GUWAHATI, Sept 5 - Honouring two distinguished teachers on the occasion of Teachers� Day today, the KC Das Commerce College National Teacher Award and Achiever Award were conferred on Dr Dhirendra Nath Borthakur and Dr Nirmal Kumar Chaudhury respectively.
The awards have been instituted by KC Das Commerce College Educational Trust, which organized the award function annually.
KC Das Commerce College was established in 1983 with its temporary campus in the Sonaram High School. A venture with merely 107 students in the beginning, the college has carved out a niche for itself in the field of Commerce education in the State. Giving a brief history of the college as well as the awards, Principal of the college Dr Ghanashyam Nath lauded the students and the teachers for consistent performance of the college.
Speaking as the chief guest, social anthropologist Annada Charan Bhagabati narrated his personal experiences as a teacher. �I took the right decision by joining the profession of teaching as I found there was immense pleasure in being a teacher and the older we grow, the better we realize this fact. Love and respect we get from our students, present and former, are not less than treasure troves of life,� he said.
The award carries cheques of Rs 1 lakh each, citation, sorai, cheleng chador, gamosa, flower bouquet and japi.
The first awardee, Dr Dhirendra Nath Borthakur is an eminent agro scientist of international repute and former Vice Chancellor of the Assam Agricultural University whereas Dr Nirmal Kumar Choudhury is an eminent educationist and former Vice Chancellor of the Gauhati University.
Dr Borthakur has over 150 scientific over 100 popular scientific papers to his credit and has authored eight books. His field of work included teaching, economic botanist, rice specialist among others.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Borthakur paid homage to Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. He asked the students to stick to the roots of Indian culture and ethos, simultaneously acquiring best of other cultures.
With a brilliant academic career, Dr Nirmal Kumar Chaudhury had been associated with Assam Engineering College, Regional Engineering College Silchar etc. He was also the Director of Technical Education and Vice Chancellor of Gauhati University, apart from rendering voluntary service.
In his acceptance speech, Dr Chaudhury, announced that the sum of the award would be given away to an educational trust for educational welfare. �We often realize that our education system is not fault free and I welcome the constructive criticism. However, we must also come forward to contribute our bit to make that little change. If our retired academicians and others come forward and devote their time and efforts for the welfare of Assamese medium schools, we can expect some small but significant improvements,� he said. He also advocated compulsory education up to 12th standard.
Vice chairman of the trust Jatindra Chandra Nath was the president of the function. Minati Choudhury, president of the college governing body was also present on the occasion.
