In 1917,the Government of India appointed a Commission to study and report on the problems of the Calcutta University following the Universities Act of 1904. The Commission was appointed under the Presidency of M.E. Saddler who was the vice Chancellor of the university of Leeds. The Saddler Commission included two Indian Members, namely Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee and Zia-ud-din Ahmed. The Hunter Commission had submitted its reports regarding the problems of the Secondary education and the University commission of 1902. The main issues of the reports of the Hunter Commission were the condition and the procedure of the university education. . Hence the government of India appointed the Saddler commission in order to review the entire field from school education to the university education. The saddler commission reported that`s the condition of the secondary education need to be improved in order to improve the standard the university Education.
The commission proposed for an effective synthesis between College and the university. Further the Saddler commission sought to resolve the problems of the system of education from the basic level. Although the commission reported for the lowering standard of the Calcutta University, it also made recommendations for the other universities in India too.
The Sadler commission like that of the other educational Commissions also made several recommendations in order to improve the conditions of other universities in India too. The Sadler commission recommended a twelve-year school course. After clearing the intermediate examination rather than the Matriculation Examination, the students would be entitled to enter the university. In order to materialize this idea the Government of India was urged to create several Intermediate colleges. These colleges could either be run as the independent institutions or might be attached to the selected high schools. The administration and the entire control of the Secondary education were entrusted on the Boards of Secondary and Intermediate education. These recommendations of the saddler Commission had a twofold impact. On the one hand it prepared the students for the university education, thereby providing a sound collegiate education to the students.
The duration of the degree course after the intermediate state should be limited to three years. For these two different branches was made in the Intermediate colleges. For the eligible students the provisions of honors degree and for the general students, there was the provision of Pass Course. The commission also recommended less rigidity in the framing the rules and regulations of the Universities.
The old type of Indian Universities, with its large number of affiliated and widely scattered colleges was replaced by the recommendations of the Saddler Commission. The Saddler Commission recommended for the centralized unitary teaching autonomous bodies. A unitary teaching university was recommended for Dacca so that the burden of students can be reduced from the Calcutta University. Further the Saddler Commission also emphasized the growth of colleges in the towns. It encouraged the growth of new university centers so that the higher education could be propagated properly. The Saddler Commission emphasized the need of female education. Moreover it also recommended for providing facilities to the development of the female education. It was also declared by the commission that a special board of Women Education in the Calcutta University would be created.
The necessity of providing substantial facilities for training of the teachers was emphasized and also urged for setting up of the departments of Education at the university of Calcutta and Dacca. The commission also declared that the company had to provide courses in applied science and technology. The universities were also directed to provide facilities for the training of the personnel for professional and the vocational college. According to the recommendations of the Commission seven new universities sprang up in Mysore, Patna, Benaras, Aligarh, Dacca, Lucknow and Osmania. However in the year of 1920,the Government of India recommended the Sadler Reports to the provincial Governments.
