Suri Vidyasagar College, Suri

About Suri Vidyasagar College, Suri

Suri Vidyasagar College is one of the biggest colleges in the Birbhum district(West Bengal). Established in 1942 during the World War II, presently a Govt. sponsored college under Burdwan University. The College offers honours courses in 16 subjects of Science, Commerce and Humanities under the affiliation of the University of Burdwan. The College has a number of high quality teachers known for their outstanding contribution in their respective field of activities.The college volunteered for institutional accreditation by NAAC, Bangalore, in November 2005. After analysis the executive committee of the NAAC has given grade B+.

As far as the historical evidence, the first attempt to establish a college in Suri, the headquarters of the district Birbhum, started in the year 1934. Under the tutelage of the then local landlord and educationist- Shri Amita Ranjan Mukhopadhyay, popular doctor Kaligati Banerjee, advocate Babu Harikinkar Samanta and other social activists, a working committee was formed, for this mission. The committee started collecting funds from local residents and it was decided that one of the members, Shri Tulsidas Chakraborty would buy them a large mansion by the name of ‘Bose Saheber Kuthi’, which would then form their base and also double up as the perfunctionary college building until a new one comes up. Funds were raised in the tune of twenty thousand rupees. But, with time the efforts waned and the funds dwindled. Fresh vigour was again observed in 1940. Under the leadership of Birbhum Zilla Board Chairman Shri Harikinkar Samanta, local dignitaries, including MLA Shri Debendranath Das, Shri Rampati Basu, Maulavi Nurul Absar, Md. Nake Moktar, Abdul Majid Choudhury along with the committee members submitted a deputation2 to the then Bengal ‘Prime Minister’and Education Minister-in-Charge, Fajlul Haque, and petitioned for his assistance to bring up the college.

By then, the World War II had started and in India, Calcutta became the prime target of the Japanese. December of 1941 saw fierce bombing on Calcutta by the Japanese forces. This caused widespread panic and people started fleeing Calcutta for the neighbouring townships and villages. It was these circumstances that set the stage for the inception of Suri Vidyasagar College.In his reminiscence, Jyoti Kishore Chowdhury, the then Principal of Vidyasagar College, Kolkata wrote: ‘During those days, fear of bombing was so deep, the college had to be closed and a decision was taken to shift the college elsewhere’3.With the help of Prof. Tribhangamurari Mondal of Birbhum, plans were chalked out to setup the college at a school in Sainthia, a small township and business place near Suri. But, the efforts proved futile as this was disapproved by the then SDO of Suri, Shri Naren Chowdhury. Instead, he referred them to Dr. Kaligati Banerjee of Suri who grabbed the opportunity with both hands. A meeting was called in 1942, at the house of Dr. Kaligati Banerjee. Other than himself, the meeting was adorned by such esteemed luminaries as Shri. Nityanarayan Bandopadhyay, Shri. Umaprasanna Mukherjee (Olu Babu), the president of bar library-Shri Abinash Chandra Mitra, Shri P.C. Chandra, Shri Bankim Mukhopadhyay, Maulavi Nurul Absar, Md. Nake Moktar and Principal J.K. Chowdhury. They then assembled at Shri. Amitaranjan’s house for further assistance. In this regard, a proposal was placed before the Governing Body of Calcutta Vidyasagar College, which they approved along with an initial funding of Rs. 5000/-. Furnitures of the women section of I.Sc. Department were sent to Suri via train. Finally, under the guidance of Principal J.K. Chowdhury and with the newly appointed Vice-Principal (Suri campus) Tribhangamurari Mondal at the helm of affairs, Suri Vidyasagar College came into existence.
On 9th March, 1942, under the chairmanship of former Calcutta Vidyasagar College student- Shri. Abinash Chandra Mitra, the college started its journey as a branch of “Vidyasagar College”, Calcutta. Classes started in the house adjoining Shri. Amitaranjan’s Kali Temple (Kali Bari), while the new building was being constructed south of the adjoining Banyan Tree of the selected place for the new college. Classes shifted to the new building in June 1942. Total number of students in the 1942-43 batch was 212 only. For them, students hostel were also set up in rented rooms at Kendua Village (known as Kendua Chatrabas), in the outskirts of Suri. After 1948, it became an independent college with the name “Suri Vidyasagar College”. The first Principal of the “Suri Vidyasagar College” was Prof. Arun Sen from 1951 to 1963.The college volunteered for institutional accreditation by NAAC, Bangalore, in November 2005. After analysis the executive committee of the NAAC has given grade B+. Now, in 2009, the college stands tall, spreading the message of knowledge and wisdom to the society. Today, spread over an area of 25 Bigha, 5 Katha and 8 chatak, the college consists of 19 Academic Departments out of which 15 offer Honours & general courses, 4 general Courses and 1 P.G. Course. In 1996, the total built area of the college was 29,856 sq. ft. Another 14,755.31 sq. ft. was added between 2001 and 2004. Currently the total built area is around 70,000 sq. ft. which contains classrooms, laboratories, bathrooms; library, office, seminar halls, canteen, bank, post office and students’ hostels (separate for boys and girls).