History

New Alipore College was set up on 5th August 1963 as a Government Sponsored College on a large plot of land owned by the Government of West Bengal. The only building of the then Day College, constructed by the Public Works Department, was three-storied. Turned into four-storied much later, it still remains the main building of the College.

With Dr. Arun Kumar Bose as the first Principal, New Alipore College started its journey with only six departments: Bengali, English, Sanskrit, History, Philosophy and Mathematics, none of which was honours-teaching. A renowned chemist, Dr. Bose was instrumental in phenomenal academic development of the College. By 1965, more departments were opened. They were: Physics, Chemistry, Economics and Political Science. By 1967, honours courses were introduced in three departments, namely History, Political Science and Mathematics. That apart, the Morning Shift of the College was started in 1967 to launch additional sections for science subjects. In 1969, the College started honours course in Chemistry and the Evening Shift to open the Department of Commerce. Since its inception, the Department of Chemistry has always remained the crown of glory for New Alipore College by virtue of brilliant results the students of the department have made batches after batches. In 1975, the Department of Commerce was elevated to an honours-teaching department. In 1976, honours courses were introduced in Bengali, Physics and Economics. On the strength of tireless effort of a large band of dedicated teachers New Alipore College became a landmark of higher education by 1980. In his stint of nearly two decades ending in April 1983, Principal Dr. Arun Kumar Bose could instill a nobility of purpose among teachers and students as well.

Next Principal Dr. Samarendranath Guha had been working as a Professor in the Department of Philosophy in the College. Inspired by the fervent enterprise of Dr. Arun Kumar Bose, he made further progress toward an all-round upliftment. During his 14-year stint, honours course was introduced in English.  He took initiative to expand the second floor of the main building to its full capacity. The construction of high walls topped with decorative iron grills was brought about during the tenure of Dr. Samarendranath Guha.

After the retirement of Dr. Guha in April 1997, Prof. Aniruddha Chowdhury of the Department of History acted as the Teacher-in-Charge till his retirement in November 1998. Thereafter, Dr. Shankar Chandra Ghosh of the Department of Chemistry held the mantle of the Teacher-in-Charge for slightly more than a year. The contribution of these two Supremos was noteworthy in that they maintained strict discipline in every sphere of the College.

On 22nd January 2000 Dr. Sujit Kumar Das joined as the next Principal. During his 16-year plus stint, considerable expansion of built space was brought about. With the financial support extended under the MPLAD scheme by Smt. Mamata Banerjee, the then Parliamentarian from South Kolkata, the third floor of the main building was constructed. In 2012, under the auspices of Sri Aroop Biswas, then the Hon’ble Minister, Department of Youth Welfare and Housing, Govt. of West Bengal, the College received from the Department of Higher Education, Government of West Bengal, a grant of Rupees fifty-five lakh with which the one-storied Golden Jubilee building (which is under a plan to make it four-storied) in front of the main building came into existence. A large two-storied building was also erected behind the main building. During the tenure of Dr. Sujit Kumar Das expansion of departments took place on a large scale.  With invaluable effort of Dr. Atreyi Basak, the then Professor of Zoology, honours courses were introduced in Zoology, Botany and Anthropology in the Morning Shift. Philosophy and Sanskrit were elevated to honours-teaching departments. That apart, a number of new departments were opened. Of them, Computer Science, Education and Journalism & Mass Communications are honours-teaching, while Electronics and Geography have only general courses. Dr. Sujit Kumar Das retired on 31 August 2016.

After the retirement of Dr. Das, Prof. Dibes Bera of the Department of Mathematics acted as the Teacher-in-Charge till 24 April 2018. On 25 April 2018 he was anointed as the first Vice Principal of the College and continued to look after the duties of the administrative head until the new Principal Dr. Jaydeep Sarangi joined on 29 August 2018. Over a 2-year period, Prof. Bera worked tirelessly for a sustainable academic development and created many avenues for developing cultural and creative activities of the students. Prof. Dibes Bera is still acting as the Vice Principal.

Dr. Jaydeep Sarangi took the mantle of the Principal on 29 August 2018. A distinguished scholar and litterateur, Dr. Sarangi is a source of inspiration to the teachers, the non-teaching staff and the students. Drawing on the co-operation of all the stakeholders, the new Principal is determined to usher in an era of takeoff for New Alipore College. To this end, Dr. Sarangi has embarked upon a slew of measures deemed necessary from academic and administrative perspectives.

The full view of the history of our College cannot be obtained only by launching into the saga of expansion of departments and growth of infrastructure. To complement the history, we need to focus on the panorama of achievements and accomplishments of our students. Over its 50-year plus existence, New Alipore College has produced numerous students who are well placed in life. Some of them have made the nation proud in various fields like academics, sports and so on. Many of our ex-students have earned doctorates from foreign universities and a number of them have become professors in overseas universities. A large number of our ex-students hold high posts in Indian universities, research institutes and various administrative services.

We are proud that the President of our current Governing Body Sri Aroop Biswas was a student of our College. As the Secretary of New Alipore College in 1985-86, he was credited with his earnest initiative in a number of achievements like (1) introduction of honours courses for various subjects, (2) development of games and sports bringing forth the Elliot Shield for the College in football tournament in 1986, (3) notable development of library and laboratory facilities, (4) opening up admission for girl students into the Department of Commerce, (5) provision of Girls’ Common Room and so on. Sri Aroop Biswas was nominated to our Governing Body on being elected the KMC Councillor for New Alipore (81 Ward). Currently the Hon’ble Minister, Department of PWD, Sports and Youth Services, Govt. of West Bengal, Sri Aroop Biswas was elected the President of our Governing Body in 2012.

New Alipore College has completed its Golden Jubilee in 2013. It is worth stressing that each year in its past was golden and glorious in that the College has always been successful in performing its paramount task: building the careers of students and making them good citizens for the country. Committed to this supreme cause, New Alipore College has been creating history, a living history that goes on and on ….