Bethune was the president of the Council of Education. The Bethune School founded by J.E.D. Bethune at Calcutta (1849) was the first fruit of a powerful movement for education of women which arose in the 1840s and 1850s.
Mostly due to Bethune’s efforts, girls’ schools were set up on a sound footing and brought under government’s grants-in- aid and inspection system.
The first women’s college in India as well as in Asia.
Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar was the first Secretary of Bethune School.
From 1880, Bethune College was open to the female students of all religious backgrounds.
The Bethune college played a pivotal role in shaping women who fought for freedom from British rule. For Instance, Bina Das was only 21 when she opened fire on Bengal Governor Stanley Jackson at Calcutta University in 1932.
