Department of English

About the Department

Department of English The Department of English set up in the year 1989-90 began with English as an Elective subject. Later, in the year 1996-97, it was awarded the responsibility of teaching English as an Honours subject. The department, at present, boasts of three full time sanctioned posts of which two are presently filled. There is also in the department one part-time (permanent) teacher who helps in teaching and other departmental activities. Most of the students of the department belong to economically backward families. Many of them are also first generation learners. The economic and social profile of the learners, therefore, is the one big handicap that the department has had to confront. And yet over the years there has been both an appreciable increase in the number of students studying the course as also in the success rate of the students. Moreover, the gender-ratio which was skewed against girls is presently more evenly balanced. In fact, of late, more girls than boys have been studying the subject. The department follows the academic curricula and syllabus as well as the examination pattern decided by the affiliating body, Vidyasagar University. There was a change from the erstwhile Part-I, Part-II structure of examination (2+1) to the Part-I, Part-II, Part-III structure (1+1+1) in the year 2005-06. And now from last year (2018-19) we have begun semester courses. Syllabus revision also has been taking place at regular intervals and now with the semester system in place, there has been a complete overhaul of the syllabus. The attempt from the point of view of the department has always been to build and develop learning resources for the students. The departmental library is fully functional with around 200 books. Steps have also been taken to make the learning process student centric by making it enjoyable to the students. This has meant an attempt to get away from the tried and tested lecture method that reduces students to passive objects and put in place interactive learning mechanisms that encourage students to be active participants in the teaching-learning process. Different teaching styles like readings, lectures when necessary, group discussions, seminars, etc. are, thus, made use of. This is augmented with the use of audio-visual teaching methods and digital resources. For example, the department often shows students filmed versions of texts they are doing in class. While it has been seen that students can lose interest in the maze of the plot of a novel or a drama, a filmed version captures their attention in a way that a printed text fails to do. 2 As part of the ongoing endeavour to academically engage the students, the department has also been organizing Students’ Seminars. Two such were Macbeth: A Re-reading and The Position of English in 21 st Century India. Moreover, the department publishes a wall magazine annually. The department has also arranged educational tours, for example in the year 2016 (4.10.2016) the departmental students and teachers visited the British Council Library, Kolkata. Part of an effort to broaden the horizon of the students bound by the restrictions of the University syllabus, it turned out to be an enriching experience for all concerned. The department has been involved in research and higher academic pursuits also. A Minor Research Project titled “Sexuality as a trope in the Indian English stage with reference to the dramas of Girish Karnad and Mahesh Dattani” with a sanctioned grant of Rs. 74,250/ has been completed by the Head of the Department, Prof. Santanu Basu. Moreover, the department has also hosted a UGC sponsored State Level Seminar “Postcolonial perspectives in Indian English literature” on 17.12.08. Faculty members from Vidyasagar University and Burdwan University took part in the seminar and presented papers along with the departmental teachers – all of which was later published as part of the proceedings of the seminar.

The following is the SWOC analysis of the department and its Future plans Strengths
1. Healthy relationship among the teachers and the students.
2. Satisfying success-rate considering our location, a scheduled region and the background of the students we get - many of whom are first-generation learners who have to help their family in agricultural and other menial activities.
Weaknesses
1. Inadequate number of full-time faculty.
2. Most of our students are financially weak who need to support their family and thus are unable to concentrate solely on studies.
3. As most of our students have a Bengali background and are groomed in Bengali medium schools they find it difficult in the initial stages to get accustomed both with the medium of instruction (English) and the syllabus at hand.
4. Absence of research culture and our inability to inculcate it among students.
5. Departmental library needs to be strengthened.
Opportunities
1. Use of ICT enabled teaching methods and stress on interaction to make teaching-learning an enjoyable experience.
Challenges
1. Limited job opportunities.
2. Inclination among students to get involved in local party-politics.
Future Plans
1. Developing a culture of using e-technology in teaching-learning and other academic activities both among teachers and students.
2. Strengthening the departmental library.
3. Putting in place a worthwhile placement mechanism.
4. Bringing out a printed departmental journal annually that will contain information about departmental activities and initiatives along with being a platform for the students’ incipient literary efforts.

Faculty

Dr. Santanu Basu
Designation : Head, Assistant Professor
Qualification : M.A. , Ph.D
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Prof. Isha Rani Das
Designation : Assistant Professor
Qualification : M.A., B.Ed.
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Dr. Amrita Banerjee
Designation : Assistant Professor
Qualification : M.A. ,M.Phil, Ph.D
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Prof. Debal Samanta
Designation : Part-time Permanent
Qualification : M.A.
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Miss Arundhati Patra
Designation : Guest Faculty
Qualification : M.A.
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