Exactly one month after the announcement of the Partition of Bengal by Lord Curzon, a meeting sponsored by the Landholders’ Society was held on November 16, 1905, to challenge the control over education that British rule was exercising even as protests erupted against the proposed Partition.
The meeting was attended by Rabindranath Tagore, Aurobindo Ghosh and Raja Subodh Chandra Mullick. Previously meetings had been held on November 5, 1905, where students had been asked to sever ties with government-controlled universities.
On November 9, at a mass meeting the idea of a national university was proposed. Subodh Chandra Mullick promised to donate Rs 1 lakh.
Satish Chandra Mukherjee to a great extent pioneered the idea of a national education as opposed to a British-sponsored one.
In March 1906, the National Council of Education, Bengal, or Jatiyo Siksha Parishad was founded to provide “literary, scientific & technical” education “on national lines & under national control”.
The Bengal National College & School, set up under the council, began to function from August 14, 1906, on Bowbazar Street, with Aurobindo Ghosh as principal.
Around this time Bengal Technical Institute was established. These two merged and later became Jadavpur University.
