Few people know that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose went to educationist Girish Chandra Basu to take admission at Bangabasi College. Girish Chandra took him to Presidency College and got him admitted there. Subhas Chandra developed differences with Professor Otten and took a transfer to Scottish Church College, from where he became a graduate.
Bangabasi College played a major role in the Indian freedom movement. Jatin Das, who died in Lahore jail after observing a fast for 63 days, was a student of this college. Sri Aurobindo had stayed in the locality for some time. Young revolutionaries used to hold meetings on the college campus. In recent times, former mayor Subrata Mukherjee and current deputy mayor Atin Ghosh were students of this college. Famous teacher Ladly Mitra used to teach chemistry at the college, and the best students of Presidency College and Scottish Church College used to attend his classes.
Acharya Girish Chandra set up Bangabasi College in 1866, when Rabindranath was five years old and Narendranath Dutta, who later became Swami Vivekanada, was just three years old.
His son, Prasanta Basu, who dedicated himself to spreading education among middle-class Indians, found that the college needed expansion as the number of students went up. This gave rise to Bangabasi Morning College, Bangabasi College, and Bangabasi Evening College in 1965, almost a century after the formation of the college. The three colleges have separate administration, different principals and teaching staff and non-teaching staff.
The student strength of Bangabasi Morning College, which has maintained the standard and legacy because of the sincere efforts of the teachers, is around 5,000. The college got an A on the NAAC list.
Professor Amitava Dutta, principal of the college, said, “As the college is close to Sealdah railway station, many students come from the northern suburbs. Because of the good connectivity, students from Howrah and beyond also join the college. There are many first-generation learners. During the Covid pandemic, tuition fees for 80 per cent of students were waived. Many of the students come from families below the poverty line. So, our purpose is to guide the students in the best possible way. There are 75 teaching staff, including the principal, and 39 non-teaching staff who work tirelessly to make the dreams of the students come true.”
The college offers science, arts and commerce streams. Four-year honours courses are offered in physics, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, zoology and botany. In the arts stream, the subjects that are taught include English, Bengali, political science and history. The courses in the general stream include geography, economics and philosophy.
Professor Dutta said the college has entered into an MoU with the George Telegraph to give internships to students in skilled development. The classes are held on the second campus of the college, which is situated close by. The internship is offered in subjects like data entry operators, GST and hospitality management. The college is following a four-year graduation course as per the recommendation of the National Education Policy (NEP).
Bangabasi Morning College has an allotted playground in the maidan. It may be mentioned that the other college that has an allotted playground is Asutosh College. The annual sports are held both indoors and outdoors. The college has cricket and football teams. Indoor games like carrom, table tennis and billiards are played by the students.
The college publishes a magazine annually, to which students and teachers contribute.
Bangabasi Morning College has a strong cultural wing, and festivals like the observance of Republic Day, Independence Day, the birthday of Netaji, Rakhi Bandhan and Basanta Utsav are held with great enthusiasm. Teachers’ Day is observed every year.
The college uses solar power and does rainwater harvesting.
“The USP of our college has the most cordial relationship between the students and the teachers. The students firmly believe that the teachers will provide them with the best education. The students’ union works hand in hand with the administration, and that has helped to run the college smoothly. The students are our asset, and we always try hard to give them the best education using the available resources. Mayor Subrata Mukherjee, who was our past pupil, helped us have the second campus. It is true that the number of students taking admission in the college has gone down after the Covid due to various reasons, but we hope that this situation will improve and we will have an earlier flow of students,” Prof. Dutta maintained.