In collaboration with the St. Xavier’s College (Calcutta) Alumni Association (SXCCAA) and the St. Xavier’s College Students’ Council, St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata, honored the devotion, commitment, and priceless contribution of teachers to education and the holistic development of students with a special program on Teachers’ Day at the college’s Fr. Depelchin Auditorium.

The programme was graced by Shri Jagannath Chattopadhyay, Hon’ble Minister in Charge, Department of Higher Education and Department of Technical Education, Training & Skill Development, Government of West Bengal, and Chairman, West Bengal State Council of Higher Education, as the Chief Guest and Speaker.

The Hon’ble Minister gave a motivational and uplifting speech to the audience and students.

“The NEP 2020 was introduced as a transformative vision for India’s education system to address deep-rooted challenges while laying the groundwork for a globally competitive, inclusive, and future-ready framework. The policy, which is regarded as revolutionary and aspirational, set an ambitious goal of being fully implemented by 2030 to 2040 and provided ten years for preparation before implementing all of its recommendations,” said Mr. Chattopadhyay.

He said, “The NEP envisions an education system rooted in Indian ethos and directly contributes to transforming India, that is Bharat, into an equitable and vibrant knowledge society sustainably by providing high-quality education to everyone and thereby making India a global knowledge superpower”.

“These reforms mark a steady step toward achieving NEP’s vision of implementing a holistic, inclusive, and technology-integrated education system,” he continued. The Indian government is unwavering in its resolve to carry out the NEP as a revolutionary educational reform. Regretfully, our state was unable to make any progress in this area. Because the former state government did not fully implement the National Education Policy 2020, West Bengal suffered a significant loss in central education funding,” continued Mr. Chattopadhyay.

The programme was presided over by Rev. Dr. Dominic Savio, SJ, Principal, St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata and President, SXCCAA.

The celebration opened with Vande Mataram, followed by an invocation song and dance presented by XADAM (Xaverian Academy of Dance and Music).

A special highlight of the programme was the presentation of the “Xavier’s Award for Excellence in Imparting Education” by the College and SXCCAA to Ten Senior Teachers of the College, namely Dr. Rina Ghosh, Dr. Swati Sarkar, Dr. Tapati Dutta, Dr. Sarbari Guha, Dr. Tridib Sengupta, Dr. Subhankar Ghosh, Dr. Diptiman Saha, Dr. Amitava Roy, Dr. Sumona Ghosh and Dr. Soheli Ghose.

In recognition of his devoted service and contribution to the institution, Prof. Bipra Kumar Das was also felicitated on his retirement.

The celebration reaffirmed the long-lasting relationship between the college and its teaching community by bringing together representatives from the student body, faculty, alumni, and college administration. The Hon’ble Minister of Higher Education’s attendance gave the event more significance, especially since it offered a chance to acknowledge the critical role that educators play in developing students’ character, values, and responsible citizenship in addition to their academic prowess.

Priyanka Dutta