Brief History of the Department

The department of English came into existence simultaneously with the establishment of the college on 21^st July, 1969. Beginningwith the only Pre-University (Arts) Classes at its inception, the college obtained permission from G.U. to open B.A. PartI and Part II classes from the session 1972-73 and 1974-75 respectively. Considering that good number of students evinced interest to have advanced studies in English, the honours course (Major Course) in the subject was introduced from the session 1985-86. Permission for the same was obtained from the university in the year 1986 and the concurrence was had on 14-02-2002. Affiliation for the same was granted on 28-09-1995.Due to the contemporary demand among the students, the department applied to U.G.C. through the Principal, Bijni College, for introducing Functional English as one of the optional subjects (vocational) in 2009-10. It was granted by the U.G.C. and introduced in the session 2010-11.
               The first man in the department was Mr. S.K. Ghosh, who joined on 21^st  July,1969. Later on, he left the department on 08-04-1974 to head the Bengali department of the college. The second man in the department Mr. Luis Islary joined  in 13-02-74 and subsequently left the institution  to become the Minister of Education (State) in the Government of Assam. The third man to join the department on 27-09-79 was Mr. Girin Ch. Ray who left the College to join the North Bengal University. The next person to join the department was Sri Swadesh Saha, who joined on 31-03-1979 and left in 1982 for A.C.S. Sri R.N. Sahoo was appointed on 01-12-80 and headed the department since 1982 till his retirement on 22-08-2012. Mr. S.K. Panigrahi who joined the department on 22-08-1983, left on 31-12-1984 to join Sankardev College, Shilong. Mr. G.K. Panda then joined the department on 02-09-1985 and served till his departure for Orissa Academic Service in1994. The next person to join the department was Mr. S.K. Pasayat, who now heads the department after the retirement of Sri R.N. Sahoo in September,2012. Mr. R.K. Barman was appointed on 20-11-1988 and is continuing as an Associate Professor with the department. Mr. K.R. Gurung joined the department on 08-01-1993 and at present is working as an Associate Professor.  Mr. A. Sarkar was appointed on 23-10-1998 against the newly created Science stream and his post was made permanent in June 2014 w.e.f 01-01-2012. The department also is joined by contractual teachers from time to time. Mrs. Anima Dey worked from August 2011 to 2012,  Miss Somaina Basumatary worked from August 2012-2014, Miss Laijou Basumatary worked from August 2014-2015 and Miss Sanshri Basumatary has been working since August 2015.
             Present Faculties in the department is as follows :

             At present, the students enrollment in major classes have improved with increasing number of them getting selection for higher studies, administrative jobs,TET and other jobs. We now have students in the semester system only.

Appraisal Report of the Department :

          The department holds seminars, work-shops, group discussions at regular intervals to improve the academic standard of the students. In 2004, a departmental magazine was published which was discontinued due to paucity of funds and other unavoidable situations. Departmental Wall Magazine ELIXIR is however published regularly and the teachers also regularly write in various magazines, edited books etc. It also conducts counseling systems to help the students overcome the problems they comfort in coping with the course contents. Library work lab-work and field work (for Functional English) are also conducted to enhance the knowledge and skill of the students. Extra classes (for coaching and remedial) are also undertaken by the teachers in periodical manner. The department held one UGC sponsored national seminar on ‘Post Modernism in the Indian Context’ on 27^th&28^th September, 2007. Beside, the teachers also participate in various Academic Improvement Schemes, Seminars and Workshops at different Colleges & Universities from time to time.

Report on the Student’s Feedback :

          In regard to the course, curriculum, classes and evaluations etc, we have the provision of taking feedbacks from the students. These are sincerely discussed in the departmental meetings and care is taken to improve the performance whichever is within the capacity/domain of the department. Students also seek for modern means of learning and other infrastructural facilities such as hostel, library facility (extra hour), internet etc.

Departmental Activities :

          Since the introduction of Major in the subject in1985-86 session the department is holding seminars, group discussions, library works etc for the students in a regular basis. In 2014 we have conducted two work-shops on drama and one departmental seminar. During the seminar, the students also enacted the One-Act Play, No One Needs The Mahatma which was the result of the first work-shop. In the second work-shop we screened two films on plays from the syllabus, Arthur Miller’s Death of A Salesman and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot for the students. Besides, we also have been publishing wall-magazines on regular basis to encourage creativity on the part of the students. The name of our Wall Magazine is ELIXIR.

Future vision and plan :

          The department has the vision of making teaching and learning more interactive and meaningful. For this reason the department has planned about a Language Laboratory, publication of departmental journal and linkage of libraries. The members of the department are also encouraged to take up research projects as and when possible.

Results :

          The department has a library of its own. It has around 200(Two hundred) books. It is for referral use only.

Name of the ex-faculty members of the department :