Katwa College, Katwa

About Katwa College, Katwa

During World War II, the apprehension of bombardment of Kolkata endengered exodus of people from the city Kolkata on an alarming scale as a result, the authorities of the big non Governmentt Colleges in Kolkata in a 'dispersal' scheme proposed off-shoots of those colleges in different parts of West Bengal, miles away from the capital of which Katwa was one. True to tell, the people of Katwa then squarely refused to accept the proposal of an offshoot college at Katwa but the truth was that the govt policy of dispersal scheme itself was enough to enthuse their minds an acclaimed social leader Late Jitendra Nath Maitra was the pioneer, and he was later joined by many distinguished personalities of the locality, notable among them were Prof P N Mukherjee, Prof S N Banerjee, Dr P N Bandyopadhya, Prof S P Mukherjee, Dr Haramohan Sinha and the renowned Bengali poets like Kalidas Roy and Kumud Ranjan Mallick who threw their weight behind the establishment of a college at Katwa. Their sincere and indefatigable efforts took on a tangible from with the inauguration of the college on 16th august 1948.
To begin with the college was started as an intermediate college housed in surya narayan memorial hall of K D Institution with around 140-150 students. As a unique example of co-operation towards the growth of higher educational institution,the people of this locality then donated not less than Rs32000/- (thirty two thousand) the present currency valuation being at least ten times. Not only that the then Managing Committee of KDI donated to the college authorities a concrete building of four rooms and a portion of the school land which a part of the existing main building of the college was erected thereafter the college authorities made no mistake to take up the right measures at the right moment with the result that in 1959 the college achieved the status of a full fledged undergraduate college along with its affiliation to the UGC as well as sanction of a building grant Rs 1,95,000/- there form. Withstanding the wear and tear of time and two devastating floods,the College now stands with towering glory to fulfill the mission and the vision of the organizers.

The College was initially affiliated to Calcutta University until Burdwan University was established on 16th June 1960. Its inclusion into 2(f) and 12(B) categories under UGC act 1956 took place in 1959 it now enjoys grant in aid financial status under govt of west Bengal besides the achievements of the statutory status the college has been untiringly and sincerely carrying on its mission and maintaining a steady pace of progress in precept of advancement of learning the college by this time has increased its faculty strength to 58 full time teachers and 30 part time teachers the college sprawling over 10 acres of land consists of four adjucunt campus the campus comprises the main building. Science building,Administrative building,canteen;two common rooms (boys and girls) Guest room, Laboratories, Garden, Post office, Bank and an Auditorium under construction. The main building houses the central library and the library for the morning section which altogether stocks more than 40 thousands books and journals. The second campus has housed the staff quarters,Principle's residence and the two girls hostels,the third campus accommodating the boys hostel and the Superintendents quarter. The fourth campus which is approximately 300mt away from the main campus,encloses a playground. With the capacity of its enrollment of 3960 the college now deserves to be considered as the second biggest affiliated college under Burdwan University. This shows that from the very humble beginning,the college has progressive evolved into a big undergraduate college,offering co-education and three year under-graduate honours and general courses in Humanities Sciences and Commerce as well as one-year B-Ed courses.

It is observed that quality education is not possible sans highly qualified teaching staff faculty wise which the college had in the past and now does yet entertain the wish to fall in no way from the standard if not possible to further improve. One of the members of the teaching staff enhanced the prestige of the college by winning 'Ananda Prize' for the compilation of a Bengali lexicography in 1984.Moreover its alumni are not lagging behind to spread its glory in occupying prominent position in various fields of life. Mention may be made of some prominent members of them like Prof Amit Kumar Mallick, V.C Burdwan University, Prof Bipattaran Ghosh, Controller of examinations, Burdwan university. Dr Amar Nath Mukherjee, Ex V.C Jorhat Agriculture University, Assam, Dr D.P Samanta, ex- principal of this college.