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Dimoria College to be upgraded into university

By DALIM PHUKAN

MORIGAON, May 4 � The Education sector in Assam will soon get a fillip with the State Government mulling to upgrade the Dimoria College into a rural university. Former principal of the college Ram Charan Bharali was entrusted with the responsibility of preparing the detailed project report which has already been submitted to the State Government.

If everything goes according to the plan, the North- eastern region will soon get its first rural university that will usher in a new goal of teaching, learning, evaluation, research and extension of services for social uplift.

Nestled in the enclave of several hills, green fields and diverse ecological systems spread towards the south-east of Guwahati city near National Highway-37, Dimoria College has the distinction of being the second college in the State after Cotton College to get A grade from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. It is a pioneer institution of higher education in Assam that passed through various phases of transition since its inception.

It was in the late 1970s that a group of enthusiastic persons like late Padma Kanta Deka, late Santa Ram Deka, late Prasanta Deka, late Gopi Nath Sarma and late Krisna Kanta Bhuyan spearheaded a campaign for spreading education and setting up a college in Dimoria, a relatively backward tribal belt area. The journey of Dimoria College began on August 29 , 1979 in a small classroom at Khetri High School with 57 students and three teachers and with late Pandit Binanda Chandra Barman as the founder principal(1979-80).

Despite a humble beginning and overwhelming response from all sections of the people, it was not smooth sailing for the Dimoria College which faced several hiccups in its initial days. When Ram Charan Bharali assumed stewardship of the college in 1981, the college was facing myriads of problems. However, Bharali led from the front and steered the college to attain the status of College with Potential for Excellence by the University Grants Commission. In1992, the college introduced the BSc course and the Ambedkar Science Block was inaugurated by the then Vice President of India, KR Narayanan.

The college introduced postgraduate courses in several departments like Political Science, Economics, Environmental Management, etc. Besides these, several UGC-sponsored vocational courses along with distance education programmes under IGNOU have also been introduced in the college.

In 2008, Dimoria College earned the rare distinction of signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Brandenburg Technical University, Germany on mutual exchange of students and faculty and evaluation of courses of study along with mutual recognition of Eco-restoration student�s performances in the college. Eminent scholars like Prof VV Rao and Prof Golok Chandra Goswami used to take postgraduate classes in the early years and encouraged the college students with their valuable advice and wisdom.

Prime Minister Dr Monmohan Singh, who visited the college on more than one occasion, also extended his help in the completion of various projects of the college. Former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam also visited the college on February 6, 2010 to motivate the students in the path of nation building.

Turning the Dimoria College into a rural university will pave the way for identifying and preserving the unique customs and practices of the rural folks of the region and help in the transformation of rural areas of the North-east into a model for indepth studies and researches.

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