Jagannath University, a traditional educational institution of
Bangladesh is situated in the southern part of the Dhaka city near the
river Buriganga. The history of this educational institution is
different from other public universities of Bangladesh. It has a history
of about 150 years. It is interesting that at the time of establishment
it was a primary school. At first Dhaka Brahma School was founded in
1858 by Dinanath Sen, Prabhaticharan Roy, Anathbandhu Mallik and
Brajasundar Kaitra. The name Jagannath school was given by Kishorilal
Chowdhury, the Zamindar of Baliati in Tangail, who took over the school
in 1872 and renamed it after his father's name. In 1884, it was raised
to a second grade college. It is important to notice that, Law was one
of the first courses introduced in this college. A common management
committee administered the school and college until 1887, when the
school section was separated to form an independent school named Kishore
Jubilee School. It is now known as K L Jubilee School. The
administration of the college was transferred to a board of trustees in
1907. In the following year, it became a first grade college.
The college started with only 48 students and in five years, the roll
raised to 396. In 1910, Raja Manmath Roy Chowdhury, the zamindar of
Santosh, tangail affiliated the Pramath-Manmath College of Tangail with
Jagannath College.It was known as the best equipped private college in
Dhaka as early as 1910. With the establishment of Dhaka University in
1921 the college had to stop admission in Degree courses and was renamed
Jagannath Intermediate College. And all the students of Jagannath
college were transferred to Dhaka University. This status was changed
after 28 years in 1949, when it reopened Degree classes. The college was
taken over by the government in 1968.
Jagannath College opened honors and masters programmes in 1975. That
year the government once again took over the college and upgraded it
into a postgraduate college. In 1982, the college closed its programmes
of intermediate level. The college introduced evening shifts in 1992. At
that time Jagannath College was an open postgraduate college for the
poor students of Bangladesh. The study cost in this educational
institution was in the hand of all kinds of students.
The college was transformed into the Jagannath University in 2005 by
passing a bill named 'Jagannath University Act-2005" in the national
parliament. At present, the University has 28 departments under 4
faculties. The faculties are Science, Arts, Business Studies and Social
Science. Now 359 teachers are engaged in providing quality education of
around 25000 students on diverse areas.
The teachers and students of the college took active part in the
Language Movement of the early 1950s, the mass movements of the 1960s
and the War of Liberation of the country in 1971. The college produced
tens of thousands graduates. Many of them have become famous at home and
abroad. Noted among the alumni of the college are Sufi Motahar
Hosen(poet), Abdul Hamid(sports organizer and sports journalist),
Bhabatosh Dutta(economist), Premendra Mitra(writer and poet), AR
Usuf(Bar-At-Law, state minister of Bangladesh in early 1980s), A KMA
Rouf(artist), Anisuzzaman(educationist, researcher), Brojen Das(swimmer,
the first Indian to across English channel) and so one. The leadership
of University is striving to make this institution as a center of
excellence for creating productive and responsible citizens of
Bangladesh.
Jagannath University, a first grade educational institution of
Bangladesh is going with outstanding contribution with around 28000
students. The university has 28 departments under 4 faculties.
The students are proud of a long history of their University. The
University provides a high level education for the nation as well as the
world. The students are active in various cultural activities.
Professor Dr. Mesbahuddin Ahmed is the current Vice Chancellor of the
university whilst Prof. Dr. Sawkat Jahangir and Engr. Md. Ohiduzzaman
are performing as Treasurer and Registrar of the university
respectively.
