Rajshahi College

Rajshahi College (Bengali: রাজশাহী কলেজ Rajshahi Kôlej) is the third oldest institution of higher education in Bangladesh. Established in 1873 in Rajshahi city, it is the third oldest college in Bangladesh after Dhaka College and Chittagong College. In 1895, Rajshahi College was the first institution in the territories now comprising Bangladesh to award a graduate (master's) degree. The first two master's degree candidates, Mr. Cayan Uddin Ahmed (Chawyone Uddin Ahmed) and Mr. N. N. Lehari, after graduation became Chief Secretary of Bengal and Session Judge respectively. Later both were awarded Khan Bahadur and Roy Bahadur titles. Rajshahi College offers three years bachelor and four years honours degree courses in various disciplines. The college is affiliated with the National University. Since 1996 it has stopped enrolling higher secondary students. It again started enrolling higher secondary students in 2010. Situated in the city center, Rajshahi College is adjacent to Rajshahi Collegiate School and is very near the famous Barendra Museum.

Rajshahi College
রাজশাহী কলেজ
Rajshahi College Logo
TypeGovernment College
Established1873 (1873)
FounderKing Haranath Ray Chowdhury
Academic affiliation
National University of Bangladesh
PrincipalMd. Habibur Rahman
Location
Rajshahi
,
Rajshahi
,
6100
,
Bangladesh

24.3645°N 88.5958°E / 24.3645; 88.5958
CampusUrban
Colors     
Websiterc.edu.bd
Main gate of Rajshahi College

History
Hazi Mohammad Mohsin Bhaban, Est 1888

The origins of the college were in a private English School that had been founded in Rajshahi in 1828 by the concerted efforts of many of the region's most prominent citizens (this school is now known as Rajshahi Collegiate School).[1] In 1836 the school was taken over by the provincial government of Bengal and was converted into a Government Zilla (or District) School. In 1873, again through the concerted efforts and appeals of local citizens, the Zilla School was given the status of an Intermediate College, and F.A. courses were introduced into its curriculum. With further development this college was accorded "first-grade rank" in 1878, which meant that it could teach B.A. courses and be affiliated to the University of Calcutta. The name "Rajshahi College" came with the first-grade rank in 1878. The year 1881 saw the inauguration of the M. A. classes; B.L. classes were added in 1883. The postgraduate Departments in Arts and in Law continued till 1909 when they were withdrawn because the college could not meet the requirements of the New Regulations of the University of Calcutta which came into force in that year.[2]

Starting with only 6 students on the roll in 1873, the college counted 100 in 1878, 200 in 1900, 400 in 1910, 800 in 1920 and no less than 1000 in 1924; there was only one Muslim student at the college in 1873; 5 years later it was still one, but the figure rose to 156 in 1916 and climaxed at 215 in 1924. Subsequently, of course, Muslim numbers rose in the college and after 1947 eventually exceeded the Hindu numbers. Today, in independent Bangladesh, the college has been accorded "University College" status and no longer teaches Higher Secondary or Intermediate courses. Currently, it is part of the National University system of Bangladesh and its curriculum includes only undergraduate and post-graduate courses in a variety of disciplines.[3]

Buildings

The main administrative building (shown in the picture), is a good example of British Indian colonial architecture. Other important older buildings of the colonial period include the Fuller Hostel Biology Building, Chemistry Building, Physics Building, former Muslim Hostel etc. Newer buildings include the Library and Auditorium, an Arts building, both dating from the 1950s and a new Science building, dating from the 1990s.

Rajshahi College and the Language Movement
First martyr monument[4] dedicated to the Language Movement in 1952.

Immediately after the killing of students in Dhaka on 21 February 1952 students in Rajshahi College built what is often thought to be the first (but short lived) martyr monument dedicated to the Language Movement. The present monument to the Language Movement dates from 1973. It was built to replace an earlier monument, built in 1969, that was destroyed by Pakistani forces in 1971.(this is the first monument-snoman)

E-Service

E-Service plays an important role to bring momentum, transparency and accountability in government service. To achieve the goals of A-2I Programme of Digital Bangladesh, Rajshahi College has taken some initiatives.

There are about 30,000 students pursuing education at HSC, Pass, Honors and Masters levels at Rajshahi College. About 250 teachers are engaged in teaching them and more than 150 other employees support the administration, accounts and all sorts of activities in this college. Frequent change in Principals and weakness in record keeping created serious difficulties in preserving records of essential documents and information of students. Moreover, it is much difficult and a tedious task for the administration to maintain and ensure good governance of the college.

Keeping this in mind, Rajshahi College made an effort to establish exclusively a robust basis for the whole institution and started an ICT program in February 2012 with a view to keeping records of all data, information relating to students, teachers, finance and other things as well. Rajshahi College might be the sole institute which dared to manage its all data and information digitally and has become a pioneer institute to do all its jobs online.[5]

Subject Information[6]
Arts Faculty
  • Bangla
  • English
  • Arabic & Islamic Studies
  • History
  • Islamic History & Culture
  • Philosophy
  • Sanskrit
  • Urdu
Social Science Faculty
  • Economics
  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Social Work
Business Faculty
  • Accounting
  • Finance & Banking
  • Management
  • Marketing
Science Faculty
  • Botany
  • Chemistry
  • Geography
  • Mathematics
  • Physics
  • Psychology
  • Statistics
  • Zoology

Notable alumni and faculty
Grave of Shaheed Dulal at Rajshahi College

Highly distinguished alumni and faculty of Rajshahi College include:

Former Principals
SL Principal's name Working period start Working period end
1 Mr. Hargobind Sen (Head Master of Rajshahi Zilla School) 1873 1878
2 Mr. Frederick Townley Dowding 1878 1880
3 Mr. A. C. Edward 1880 1887
4 Mr. W. B. Livingstone 1887
5 Mr. G. W.R. Taper 1887
6 Mr. W. B. Livingstone 1887 1897
7 Mr. Rai Kumudini Kanta Banerjee Bahadur 1897 1919
8 Dr. P. Niogi 1919
9 Mr. Rai Kumudini Kanta Banerjee Bahadur 1920 1924
10 Mr. Krishna Chandra Bhattacharya 1924
11 Mr. S. N. Maitra 1925 1926
12 Mr. T. T. Williums 1926 1927
13 Mr. Aswini Kumar Mukerji 1927 1928
14 Mr. T. T. Williums 1928 1930
15 Mr. B. M. Sen 1930 1931
16 Mr. Rai Hem Chandra Dey Bahadur 1931 1932
17 Dr. W. A. Jenkins 1932 1933
18 Mr. Harilal Choudhury 1933
19 Dr. P. D. Shastri 1933 1935
20 Mr. J. M. Bose 1935 1940
21 Dr. S. K. Banarjee 1940
22 Dr. Snehamoy Datta 1941 1945
23 Dr. Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed 1945 1950
24 Dr. I. H. Juberi 1950 1951
25 Mr. M. Taher Jamil 1951
26 Mr. A. Karim Mondal 1951
27 Mr. A. Munyem 1951 1952
28 Mr. Solomon Choudhury 1952 1954
29 Professor Md. Shams-Ul-Haque 1954 1956
30 Professor Dr. Abdul Haque 1956 1959
31 Professor Shamsuzzaman Choudhury 1959 1961
32 Professor M. A. Haye 1961 1969
33 Professor Elias Ahmed 1969 1970
34 Professor Dr. M. Shamsuddin Miah 1970 1972
35 Professor Dr. Nurur Rahman Khan 14/06/1972 13/09/1976
36 Professor Dr. M. Noimuddin 14/09/1976 24/09/1979
37 Professor Lutfar Rahman 26/09/1979 8/1/1981
38 Professor Dr. S. M. Abdur Rahman 8/1/1981 25/12/1983
39 Professor Dr. Md. Tamijul Haque 25/12/1983 29/05/1984
40 Professor Dr. Md. Abul Quasem 28/07/1984 17/08/1990
41 Professor Dr. Md. Shamsur Rahman 30/08/1990 9/12/1992
42 Professor Md. Serajul Islam 25/12/1992 2/2/1993
43 Professor Shams Uddin Ahmad 13/02/1993 16/03/1995
44 Professor A. S. M. Moarraf 19/03/1995 12/2/1996
45 Professor Golam Rabbani 4/4/1996 28/11/1996
46 Professor Sher Mohammad 17/09/1997 17/09/1997
47 Professor Md. Younush Ali Dewan 29/09/1997 28/06/1998
48 Professor Akhtar Banu 28/06/1998 2/10/1999
49 Professor Md. Abdul Haye Choudhury 4/10/1999 23/12/1999
50 Professor Arun Kumar Bhattacharya 13/04/2000 2/10/2000
51 Professor Dr. K. M. Jalal Uddin Akber 14/10/2000 6/4/2002
52 Professor Abdul Bashir 14/08/2002 29/03/2004
53 Professor Dr. Md. Ashraful Islam 4/4/2004 26/06/2005
54 Professor Md. Shams Ul Haque 27/07/2005 18/06/2008
55 Professor Dr. Ali Reza Md. Abdul Mazid 17/07/2008 15/04/2014
56 Professor Md. Habibur Rahman 14/08/2014 Continuing
Source: "Former Principals". Rajshahi College.

Former vice principals
SL Vice principal's name Working period start Working period end
1 Mr. Aswini Kumar Mukerji 1926 1928
2 Mr. H. L. Choudhury 1934
3 Mr. Md. Abu Hena 1942
4 Dr. Subodh Chandra Sen Gupta 1943
5 Mr. Mahammad Taher Jamil 1948
6 Moulvi Maqbul Ahamed 1952
7 Mr. M. Ahmed Hossain 1957
8 Mr. M. A. Haye 1959 1960
9 Professor Dr. Mohammad Shamsuddin Miah 1963 1965
10 Dr. Syed Lutfal Haque 26/02/1966 23/04/1967
11 Mr. M. Ramjan 1969
12 Mr. Md. Abdul Khaleque 1970
13 Mr. Md. Abdul Gofur 1972
14 Mr. S. M. Abdur Rahman 1973
15 Professor Belayet Ali 15/03/1974 7/5/1980
16 Professor Md. Abdur Razzak 1980 1984
17 Professor Md. Moslem Ali 12/4/1984 31/12/1986
18 Professor Khandokar Md. Monirul Islam 1988 1989
19 Professor A. B. M. Rezaul Haque 1990
20 Professor A. J. M. Rezaul Haque Choudhury 2/9/1990 29/11/1992
21 Professor Md. Golam Akbar 30/11/1992 19/10/1999
22 Professor Md. Khoda Bakhs Mridha 26/04/2000 6/8/2000
23 Professor Md. Masum Ali 1/3/2001 24/04/2002
24 Professor Abul Asad Mahmud 25/08/2002 30/07/2005
25 Professor Md. Shafiq Uddin 30/07/2005 7/3/2007
25 Professor S. M. Razaul Haque 21/04/2007 31/01/2008
26 Professor Md. Abdul Wadud 8/4/2008 28/03/2009
27 Professor Md. Habibur Rahman 5/7/2009 14/08/2014
28 Professor Shish Mohammad 27/12/2014 30/12/2014
29 Professor Al-Faruk Choudhury 1/1/2015 Continuing
Source: "Former Vice Principals". Rajshahi College.

References
  1. "Information of Rajshahi City". Rajshahi City Corporation.
  2. "Rajshahi College". Banglapedia. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
  3. "Education Institute of Rajshahi City". Rajshahi College. Rajshahi City Corporation.
  4. First Shaheed Minar built two days after Ekushey (1952)
  5. প্রসপেক্টাস, রাজশাহী কলেজ [Prospectas, Rajshahi College]. অনলাইন ভর্তি কার্যক্রম [Online Admission System]. Admission in 2014-15 (in Bengali). Rajshahi, Bangladesh. 2014-11-01.
  6. Departments, Rajshahi College
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