In post-Independence India, the teaching of English was ignored in government-run schools, especially in the northern states. Affluent families chose to send their wards to English-medium schools, whereas people from the lower economic strata and weaker sections of society were unable to do so due to unaffordability. This resulted in a wider social gap as well as a greater division between the haves and have-nots. A situation of gross inequality prevailed with job opportunities being denied to the unprivileged.
It was this prevailing system of privilege on the one hand and denial on the other that British Lingua chose to address. By giving easy and unfettered access to the study of English, it aimed at restoring the social equilibrium and providing equal opportunity to all, irrespective of station in life. This marked its genesis in Patna in 1993.