President to visit Vidyanagar College on January 6

President Pranab Mukherjee will inaugurate  three buildings, a gymnasium and an auditorium on January 6 at Vidyanagar College in South 24-Parganas where he started his teaching career way back in 1963.

Mukherjee used to teach Political Science from 1963-68. The college started in 1963 with a handful of teachers including Mukherjee. 

“Pranabbabu was an avid reader and taught us political theory. Vidyanagar was a rural area but he taught us in such a way that we never felt that we were students of a rural college,” said Jamini Ranjan Ghosh, one of Mukherjee’s first few pupils and now an advocate with the Bankshall Court.

The college authorities had approached Mukherjee when he was the Union Finance Minister and visited the college on September 3, 2011 and provided funds to construct three buildings, a gymnasium and an auditorium. The science laboratory has also been upgraded. A team from UGC visited the college and cleared the proposal. An amount of Rs 10.23 crore was given for the purpose.

Dr Aurobindo Ghosh, a governing body member of the college, said that there were nearly 4,000 students in the college. Besides the college, there are two schools for boys and girls and a primary school. “The whole educational complex would be upgraded and we have plans to set up a swimming pool and a football stadium.  According to the modern concept of education, there should be facilities for the students and we are trying to provide them with beast facilities available in the area.” 

Kartick Chandra Adhikary, one of the founders of the college and a former colleague of Pranab Mukherjee has been made the president of the college. “He had seen the college from its inception and will be able to guide us in the best possible way,” Ghosh said.

Some of the old teachers and students will meet their colleague and ‘sir’ on January 6 and the entire area is waiting to celebrate the occasion.