Two of India's presidents, Three( can be four) Nobel prize winners,
many veteran scientists, and philosophers through ages, patriots,
artists and famous writers – are engaged either as a student or
simply because of work purpose with this historical university. The
amount of glory, historical value, and heritage this university
possess it will be unwise to compare it with any other university in
India. Which university I am talking about? Well, you may guess the
name of it. Yes, I am talking about our very 'own' Calcutta
University. Don't feel upset because of the recent state of it,
especially the anger among the young generation through social media.
Though it has been a long long journey for this university it still
holds tremendous strength. If you look down at the memory lane of
history you will find some real gems produced by this institution.
For this university,
Kadambini Ganguly and Chandramukhi Basu became the 1st
female graduates not only in India but also in the whole British
Empire. Kadambini Ganguly became the 1st Indian female
doctor thanks to this university. This was the first university
that built India's first university museum in 1937 and also the first
business school in 1953. you can find one of the finest libraries
here in this institution which has its place just after the National
Library. Except for Calcutta University, there is no other university
outside the United Kingdom that presented the degree of "Dr
Of law" to not one, not two but three kings of the British
Empire. These three are – Edward the Third, George the
Five and Edward the Eight. These three got their degrees
when they were princes. Not only that, they came to Kolkata to sign
and receive the award themselves. Not only from Great Britain, the
Prince of Prussia, Fredrikh Augustus had also been presented
by the same award in 1911. We all know about Scientist Gopal
Bhattacharya, who didn't receive any degree for his
internationally acclaimed research on insects. Calcutta University
gave him the honorary D.Sc for his great contributions to science.
Before, this institution the concept of university existed in India,
but this was the first university ever which provided teaching to
every student by not discriminating them into caste, religion or
colour. It created a great paradigm by changing the law against it,
which is well known as Act II, 1857.
- Background of the establishment:
The preparation for
the establishment took place throughout the first half of the 19th
century. By the endeavour and support of some well known administers
and educationalists like- Governor Lord Minto, Governor
Lord Moyra, Raja Rammohan Roy, David Hare, William
Kerry, Dwarakanath Thakur, Macula, Lord William
Bentinck, an urge to learn about the western education had
emerged through Bengal at that point of time. Learning English can
improve the financial status and also it can open many windows of
opportunities- for these reasons people from all over Bengal
especially from the Higher class and middle class came forward and show
interest to learn English. For this, many schools and colleges were
established by the administers throughout Bengal. Considering this
situation very urgent F.Millet, C.C. Egerton, Rosomoy
Dutta and Prasanna Kumar Thakur held a meeting with the
secretary of Education Legislative of that time- Dr Fredric J.
Mouat. They proposed to Dr Mouat to build a university as London
University in Kolkata(Calcutta). This proposal then passed down to
the Board of Directors of East India Company in 1845. But, the
higher authority of England declined this proposal. Dr Mouat wanted
to build an education system where students can easily properly learn
Science, Literature etc. At that point, many colleges were founded
all over Bengal as I mentioned earlier. But these colleges have no
similarities in their studies and education system. Hindu College,
Sanskrit College, Hoogly Mohsin College, Bengal
Engineering College ------
created their system
and chose various topics to teach but in a very di-organised manner.
In this hour of need, when the demand of a University was rising, in
England a protest has formed this matter. Leader of the liberal
party, Gladstone raised his voice to increase the western
educational culture in India to strengthen the communication between
the British and the people of India.
In 1853,
When the question arose whether to give a certificate to East India
Company or not, two committees were formed ( Lords and Commons)
to investigate the results and the occurring problems due to the
rule of the British East India Company in India. These two
committees received a large number of reports and applications from
those who were appointed in a higher position in various departments.
Among them, there was an application of utmost importance, which was
sent by Charles H. Cameroon, who had a significant influence
on English studies in our country. He was the fourth member of Indian
Council, President of the Indian Law Commission and also president of
the Education Ministry of Bengal. He was aware of the situation that
the youth of Bengal no rights to go to England for higher studies as
per the discrimination of caste, religion and colour goes. He was
also aware the youth of Bengal has a tremendous urge to learn English
and has a great interest in English Literature. So, to ensure that
these young students can learn in a proper way he passed down three
laws which will provide consent to build at least three Universities
in India. These laws were covered under the "Wood's
Despatch". Under this act, the British Government permitted
to build Universities in Calcutta( Kolkata), Bombay(
Mumbai) and Madras( Chennai) and also to hand out degrees to
the students just like any Europian University.
So, this was the background hustle for the
establishment of "Calcutta University". In my next blog, I
will tell you how this university was established, who were the
pioneers of the early stages and of course the role of "Lord
Curzon".
