DURGAPUR GOVERNMENT COLLEGE

History

The academic journey of the Department of English coincides with the first academic session of Durgapur Government College: 1970 – 71. A veteran department believes in collaborative work in the teaching-learning process as in all other activities of the department. The department encourages and accommodates heterogeneity, the diversity making rich contributions towards its mental expansion. The Department of English started functioning in the academic session 1970 – 1971, which was also the first academic session of Durgapur Government College established in 1969.

The teaching in the department commenced with the joining of three male teachers fromKolkata: Prof. Bimal Kumar Banerjee, Prof. Sambhu Nath Banerjee and Prof. Haripada Bhattacharya. Prof. Bimal Kumar Banerjee acted as the first Head of the Department ofEnglish. Other Heads of the early 70-s were Prof. Pradyumna Mitra and Prof. Haripada Bhattacharya. The first class in the department was taken by Prof. Haripada Bhattacharya. The Department of English, offering Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree (Honours and General),played a key role in the entire Durgapur and the adjoining region as no other institution existed at that time to cater to the needs of those aspiring to study English literature at the undergraduate level. The first batch of students pursuing the Honours course in English comprised eleven students, five female students and six male students. Of the eleven students, four qualified as Honours graduates. Dr. Tanuka Das and Dr. Devika Bose were the first lady teachers to join the Department of English in 1981. Renowned teachers like Gouri Prasad Ghosh, Nilagrib Deb Roy, Debabrata Chatterjee, Tanuka Das, Devika Bose, Chandreyee Niyogi have served the department. Dr Devika Bose is still an integral part of the department with more than 34 years of teaching experience. The department was initially affiliated to the University of Burdwan. The college is now affiliated to Kazi Nazrul University since June 25, 2015. Since Compulsory English is taught to all the students in the college, the actual student strength of the department would include the entire first year registered students of the college (Humanities, Science and Commerce).The Commerce course held in the Morning Section of the college, has a separate faculty. This public-funded education, catering to students from different sections of the society, can boast of offering quality education leading to brilliant performance of students. Quite a good number of students have been placed in various administrative and academic posts. Some of the distinguished alumni of the Department are Prof. Basudeb Hazra, Head of the Department of English, Michael Madhusudan College, Durgapur; SantanuNiyogi, Associate Professor of English, Raniganj Girls College, Raniganj; Arpita Chattaraj, Associate Professor, Department of English, Burdwan University; Dipankar Sen, Associate Professor, Sanskrit College, Kolkata; Anindya Sengupta, Assistant Professor in Film Studies, Jadavpur University. Rumela Saha, a former student of the department has qualified the NET examination of 2018 and is presently serving Raniganj Girls College as Guest lecturer in English.

Several other students of this department are serving different schools, colleges and other institutions across the country and abroad. The faculty, besides being on several sub-committees of the Teachers Council, is engaged in various examination related works at the undergraduate and at the postgraduate level. Faculty members have also served as members of Board of Studies(undergraduate and postgraduate level), and as members of Syllabus Committees instrumental in introducing vital changes in the English syllabus of the Honours course. The department receives grant through the college office from the state government and the University Grants Commission.