TEZPUR, Feb 16 - People of the common civil society here have expressed their total disgust over the �ruining� of the academic environment of Darrang College here.
The premier academic institute of the North Bank that has produced many intellectuals in the region has now lost its past glory allegedly due to administrative mismanagement, hectic lobbying among the teaching staff, �immoral� acts of some teachers and indiscipline among the students since the last few years.
One of the dedicated teachers of the college who didn�t want to mention his name, expressing his grave concern over certain �awkward� incidents in Darrang College in the recent past including committing of suicide by students and a senior professor and �unwanted� affairs between teachers and students, lamented that Darrang College which was a fruition of the selfless effort of many people of the region is now gradually slipping from the people�s attentions.
It needs to be mentioned that �Darrang College� started in July 1945 with eight teachers and 112 students offering bachelor�s degree in Arts, Science and Commerce under Gauhati University has presently 24 departments. Late Kamakhya Prasad Tripathy, a veteran freedom fighter and trade union leader came forward to shoulder the responsibility of the founder principal and under his initiative, classes were held at the bungalow of Arnaldo Duchi, an Italian man who sold the property to the college. Subsequently, the college was shifted for nearly two years to the American Base Hospital campus at Mission Chariali, then to the dak bungalow in the heart of the town and finally to the present site in October 1951. Darrang College has had an eventful career since its inception. The Dalai Lama of Tibet visited it in 1959 after his historic flight from his own land, followed by Indira Gandhi in 1963. Ever since the college settled in its permanent site, it has been maintaining a high academic standard all through.
But the college has failed to maintain academic excellence in the last few years due to the alleged degradation in the educational environment. The recent incident of the committing of suicide of a brilliant student of the Political Science Department after allegedly getting involved in a relation with one of his teachers painted a negative picture of the institute. Police concerned with the case informed that after this Kalpana Kalita, HoD of the Sanskrit Department was found dead near the bank of the Brahmaputra but the reason behind her committing the suicide is not yet known. Moreover, last year the alleged involvement of a teacher from the department of Geography in cyber crime also hurt the dignity of the college. However, following quick action of the head of the Institute, the accused teacher Syamal Kar had to leave the job.
Student organizations like AASU, ABSU, AAMSU, ABVP, NSUI etc., and common people, while expressing their concern over the degradation of the academic environment of the frontline institution, have urged the authority to take corrective steps in this regard.