The intelligentsia of Bengal showed also their tardy appreciation by calling on him to preside over the deliberations of the Mymensing meeting of the Bengal Literary Conference, held on the 14th April 1911, when he delivered a unique Address,[26] in the Bengali language, on the results of his epoch-making researches.
The Calcutta University next showed its belated recognition, by conferring on him the degree of D.Sc. honoris causa, in 1912.
And the Punjab University also showed its appreciation by inviting him, in 1913, to deliver a course of lectures on the results of his investigation.
Dr. J. C. Bose was invited to give his evidence before the Royal Commission on the Public Services in India. With reference to the Method of Recruitment, he observed, in his written statement, as follows:—" ... I think that a high standard of scholarship should be the only qualification insisted on. Graduates of well-known Universities, distinguished for a particular line of study, should be given the preference. I think the prospects of the Indian Educational Service are sufficiently high to attract the very best material. In Colonial Universities they manage to get very distinguished men without any extravagantly high pay.... At present the recruitment in the Indian Educational Service is made in England and is practically confined to Englishmen. Such racial preference is, in my opinion, prejudicial to the interest of education. The best men available, English or Indian, should be selected impartially, and high scholarship should be the only test.... It is unfortunate that Indian graduates of European Universities who had distinguished themselves in a remarkable manner do not for one reason or other find facilities for entering the higher Educational Service.... I should like to add that these highly qualified Indians need only opportunities to render service which would greatly advance the cause of higher education.... If promising Indian graduates are given the opportunity of visiting foreign Universities, I have no doubt that they would stand comparison with the best recruits that can be obtained from the West.... As teachers and workers it is an incontestable fact that Indian Officers have distinguished themselves very highly, and anything which discriminates between Europeans and Indians in the way of pay and prospects is most undesirable. A sense of injustice is ill-calculated to bring about that harmony which is so necessary among all the members of an educational institution, professors and students alike."[27] Pressing next for a high level of scholarship, in the Indian Educational Service, he wrote:—
"It has been said that the present standard of Indian Universities is not as high as that of British Universities, and that the work done by the former is more like that of the 6th form of the public schools in England. It is therefore urged that what is required for an Educational officer in the capacity to manage classes rather than high scholarship. I do not agree with these views. (1) There are Universities in Great Britain whose standards are not higher than ours; I do not think that the Pass Degree even of Oxford or Cambridge is higher than the corresponding degree here (2) the standard of the Indian University is being steadily raised; (3) the standard will depend upon what the men entrusted with Educational work will make it. For these reasons it is necessary that the level of scholarship represented by the Indian Educational Service should be maintained very high."[28]
He then dwelt on what should be the aim of Higher Education in India and observed as follows:—
"... I think that all the machinery to improve the higher education in India would be altogether ineffectual unless India enters the world movement for the advancement of knowledge. And for this it is absolutely necessary to touch the imagination of the people so as to rouse them to give their best energies to the work of research and discovery, in which all the nations of the world are now engaged. To aim anything less will only end in lifeless and mechanical system from which the soul of reality has passed away."[28]
He was called, on the 18th December 1913, and was put to a searching examination by the Members of the Royal Commission. The evidence that he gave is instinct with patriotism and is highly remarkable for its simplicity and directness about the things he said. To the Chairman (Lord Islington) he stated that he "favoured an arrangement by which Indians would enter the higher ranks of the service, either through the Provincial Service or by direct recruitment in India. The latter class of officers, after completing their education in India, should ordinarily go to Europe with a view to widening their experience. By this he did not wish to decry the training given in the Indian Universities, which produce some of the very best men, and he would not make the rule absolute. It was not necessary for men of exceptional ability to go to England in order to occupy a high chair. Unfortunately, on account of there being no openings for men of genius in the Educational Service, distinguished men were driven to the profession of Law. In the present condition of India a larger number of distinguished men were needed to give their lives to the education of the people.
"... The educational service ought to be regarded not as a profession, but as a calling. Some men were born to be teachers. It was not a question of race, of course; in order to have an efficient educational system, there must be an efficient organisation, but this should not be allowed to become fossilised, and thus stand in the way of healthy growth.... A proportion of Europeans in the service, was needed, but only as experts and not as ordinary teachers. Only the very best men should be obtained from Europe and for exceptional cases. The general educational work should be done entirely by Indians, who understood the difficulties of the country much better than any outsider. He advocated the direct recruitment of Indians in India by the local Government in consultation with the Secretary of State, rather than by the Secretary of State alone. Indians were under a great difficulty, in that they could not remain indefinitely in England after taking their degrees and being away from the place of recruitment their claims were overlooked. There was no reason why a European should be paid a higher rate of salary than an Indian on account of the distance he came. An Indian felt a sense of inferiority if a difference was made as regards pay. The very slight saving which Government made by differentiating between the two did not compensate for the feeling of wrong done. This feeling would remain even if the pay was the same, but an additional grant in the shape of a foreign service allowance was made to Europeans. All workers in the field of education should feel a sense of solidarity, because they were all serving one greet cause, namely, education."[29]