Sakibul Hasan
After 184 years of glory and tradition, Dhaka College, the oldest educational institution of the subcontinent, entered its 185th year. 1841 Dhaka College was established on November 20. Since its establishment, Dhaka College has been standing tall in the chest of Dhaka city with its history and tradition.
Dhaka College is one of the oldest educational institutions in Bangladesh. Let's know about the college. Dhaka Government School started on 15 July 1835. It is the first English school established in Bengal. The school was set up in an old two-storied commercial building of the East India Company near Sadarghat on a rented basis. Baptist missionaries of Srirampur took the initiative to introduce English education system in Dhaka for the first time.
A branch of the Calcutta Benevolent Institution was started in 1815 to educate the children of Europeans. In April 1816, Leonard opened Dhaka's first English school with 39 mainly Greek and Armenian students in the small Katra building in Chowkbazar. Students are taught English, Grammar, Mathematics, Bible and Religious Studies through question and answer sessions. The government body responsible for the country's education system, in a report submitted to Lord Bentinck on 20 April 1835, recommended the establishment of schools in the principal towns under the Bengal Presidency to teach English literature and science.
The Government of India accepted the proposal on 24 June 1835. On 15 July they made possible the establishment of the Dhaka Government School in a house rented by the East India Company. In the 1838-39 session. the Dacca Government School had 340 pupils in eight classes and 11 teachers, including 7 Englishmen. It became a college named Dhaka Central College in 1841. The Bishop of Calcutta Reverend Daniel laid the foundation stone of the college building at Sadarghat and its construction was completed in 1844. The first batch of students included Muslims, Hindus, Armenians and Portuguese. At that time there were many Armenian and Portuguese businessmen in Dhaka. It was named Dhaka College in 1846. In 1873, the college was shifted to a spacious building near Victoria Park to accommodate the increased student population. Later in 1908, it was shifted to the present Curzon Hall. The outbreak of the First
World War in 1914 adversely affected the academic activities and other developmental activities in Dhaka College. In 1920, another college called Dhaka Intermediate College was established with the intermediate class of Dhaka College. The new college was moved to the Engineering School campus. Only remaining BA, BSc, MA and MSc classes were arranged in Curzon Hall.
Dhaka College contributed the most to the establishment of Dhaka University. DU was established by providing the then Curzon Hall, Shahidullah Hall (Dhaka Hall), land and its own faculty-students etc. With the establishment of Dhaka University in 1921, Dhaka College was shifted to the Lieutenant Governor's residence (present High Court Building) and The engineering school building was converted into a college dormitory. Moreover, a part of Dhaka College was merged with the newly built University. Its faculty, staff, books and library were also given under the university During World War II, Dhaka College had to vacate its premises to accommodate wounded soldiers and It was then moved to Laxmi Bazar.
In 1955, the college shifted to its present location. The college campus now covers 18 acres of land. As the principal of Dhaka College. There were many prominent academics like T Wise, W Brainard, W Booth, FC Turner and PK Roy. Senior figures like Shaukat Osman. Ashraf Siddiqui, Abdullah Abu Sayeed and Akhtaruzzaman Ilyas were college professors here. Among the early graduates of the were Khan Bahadur Bajlur Rahim, Additional Chief Presidency Magistrate of Calcutta Zahedur Rahman Zaheed and Naziruddin Ahmed was the first registrar of Dhaka University. The college was affiliated to Calcutta University in 1854. In 1921, it was affiliated to the newly established University of Dhaka.
College came under its jurisdiction in 1992. Dhaka College again affiliated to Dhaka University in 2017. At com After the establishment of the National University, the present Dhaka College has about 25 thousand students and 240 teachers. Besides higher secondary courses, it has undergraduate and postgraduate programs in 20 disciplines under the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, Business Education and Science.
There are also some crises with glory and tradition. Currently, one of the various crises in the college is the classroom crisis, if the capacity of a class is 40-50, more than 200 students are admitted there. Not to mention the teacher crisis. How is it possible to run a department with 7-8 teachers. There is no space even in the library. Housing for students is in dire straits. Also there are no adequate facilities for research and innovation.
Presently Dhaka College is running Intermediate, Honors and Masters programs. Ordinary students say that teaching in English version as well as arranging regular assignments and presentations to improve the quality of education of Honors, Masters students. Accelerating co-curricular activities in colleges. To improve the quality of education by strengthening the student-teacher relationship as well as creating a student-friendly environment. Above all, there is no alternative to improving the quality of education to enrich the history and tradition of the college.
Sakibul Hasan
Department of Sociology Dhaka College, Dhaka
News Published By:
Bangladesh Diary
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