Raja Peary Mohan College is an eminent heritage college in West Bengal, whose institutional credo is shaped around the vision of its founding father, Raja Joykrishna Mukherjee, an eminent philanthropist, promoter of education and social reformer in nineteenth-century Bengal. When the college was founded on 20^th June 1887, Joykrishna envisaged an egalitarian space for education in Hooghly district (West Bengal) that would provide an ecosystem for the spread of female education and, at the same time, benefit economically and socially underprivileged students, coming from the hinterland. He wanted to bring about a real change in the qualitative lives of young people in the district. So, his all-encompassing vision for the college was to achieve excellence in higher education and simultaneously empower all the relevant stakeholders with deep knowledge and bring inclusive socio-economic change through sustainable development and innovation. Joykrishna’s son, Raja Peary Mohan Mukherjee followed his father’s footsteps and turned his vision into reality.

Heritage College with a vision

In keeping with its status as a heritage college, Raja Peary Mohan College tries to spread awareness about the incredible history of its neighbouring areas. The college authorities have produced a definitive volume about the history of the college titled ‘Smarok Sombhar’ celebrating the completion of 130 years of the college. The volume edited by the Principal Dr. Sudip Kumar Chakrabarty contains essays, reminiscences, and vignettes of many famous alumni regarding their attachment to the college. There are essays on various aspects of local history by stalwarts like Professor Sekhar Bandyopadhyay, and thespian Chapal Bhaduri among others. It is a unique book and contains many rare photographs of events that have marked the journey of the college over 130 years. 

There is also a dedicated Heritage Cell that tries to integrate bookish knowledge of heritage with actual fieldwork to make the subject more interesting and accessible to the students. With this aim in mind, it has signed a MOU with the INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage), Hooghly chapter. It kickstarted the collaboration with the organization of Heritage Quiz 2022 and 2023 where schools from the different parts of the Hooghly District participated. In addition to this, the students of the college also participated in the Heritage Volunteer Training Programme for College Students in 2022.

Times have changed and 135 years later, the institution has adapted itself to be in sync with the technological advances of the day. However, it remains committed to the core vision of our forefathers as it provides holistic education to about three thousand students every year, out of which female students constitute approximately 47% of its total strength, approximately 42% of the total students belong to SC/ST, OBC A, and OBC B categories while approximately 35% are below the poverty line. This diversified student pool coming from adjacent semi-urban and rural areas of the district inspires the college authorities to generate human resources equipped with contemporary skills, eventually leading to nation-building.

However, the college provides impetus to two thrust areas to be in sync with the dream of our founding fathers.

Thrust Area 1: Female students and their needs

Raja Peary Mohan College is a co-educational college with the idea of gender-neutrality at its core, yet in keeping with the vision of its founding fathers it gives priority to the needs of the female students. The Gender Audit not only keep track of the percentages of female students but also that of the teaching and non-teaching staff.  

A very active Women Cell (called ‘Mitali’), a key symbol of the gender consciousness of the college has organised

• awareness programmes and campaigns for personal hygiene for girls and women.
• Self-defence workshops and programmes for girls
• Career-counselling sessions for girls and certificate courses on beauty care, handicraft and jewellery designing
• workshops on gender sensitisation and seminars to make students aware of trafficking, sexual crime and cybercrime.

Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), a statutory body is present to register incidents of sexual harassment and to undertake formal proceedings to resolve them.

Special measures are also taken like two sanitary napkin vending machines have been installed in the Girls’ Common Room and Wash Room for emergency needs. Moreover, special gym time is allotted to the girls under the watchful eyes of a female trainer to ensure that they can remain fit.

Thrust Area 2: Green Innovations 

Another area where the college is distinctive is related to innovative green initiatives which is part of the idea of sustainable development envisaged by our founding fathers.

• The college has an active Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy Eco-club established in 2005 with the vision of conservation, protection, and management of the environment.
• The college has a Digital Phytoinformatics Centre that leverages the concept of global biodiversity informatics, effectively aided by electronic databases of dried and preserved specimens i.e., the digital or virtual Herbarium. As a first-hand reference centre for matters relevant to plant resources of the region, the RPMC-DPIC is endeavouring to collect, conserve and analyse specialized and unique taxa.
• The college has obtained an Environmental Management Certification of ISO14001:2015 (Certificate Number: 305023062210E) in compliance with the  Advisory issued by NAAC.
• The college has obtained an Energy Management Certification of ISO 50001:2018  (Certificate Number: 305023062211EN) in compliance with the advisory issued by NAAC.
• The college has constructed a rainwater harvesting unit.
• It has undertaken Solar Power Project Implementation in collaboration with WBREDA (West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency, Govt. of West Bengal).
• The college has initiated vermi-composting on a medial scale through ‘Utkarsh’, the fertilizer production unit. The fertilizers are now packed and ready for sale. 
• ‘Spandan’, the mushroom cultivation unit provides basic training to interested candidates on mushroom cultivation. 
• Project Green-lite which was initiated in the year 2021 takes a new leap with ‘Chiroharit’ in 2022 where APC Roy Eco-Club members are continuously thriving to propagate more and more plant saplings so that they can be distributed to students as a token of green initiatives. 

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