Extracts from The Calcutta University Commission [Sadler] Report (1919), Vol. 1: 19–30, 143–194, 318–326; Vol. 6: 2–6, 132–135, 169–171

One of the most remarkable features in the recent history of Bengal, and, indeed, of India, has been the very rapid increase in the number of university students which has taken place during the last two decades, and more especially since the Universities Act of 1904. In 1904, 2,430 candidates presented themselves for the intermediate examination of the University of Madras, 457 for that of Bombay, and 3,832 for that of Calcutta. The great disparity between the educational progress of the Hindus and the Musalmans attracted the attention of the Indian Education Commission of 1882. The recommendations recorded by the Indian Education Commission in connexion with the education of Musalmans were concerned mainly with secondary and primary education. Musalmans have their own traditions and ideals—traditions and ideals which are the common property of Islam but which cannot be wholly identical with those of any other community.