Bangla College

History

Soon after the Historical Language Movement, in 1956 Bangla was recognized as one of the state languages of Pakistan, in the country’s first Constitution. Shortly thereafter, Principal Abul Kashem, former professor of University of Dhaka and pioneer of the Bengali Language Movement, realized that Bangla is neglected in every different field in Pakistan. In 1960, in a meeting for Martyrs' Day at Curzon Hall at University of Dhaka, He said “Even before West Pakistan was formed, they have established Urdu College to made Urdu as State language of Pakistan. Government of Pakistan has contributed fund and land toward Urdu College. Although we have fought so much, Government is still ignoring our plea. If government doesn’t response, we should create a Bangla Medium College in the future.” Then in 1961 He had some discussion with some educationists and intellectuals regarding setting up a higher level institute in Bangla. He formulated a plan to establish 'Bangla' as the working language of government offices and the medium of instruction through that venture. Shortly, a preparatory committee formed under the leadership of principal Kashem and some activists of Tamaddun Majlish including Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah, Principal Ibrahim Kha, and Dr. Innas Ali. The committee after having a series of internal meetings organized a general meeting at Bangla Academy on 15 February 1961 with Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah in the Chair. Leading educationists, litterateurs, journalists and top elites of the country took part in the meeting, which adopted a resolution to set up a Bangla University in Dhaka. As a first step, they decided to establish Bangla College. A follow-up meeting was held on February 19, 1961. Presided over by Khan Bahadur Abdur Rahman Khan, the second meeting was attended by 26 distinguished educationists, writers and journalists. A 51-member organizing council was formed, to set up Bangla College with the then governor of East Pakistan Lt. General Mohammad Azam Khan as its chief-patron.

Ray Bahadur Ranadaprasad Saha and Gul Mahammad Adamji were made patrons. Other office bearers of the council were: Vice-Presidents- Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah, Principal Dewan Mhammad Azraf and Khan Bahadur Abduur Rahman Khan; Treasurer- Abdul Hakim, former Director of Public Instruction, Secretary- Principal Ibrahim Khan; Joint-secretaries: Prof. Abul Kashem and Prof. Hasan Zaman; Assistant secretaries- Shah Mustafizur Rhman and Prof. Matiur Rahman; Council members: ABUL KALAM SHAMSUDDIN, Tofajjal Hossain Manik Mia, Abdus Salam, Sunil Kumar Bose, Muhammad Barkatullah, Professor Abdul Hye, Poet FARRUKH AHMED, Professor SYED ALI AHSAN, Dr. MUHAMMAD ENAMUL HAQ, Begum Shamsunnahar Mahmud, Barrister Abdul Haq and Professor Mofakkharul Islam.

The Bangla College Organizing Council in its meeting held at Bangla Academy conference room on 18 June 1961 took a decision to launch the academic program the following month (July 1961). The plan to run a Degree College, designed and presented by Abul Kashem was adopted unanimously in the meeting. According to the plan, the meeting decided to include the departments of Bangali, English, Political Science, Islamic History and Culture, Economics and Elementary Sciences under the Faculty of Arts and Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, English and Sociology under the Science Faculty. It also adopted a resolution to appoint ten Professors including the Principal and Eleven Staffs of the College immediately. The Council also decided that the teachers would deliver their lectures in Bangla. They would also prepare the handouts in Bengali for the students till the textbooks were written in Bangali. It also gave a decision to publish all the handouts and lecture notes in the form of subject-wise books at the end of the year.

The fourth meeting of the Bangla College Organizing Council was held at the East Pakistan Writers Guild Office on 4 March 1962 with Khan Bahadur Badiur Rahman in the chair. The council discussed two important agenda: Fund raising and site selection for Bangla College. A 9-member Fund Raising Committee for Dhaka and another similar Committee for Chittagong were formed. But the Council could not found a suitable place for the College in Dhaka and for that reason, Bangla College opened its door as a night college on 1 October 1962 with only 30 students at the building of Nabakumar Institution of Bakshibazar. During the 1962-63 academic session, students were only enrolled in Intermediate (Humanities group) and BA first year. Intermediate Science group was opened here in 1963 and following these steps the number of students increased to 450 by 1964.

At the outset, the Principal, the Vice Principal and some Professors served in Bangla College without taking any salary for over a year and later a few of them started taking token money. Principal Abul Kashem himself offered voluntary services to the College for eight years and even a room of his Azimpur residence with furniture land logistics was used as the College office for years together as there was no space for that purpose in the building of Nabakumar Institution. There was a provision of holding weekly and half-yearly examinations in the College, which helped it to become a leading institution of the country within a couple of years. The passing percentage of the college in the BA Examinations was 87.5% in 1964. The Education Board granted permission to introduce Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology in intermediate level in 1963. The commerce section was opened in 1965 and permission to open BCom and BSc sections was obtained in 1969.

Nabakumar Institution continued to provide accommodation of Bangla College in its school building during night for 7–8 years. Then Bangla College had to leave that place as that building was allotted to Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah College. After a series of efforts in 1964, the government acquired and allocated a piece of 12 acres of land full of bush and ditches at Mirpur as there was no suitable land was found within the then territory of Dhaka. Following the efforts of the then DPI Mohammad Ferdous Khan, Bangla College adjacent to the acquired land was purchased for the extension of the college with the government's contributions. The construction of the college building was partially completed in 1969. On 4 October of the same year, Central Education Minister of Pakistan Mohammad Shamsul Haq inaugurated the newly built campus launching the classes of BSc and BCom.

When Bangla College was established, there was no suitable Bangali textbook although students of Intermediate and Degree classes and University level were permitted to answer the questions in Bengali in examinations. Even the questions were not written in Bengali till 1969. In this backdrop, Principal Abul Kashem alone wrote as many as 40 textbooks in Bengali on various subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geometry, Algebra, Statistics and those were published by Bangla College. The College also compiled and published subject wise Bengali books to resolve the crisis of textbooks. Principal Abdul Kashem took steps to establish Bangla College and Bangla University confronting many hostile situations inspired by the idea and consciousness that it was possible to introduce Bengali in all sphere of life including administration and educational institutions. He motivated the people to use Bangla in signboards, nameplates, posters and banners through a concerted campaign involving students and teachers of Bangla College. That movement gave a fresh impetus to the 1969 uprising in East Pakistan initiated by the student community.

At the initial stage of the foundation period of Bangla College, influential contemporary daily newspapers Daily Ittefaq, Daily Azad and the Pakistan Observer extended strong support for its proper gestation. In the first meeting, the organizers took a decision to request the then universities, the textbook board and Bangla Academy to allow teachers and students to set questions language and to give answers in Bangla respectively. According to the decision of meeting, letters and memorandum were sent to the authorities concerned on behalf of Bangla College. A delegation from the College also called on the organization heads to make them understand the issue. These steps, undertaken by Bangla College, could able to create a countrywide excitement, which paved the way for introducing Bengali medium education later in phases.

A few educated Bengali scholars opposed the move of establishment of Bangla College on the ground that the Bengali medium students would be considered as less competent in the job market. They also used to make a taunting remark frequently that the scholars' knowledge would be confined within only Bengali and College would generate 'Bangla Moulavis'. In spite of this negative criticism, the Bengali medium education system earned a massive and speedy popularity.

During the Bangladesh Liberation war in 1971, the Pakistani forces and their non-Bengali Bihari (Muslim immigrants came from Indian state of Bihar) collaborators occupied the college and closed it for the entire period of the war. The signboard of the college was replaced by another signboard inscribed 'Urdu College'. After the independence, the College started its new journey with fresh initiative. In 1985, the college was nationalized and Honours and Masters courses under the NATIONAL UNIVERSITY were introduced here in 1997. At present (2011), the college has 132 teachers and it offers BA, BBA and BSc (Honours) degree and master's degree in 12 disciplines. It enrolls 800 students in higher secondary courses per year.

Current Administration

In 1985, the college was nationalized and Honours and Masters courses under the National University, Bangladesh were introduced here in 1997. At present (2017), It has bachelor's degree and master's degree programs as well which divisions are affiliated with the University of Dhaka, it offers BA, BBA and BSc (Honours) degree and master's degree in 12 disciplines. There are about 800 students in intermediate section and 25000 students in Honors-Masters Graduate section.

Academic Departments

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Facilities

The college covers 19 acres area. The main five buildings are used for classes and examinations. There is a library too.

As an apex institution for educational planning and management, NAEM has good training facilities. The lush green environment, the central location with all sorts of living facilities adds to the grandeur of the institution. Spread over an area of approximately 8 acres, NAEM offers the following facilities:

With the completion of the construction of the new SESIP building the scope of classroom and administrative facilities will be widened.

NAEM's library includes books- magazines, journals and other national and international publications. This caters to the learning needs of different courses and research purposes. A part of the library is used as a documentation center and a Faculty Corner.

To keep the trainees abreast with the latest technology and to accelerate NAEM activities, Computer Laboratory has been set up with a capacity of 40 seats, in addition to two 25-seat computer labs already established.