Rajshahi College () is a public educational institution in Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Established in 1873, it is the third oldest college in Bangladesh after Dhaka College and Chittagong College.
Affiliated with the National University of Bangladesh, Rajshahi College offers three years Degree pass course and four years honours degree courses in various disciplines. Since 1996, it had stopped enrolling higher secondary students. It resumed enrollment of higher secondary students in 2010. Situated in the city center, Rajshahi College is adjacent to Rajshahi Collegiate School and very close to the famous Varendra Museum.
History
The origins of the college were in a private English school 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). 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, the Zilla School was upgraded as 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 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 The postgraduate Departments in Arts and in Law continued till 1909 when they were withdrawn because the college could not meet the requirements of the new regulations of the University of Calcutta which came into force that year.
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. Khan Bahadur Chayan Uddin Ahmed (B.A. English) was the first Muslim graduate of East Bengal from Rajshahi college. 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 University of Rajshahi system of Bangladesh and its curriculum includes only undergraduate and post-graduate courses in a variety of disciplines.
Buildings
The main administrative building of Rajshahi College 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
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.
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.
Notable alumni and faculty
Highly distinguished alumni and faculty of Rajshahi College include: Akshay Kumar Maitreya, historian Jadunath Sarkar, historian Abdur Rahman Khan, Divisional Inspector School Radhabinod Pal, jurist Ashrafuddin Ahmad Chowdhury, political worker and freedom fighter Swami Tejasananda, founding principal of Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira Qazi Motahar Hossain, statistician, chess player, essayist and academic Harendranath Munshi, Indian freedom fighter Pramathanath Bishi, author and academic Enamul Haque, professor from 1948 to 1952 Rajib Humayun, linguist, playwright, academic Maqbular Rahman Sarkar, academic Mokbula Manzoor, author and novelist Khademul Bashar, 3rd Chief of Air Staff of Bangladesh Air Force Hasan Azizul Huq, novelist Idris Ahmed Mia, politician Prabhas Chandra Lahiri, politician
Former principals SLPrincipal's nameWorking period startWorking period end1Mr. Hargobind Sen (Head Master of Rajshahi Zilla School)187318782Mr. Frederick Townley Dowding187818803Mr. A. C. Edward188018874Mr. W. B. Livingstone18875Mr. G. W.R. Taper18876Mr. W. B. Livingstone188718977Mr. Rai Kumudini Kanta Banerjee Bahadur189719198 P. Niogi19199Mr. Rai Kumudini Kanta Banerjee Bahadur1920192410Mr. Krishna Chandra Bhattacharya192411Mr. S. N. Maitra1925192612Mr. T. T. Williums1926192713Mr. Aswini Kumar Mukerji1927192814Mr. T. T. Williums1928193015Mr. B. M. Sen1930193116Mr. Rai Hem Chandra Dey Bahadur1931193217 W. A. Jenkins1932193318Mr. Harilal Choudhury193319 P. D. Shastri1933193520Mr. J. M. Bose1935194021 S. K. Banarjee194022 Snehamoy Datta1941194523Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed1945195024 I. H. Juberi1950195125Mr. M. Taher Jamil195126Mr. A. Karim Mondal195127Mr. A. Munyem1951195228Mr. Solomon Choudhury1952195429 Md. Shams-Ul-Haque1954195630 Abdul Haque1956195931 Shamsuzzaman Choudhury1959196132 M. A. Haye1961196933 Elias Ahmed1969197034 M. Shamsuddin Miah1970197235 Nurur Rahman Khan14/06/197213/09/197636 M. Noimuddin14/09/197624/09/197937 Lutfar Rahman26/09/19798/1/198138 S. M. Abdur Rahman8/1/198125/12/198339 Md. Tamijul Haque25/12/198329/05/198440 Md. Abul Quasem28/07/198417/08/199041 Md. Shamsur Rahman30/08/19909/12/199242 Serajul Islam25/12/19922/2/199343 Shams Uddin Ahmad13/02/199316/03/199544 A. S. M. Moarraf19/03/199512/2/199645 Golam Rabbani4/4/199628/11/199646 Sher Mohammad17/09/199717/09/199747Prof Md. Eunus Ali Dewan29/09/199728/06/199848 Akhtar Banu28/06/19982/10/199949 Md. Abdul Haye Choudhury4/10/199923/12/199950 Arun Kumar Bhattacharya13/04/20002/10/200051 K. M. Jalal Uddin Akber14/10/20006/4/200252 Abdul Bashir14/08/200229/03/200453 Md. Ashraful Islam4/4/200426/06/200554 Md. Shams Ul Haque27/07/200518/06/200855 Ali Reza Md. Abdul Mazid17/07/200815/04/201456 Md. Habibur Rahman14/08/20143/02/202157 Md. Abdul Khaleque4/10/2021ContinuingSource:
Former vice principals SLVice principal's nameWorking period startWorking period end1Mr. Aswini Kumar Mukerji192619282Mr. H. L. Choudhury19343Mr. Md. Abu Hena19424 Subodh Chandra Sen Gupta19435Mr. Mahammad Taher Jamil19486Moulvi Maqbul Ahamed19527Mr. M. Ahmed Hossain19578Mr. M. A. Haye195919609 Mohammad Shamsuddin Miah1963196510 Syed Lutfal Haque26/02/196623/04/196711Mr. M. Ramjan196912Mr. Md. Abdul Khaleque197013Mr. Md. Abdul Gofur197214Mr. S. M. Abdur Rahman197315 Belayet Ali15/03/19747/5/198016 Md. Abdur Razzak1980198417 Md. Moslem Ali12/4/198431/12/198618 Khandokar Md. Monirul Islam1988198919 A. B. M. Rezaul Haque199020 A. J. M. Rezaul Haque Choudhury2/9/199029/11/199221 Md. Golam Akbar30/11/199219/10/199922 Md. Khoda Bakhs Mridha26/04/20006/8/200023 Md. Masum Ali1/3/200124/04/200224 Abul Asad Mahmud25/08/200230/07/200525 Md. Shafiq Uddin30/07/20057/3/200725 S. M. Razaul Haque21/04/200731/01/200826 Md. Abdul Wadud8/4/200828/03/200927 Md. Habibur Rahman5/7/200914/08/201428 Shish Mohammad27/12/201430/12/201429 Al-Faruk Choudhury1/1/2015202030 Md. Abdul Khaleque202003/10/202131 Md. Oliur Rahman2021ContinuingSource:
References
External links Rajshahi College Website Rajshahi College Barta RC FM Radio University of Rajshahi Govt. Hazi Muhammad Mohsin College Chattogram