History
“The status of the teachers reflects the socio-cultural ethos of the society. No people can rise above the level of its teachers”. Kothari Commission rightly observed the role of teachers in nation building. The quality of education depends to a great extent on the quality of its teachers which in turn depends upon quality of professional training. Born teachers are few and far between. No nation can afford to wait for born teachers.
When India became independent in 1947, there was an unprecedented upsurge in every walk of life including education. Expansion of educational facilities resulted in mass enrolment and mass recruitment of teachers at all levels. It created a need to open a number of primary and secondary teachers training institutes to produce competent and committed teachers all over the country.
Once the secondary school teachers of Assam had to go to Syllet for professional training and when B.T. course was opened at St.Edmund’s College, Shillong. Some teachers from Assam also joined the course.
In 1948, the Gauhati University was established and the department for B.T. course was opened there. But the number of seats in the department were limited and it could not cater to the needs of professional training for secondary school teachers in Assam. At this juncture, a few farsighted educationists and the Govt. of Assam decided to establish a secondary school teacher training institute. Thus after ten years of independence, the Post Graduate Training College came into existence in September, 1957. Padmasree Late Indira Miri was entrusted with the responsibility of developing the college as Principal. It was under her dynamic leadership and initiative the institution emerged as a symbol of hope and solidarity of millions of students and teachers of then undivided Assam. The college owes its indebtedness for its glorious tradition to her and to all other faculty members who served the institution during the most formative period of its existence.
When the college first started functioning , it offered two courses viz. Bachelor of Teaching (B.T) and Diploma of Teaching (D.T). P.G.T. College was affiliated to the Guahati University from 1957 to 1965. After the establishment of the Dibrugarh University, the College came under its jurisdiction and was permanently affiliated to it. The Diploma course was soon discontinued as per suggestion of the Inspection. Team experts of the Guwahati University. The college concentrated more on quality improvement of secondary teacher education. In 1981, the curriculum was revised and the course was redesignated as Bachelor of Education under the Dibrugarh University. The curriculum was once again revised in 1993 to cope with the growing challenges and as per guideline of the National Council for Teacher Education and National Education Policy 1986.
The present B.ed. course is designed with 60% weight age on theory and 40% on practical activities. Teaching practice is rigorously followed in the college with constant supervision and guidance by the faculty members. Post Graduate Training College is the pioneer institute to introduce Micro Teaching 1979. Work Education, Music, Craft, Games and Sports, Social Service, Socio- economic survey, peer teaching and supervision etc. are some of the practical activities regularly carried on in the college as an integral part of the curriculum.
Post Graduate Training College was started in 1957 with evening classes in Jorhat Normal School. The College was shifted to the present building in December
1959. Since then day classes are going on . Of course as there was a great demand for seats, the college had to run evening shift for a few years. But the practice was soon discontinued after 3/4 years. In the first decade of Post Graduate Training College, the secondary school teachers and educational administrators were deputed to the college from Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Mizoram besides Assam. Thus the educational and cultural environment of the college reflected the spectrum of colours practically of the whole of North Eastern India. The deputed teachers considered it a rare opportunity to join Post Graduate Training College as student- teachers where they could enjoy a rich blend of cultures. The friendly and cordial relationship between the teachers and teacher educators added grandeur to it. They worked together not only during the class hours but afterwards also by taking part in games and sports, music, dramatization along with academic discussion. The student teachers are mostly deputed by the Govt. of Assam. A few seats are open for pre-service students also. At present a combined entrance test is held by the Dibrugarh University to select prospective student on merit cum performance in the common Entrance Test.
The institution grows up as a result of dedicated service and sacrifice of a group of committed and competent people. Many of them are no more with us. But their memory will remain evergreen in the history of the college. Many of the stalwarts who started their service career at this temple of learning, later on, extended their field of activities in the wider dimensions. To mention a few of them are Late Indira Miri, Late S.M.Majumder, Dr. Ramesh Ch. Das, Late B.K. Nath, Late P.C.Konwar, Late B.M.Pathak, Prof. Dr. Pradipeswar Bhattacharyya, Smti Debeswari Baruah, Late Prof. Ananda Ch. Goswami. Late Mridupavan Goswami, Dr. Mukul Sharma, Sri R.K. Talukder, LateDilip Kumar Gohain, Mrinalini Phukan Baruah, Sahityacharyya , Late Jatindra Nath Goswami, Sri Namal Ch. Dutta and host of other. Post Graduate Training College may be called their threshold and being matured they later on served the country in higher positions like Vice- Chancellor of University, Director of Education, Chairman, Text Book Production Corporation, Member State Public Service Commission, Principal, IASE, Member of various state and national level academic committees.
Many academic activities of the state first started in the Post Graduate Training College. The first text book Research and Production Wing of Assam with the Directorate of Education Started functioning from the college. Late Suresh Chandra Rajkhowa was the Chairman and late Noni Madhab Baruah was coordinator of the wing. An Extension Education Centre was established at the college till seventies. The NCERT appointed a coordinator from among the staff of Post Graduate Training College for the centre. Training, Extension, publication of educational materials were some of the activities of the centre.
Post Graduate Training College has a rich library with 16,750 books and educational journals. The library is enriched with fund sanctioned from time to time by M.H.R.D., U.G.C. etc. A qualified librarian is appointed to maintain the library. Students’ teachers, faculty members and interested public also use the library regularly. The college started computer education since 1986. There are facilities for computer lab, physics, chemistry, biological science labs along with a psychology laboratory. But many of the posts of faculty members are lying vacant at present. So, student teachers are suffering from regular guidance in many areas. It is high time to create new posts as per IASE guideline, so that academic activities may be geared up.
Post Graduate Training College is a reputed teacher education institution with good academic records. It was upgraded to College Teachers Education in 1989. Some development work like construction of laboratory, class rooms, staff quarters were completed with the financial assistance under CTE scheme. The college is recognized by National Council for Teacher Education since 2001. In 2002, the institution started a distance learning centre for B.Ed. Course and many of them have successfully completed. At present Post Graduate Training College is identified as an Institute of Advance Studies in Education by Ministry of Human Resource Developmental work of the college have already been started under IASE scheme. A Boys’ Hostel for 50 students have been already started. The Girls’ Hostel construction work is going on and it is financed by U.G.C. under X plan.
Apart from regular B.Ed. course and correspondence course under IGNOU, Post Graduate Training College have been imparting short term, need based, intensive in service teacher training courses since its inception. Its faculty members have been involving themselves in various academic activities throughout the state. Students of Post Graduate Training College have been holding many responsible positions both inside and outside the country. Post Graduate Training College has formed an Alumni Association in 2003. The Association also undertakes a number of academic activities like training of teachers, research and publication. It is hoped that Golden Jubilee will give an opportunity to teachers and students to exchange ideas and chalk out programmes for future development of the college.
