Charles Wood, the President of the Board of Control of the British East India Company to Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-General of India. Wood's communique suggested a major shift to popularising the use of English within India. As for the language of instruction, Wood recommended that primary schools adopt vernacular languages, for secondary schools to adopt both English and vernacular languages and for colleges to adopt English.

James Andrew Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie, known as the Earl of Dalhousie between 1838 and 1849, was a Scottish statesman and colonial administrator in British India. He served as Governor-General of India from 1848 to 1856.