About the Department:

The Department of English in P. D. Women’s College came into being simultaneously with the establishment of the college in 1950. It offered B. A. general course in English language and Literature for a period of 45 years. Banking on the rich collection of departmental books in the central library—courtesy the favour of the Principal, Late Charupama Bose (1950-1961)—who herself belonged to the Department—and the adequate number of teaching staff, the Principal Late Dr. JhannabiBhusan Bose had sent a proposal to the University for the introduction of Honours Course in 1995 to cater to the growing demand of the learners. Since then both the courses, General and Honours, are running parallel in the Department.Lack of any exclusive room for the Department and the other facilities implicit in this lacuna notwithstanding, the Department has a smooth sailing phase in recent years: it has four permanent full-time teachers, the number of books in the central library—both textbooks and reference books—is just adequate, tutorial classes alongside the regular ones are well-attended by the students and the student-teacher academic interactions outside classrooms are also on the increase. The strength of the Department rests mainly on mutual understanding and cooperation among the teachers who form an assemblage of variegated experience. The student intake capacity in Honours course went gradually up with the passage of time: in 1995 it was 50, this year it is 105 inclusive of all categories. The Department is happy to get students for the reserved categories in all these years excepting the quota for the physically challenged ones. A good number of tribal students from the tea gardens of Dooars get B. A. degree with Hons. in English every year together with many Scheduled Caste students, besides those of the general category. It had momentous moments of glory in 2011 when a student of the Toto tribe, Sanchita Toto, (‘TOTO’ is one of the few tribes in West Bengal facing extinction) got graduation with Honours in English from our college.

Notable activities performed:

The department organized some special lectures by some eminent educationist to expose the students to different perspectives of the subject, which can broaden their understanding and critical thinking skills.
Dr Himadri Lahiri, former Professor of the Dept of English and Culture Studies, The University of Burdwan, Burdwan delivered a special lecture on “Indian English Literature: Colonial Hybridity and Cultural Dilemma” on 6th November, 2017.Dr Ashok Kanubhai Vyas, eminent ELT expert (Gujrat-based) delivered a talk on “How to Acquire Second Language and Develop Accuracy “on 30th November, 2017. Dr Sisir Kumar Chatterjee, Associate Professor, Dept. of English, Chandannagar Govt. College, Hooghly delivered a special talk on “Negotiating Language to Access Literature” on 08. 12.2017. Dr Sukriti Ghosal, Principal, M.U.C. Women’s College, Burdwan delivered a special talk on 10.12.2017 on “Negotiating the Challenges of Poetic Language.” Each session was followed by an engaging interaction with the students.