It is heard that he learned English numbers by following the mile stones numbers while walking to Kolkata. In 1829, he got admitted into Sanskrit College. His concentration and quest for knowledge was so intense that some nights he studied on the street light as it was not possible for them to afford gas lamp at home. In 1839 he passed in the Hindu Law Examination and that was when he was honoured with the title 'Vidyasagar'. At the age of 20 he started his first job as the Chief Pundit in Fort William College, Kolkata in 1841. Here he started learning Hindi and English. In 1846 he joined at Sanskrit College as Assistant Secretary. He wanted to improve the teaching system in the college and faced difference in opinion from secretary Rasomoy Dutta. Vidyasagar left that job. Again joined Fort William College. In 1850 he became a Professor at Sanskrit College with the condition that he should be allowed to do the redesign of the education system. In 1851 he became the Principal of this college. He started working freely and started doing the reform. He understood that there was no place for education of women in the society. With his tireless effort he was able to establish some Girl's schools in different places in Bengal. But there was no good book for basic Bengali education. He wrote books with basic language fundamentals, like, "Barnaparichay", "Bodhoday", "Kathamala" etc. He wrote easy grammar books like "Upakramonika" and "Byakaron Kaumudi". He also introduced some basic books for Mathematical logic. None other than the Brahmins were allowed to study in Sanskrit College. He changed that rule and opened it for everybody. Rabindranath Tagore called him as the father of modern Bengali language. He wrote and translated "Betaal Panchabingshati", "Shakuntala", "Bhranti Bilaas" , "Sitaar Banabaas" and edited books like "Raghubangsha", "Kumarsambhab" etc. He opened as many as 1200 schools for women in those early days of women education. He realized how the women were neglected in the so called civilized society. He proposed the widow marriage act. There was strong protest from the upper class people of the society on this. He encouraged his son to get married to a widow. Sometimes he spent money from himself to get widows married. He wanted to stop the Hindu men from getting married to many women. Seeing the miserable condition of Hindu widows , he introduced 'Hindu Family Annuity Fund'. Vidyasagar was one of the founder member of University of Calcutta which was established in 1857.

With the help of some friends he established Calcutta Training School in 1859. This school was later named as Metropolitan Institution and further later was converted to a college named after him as Vidyasagar College. His honesty, fearless life style, strong determination, self respect and the capability to fight against all odds, all these made him a legendary man in the era of Bengal renaissance. He was also known for his helping mind and was also called as "Dayar Sagar" - ocean of pity. Michael Madhusudan Dutta wrote about him - "The genius and wisdom of an ancient sage, the energy of an Englishman and the heart of a Bengali mother". On 29th July, 1891, we have lost this great personality. But he is still alive in his literature and creations.