Department of English

Department of English is one of the oldest departments of the college and it can be legitimately claimed that since the very inception, Tamralipta Mahavidyalaya has been one of the premier Higher Education centres of teaching and learning English in the undivided district of Midnapore. English was one of the major taught subjects in this college at the Intermediate Course [I.A.] and also at the Degree Course [B.A.]. It was started to be taught at the Honours level since 1959, as affiliation to Hons. in English was granted to the college by the University of Calcutta since 1959. In the meanwhile, affiliation of the college was changed from University of Calcutta to Vidyasagar University since 1985 as per State Govt. policy.

Laid on a solid foundation by a committed team of professors like Prof. M. N. Jana, Prof. A. Palai, Prof. A. Sengupta, R.C. Bhunia, Prof. S. Bandyopadhyay, to name only a few, the Department has gradually attained a moderate standard of academic excellence. Right at this moment only three whole time Professors Dr. Sanjay Mukherjee, Ms. Madhurima Neogi, Mr. Surajit Senapati and one Approved Part-time Teacher Mr. Purnendu Pattanayek are mainly shouldering the responsibility of teaching with the assistance of one or two guest teachers, as & when necessary. The teachers are closely related to the students who can and do approach the teachers in season and out of the season, in the class-rooms and out-side the class-rooms. They are trying to maintain the glorious tradition of the college to the utmost of their capacity.

The Department, having no autonomy in curricular designing & syllabus making, offers only undergraduate programme in English, as prepared by its affiliating Vidyasagar University — B.A. (Honours) programme in English, Elective courses in English (General), Compulsory English (AECC). The Honours syllabus is, however, designed to provide students with a strong foundation in English Literature covering a wide range of texts, literary trends, theories and schools of criticism. Students, with the utmost sincerity & dedication of the teachers, are encouraged to participate in the teaching-learning process to develop their skills for original, independent and analytical thinking and appreciation. Strategies of teaching include the lecture method, audio-visual techniques, tutorial classes, group discussions, class tests, internal assessments, students’ feedback and student seminars. These apart, seminars, workshops,
cultural functions like Freshers’ Welcome, Get-together programmes are held at regular intervals; departmental students published their own yearly wall magazine titled PIONEER which is also being published now with the changed name of SAPLING.

The Department, however, can boast of having a sufficiently large number of books including text and reference ones in the Central Library. The students admitted in this department are, on the whole, doing well in the University exams in spite of the paucity of teachers, only with the help of the sincere efforts of the teachers and their own. Most of the students passing out from this department opt for further academic studies and research activities. Many of them are well established as teachers in various educational institutions while some are employed in media houses as well. It is among the plans of the department to start a departmental library, publish a printed journal and to introduce post-graduate course in the near future.