Patna College honours 5 retired teachers, 4 toppers

PATNA: Altogether five teachers and three non-teaching staff, who had retired last year, were feted at a function organized to mark the 158th foundation day of Patna College on Thursday. Four university toppers of the institute were also felicitated on the occasion.
The retired teachers were Ila Sinha, Maya Shankar, Ravi Kiran Sharma, Sufia Nasreen, and P K Poddar, while the staff included Arun Kumar, Ram Shakal Paswan, and Ram Lakhan Mahto.The four students were Tushar (English), Roshan Kumar (ancient Indian history), Somesh Kashyap (Sanskrit), and Rishav (statistics).
Patna College alumnus and Veer Kunwar Singh University’s former vice-chancellor (VC), I C Kumar, who was the chief guest of the event, recalled the glorious tradition of the institute and called upon the present generation to maintain it.
“Although the college was awarded a poor grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, it still commands the respect of a lot of people of Bihar,” Kumar said.
He also unfurled the college flag and released altogether 158 balloons of different colours in the sky.
Addressing the students, PU VC Rash Bihari Prasad claimed, “There was a time when getting admitted here was a matter of pride for the students as well as their parents. Things have changed now, but we are making efforts to restore the lost glory of Patna College.”
Others, who spoke on the occasion, included college principal, Rama Shankar Arya, and his former counterparts, Nawal Kishore Chaudhary, P K Poddar, Ezaj Ali Arshad and R P Singh Rahi.
“Intellectuals should not remain in ivory towers, but come forward to resolve the present crisis, which has gripped the campuses of most premier institutions in the country. They should analyse the real cause of the growing social unrest and show the younger generation the right path,” they said.
Patna College’s sociology department head and Patna University Teachers’ Association president, Randhir Kumar Singh, proposed the vote of thanks.
Established in 1863, Patna College owes its distinct identity to the nature and mode of its response to social issues. Its teachers and students actively participated in the national freedom movement and it was here that Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan first presented his ideas of a ‘total revolution’.
Academics are of the view that the history of Patna College is synonymous with the history of the growth and development of higher education in the region. It has exercised a profoundly significant influence on the lives of its people in many ways.
The college, which provided the backdrop to English novelist E M Forster’s ‘A Passage to India’ and film director Satyajit Ray’s ‘Seemabaddha’, has been the mother of a number of institutions of higher education in Bihar, including the erstwhile Bihar College of Engineering (now NIT-Patna), Patna Law College, Patna Medical College, Patna Science College and Vanijya Mahavidyalaya.