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It comes to the honour of very few institutions to
celebrate golden, platinum or diamond jubilee of their
existence, but celebrating post centenary golden jubilee
is a rarity. Nawab Jassa Singh Ahluwalia Government
College, erstwhile known as RANDHIR COLLEGE,
Kapurthala is one such institution, and rather only
one in the whole of Punjab which has entered the 150th
year of its establishment.
It was established as a Sanskrit Vidyalya and named
Randhir School in the year 1856 by the visionary
ruler of Kapurthala, His Highness Raja Randhir Singh. It
happens to be the same year in which three universities
in Calcutta, Madras and Bombay were established under
the new education policy based on the Woods Dispatches
of 1854. The students used to sit under a Peepal tree,
under which Havan Kund was erected, and get education in
the traditional Guru-Shishya Parampara. This 200 year
old Peepal tree still adorns the college premises. In
1864 teaching up to the entrance standard was introduced
and the European Mr.Hudesn was appointed as principal in
1871.
Four languages, Urdu, Persian, Sanskrit and English were
taught by this time. Apart from Sanskrit education of
Priyjna, Visharad and Shashtri, it taught up to
matriculation standard and was affiliated to Calcutta
University in 1877. Till the year of 1882, when Punjab
University Lahore was set up, it remained affiliated to
the Calcutta University. Being the only institution of
higher learning in the region, the students from other
princely states and neighbouring British ruled districts
of Jullundur and Hoshiarpur were also studying here,
whose number had swelled to 280 by 1978-79. Most of
these students were staying in the boarding. The
institution made rapid strides in the field of education
under the able guidance of three European Principals,
Mr.Hudsen, Mr.A.R.Wood and Mr.A.W.Healy till the year of
1890 as Maharaja was a minor and the control of the
state was in the hands of English Administrators.
On assuming active control in 1890, H.H. Maharaja
Jagatjit Singh started taking keen interest in the
education system of the state and raised it to
intermediate college in 1896. The subjects of natural
sciences were also added to the curriculum of the
college during this period. Maharaja having a great love
for French, introduced the language in college in 1916
and this became the only institution teaching French in
the region. To accomodate the rising number of students,
a new U-shaped building was constructed around old
Peepal tree, consisting of modern day classrooms and
verandas in the year 1912, commemorating the visit of
H.H. the king emperor of India and was inaugurated on
April 7, 1913 by Sir Louis Dane, the then Lieutenant
Governor of Punjab. This building is known as U-block
and the classes are held in this even today, with the
old Peepal tree still being intact and witness to the
old as well as the modern methods of teaching in one.
In the year of 1916, the college Jubilee Hall was
constructed in commemoration of the Silver Jubilee
Celebrations of Installation of Maharaja Jagatjit Singh
to the throne. It is a magnificent building with the
touches of French architecture. It was constructed with
multipurpose use as examination hall, conference hall
and reading corridors of the library. In 1930 the
college library was also housed in this mammoth building
and remained there for a long time.
According to the Punjab University Lahore's Calendar of
1918-19, total 27 institutions of higher learning were
affiliated to it by the time. Apart from 24 intermediate
and degree colleges, two were medical and one
agriculture institution. Randhir College stands oldest
in the region established as an institution. The two
other prominent institutions of the area, Mohindera
College, Patiala and Khalsa College Amritsar were
established as schools in the year of 1870 and 1893
respectively and promoted to intermediate and degree
colleges in the later years. Only exception was Edwards
College Peshawar which was established as school in
1855. Even the most famous of the times Government
College Lahore and Foreman Christian College Lahore were
established as schools in 164 and 1866 respectively.
The college was re-organized on the lines suggested by
Lord Curzon's commission in 1905 and Mr.Manohar Lal was
appointed the Principal cum DPI of all the educational
institutions of the state. Principal Manohar Lal was
succeeded by Mr.H.Y.Langhorne, M.A.Cantab in 1910. It
was during his tenure that the number of students
increased drastically in the schools and college of the
state. The high priority and the status attached to the
education by state rulers is evident from the fact that
the salary paid to the principal and teachers was much
higher than the other functionaries of the state.
Principal Langhorne was getting a monthly salary of
Rs.400 per month plus Rs.100 as special allowance, where
as the professors were paid a monthly salary of Rs.275
per month. In comparison, the salaries drawn by the
Sessions Judge, Magistrate, A.G., S.P. and CMO were
Rs.425, Rs.325, Rs.275 and Rs.250 respectively. Only
Chief Judge was getting a salary of Rs.550 per month,
higher than the principal. In these days the normal
salary of the clerks and other lower rung functionaries
used to be in the range of Rs.15 to Rs.30 per month.
Lala Mathura Dass, who succeeded as principal of the
college in the year of 1914, on October 29, 1914 to be
more precise, was appointed in the grade of 150-15-325.
he was a remarkable scholar and a school after his name
was established in the city and is still functional as
MDSD Senior Secondary School. The other prominent
teaches of the time included Lala Tej Ram, of Maths,
S.Arbel Singh, (later principal o the college),
Sh.Jagmohan Lal of English and History, Mr.Mohamad Ali
of Persian and Arabic and Pandit Shri Ram of Sanskrit.
Since a large number of students were from other states
and far flung areas, a majority of them were staying in
the boarding. A serai, named Victoria Serai ws erected
for their accommodation and later on a massive boys
hostel, exclusively for the college students was
constructed in the year 1920. The education was free for
Oriental students and even lodging and boarding expenses
of them were borne by 'Dharam-Arth' department of the
state. Till the construction of hostel, these students
used to be accomodated in the Panj Mandri, an old mandir
in the city. The poor, but otherwise meritorious
students were given stipend of Rs.4 to Rs.10 per month
by Kumar Amarjit Singh, B.A. (Captain), son of Maharaja
Jagatjit Singh.
How popular this institution became in the region is
evident from the rise in number of students, which was
110 in 1912, 37 being in Oriental section and 73 being
in college. It rose to 175 in 1915 and 272 in 1925. The
strength remained steady in the coming years, with about
200 students being in the college and around 40 to 45 in
the oriental section. Four more languages, Urdu, French,
Hindi and Gurmukhi were added in 1916-17 apart from
English, Arabian, Persian and Sanskrit taught earlier,
taking the total to eight. Majority of the students were
offering English, Persian and Urdu. Those taking Arabic,
French and Gurmukhi were comparatively lesser. Usually
half of the students were Muslims as about 60 percent of
the population of the state consisted of Muslim
population prior to the partition of the country. In
1935 the evening classes were also started in
photography, shorthand and type writing and many working
students availed this facility to rise up in the career.
The co-education classes were started in 1943 with only
12 girls joining the college at that time. However,
their number grew to 21 in 1945-46, which was too meager
in the total strength of 233 students. How orthodox the
society was, is apparent from the fact that there used
to be a veil in the center of the classroom, which
separated the girl students from the boys. But Maharaja
Jagatjit Singh was committed to women education and
opened exclusive schools for girls in the other towns of
the state.
Taking further strides, degree classes in Arts and
Science were started in 1946 and the college became a
post-graduate institution in 1976 by introducing M.A.
English. At present the college has post-graduation in
three subjects, viz. English, Economics and Commerce.
Three new courses, PGDCA, B.Sc. Computer Science and
B.Sc. Economics have been introduced in 2006 on
self-finance basis and a computer lab with 20 terminals
has been provided for.
The college also excelled in the field of sports and
teams in Football, Hocky, Cricket and Tennis
participated in various university tournaments. A
valuable trophy in Cricket and Football was started in
1909 to encourage the sports. As a result of these
efforts, the college Football team got very strong and
became champion by winning Intermediate College
University Tournament for the first time in 1929.
Boxing, Baseball and Basketball were introduced in 1931
and many good players were produced. It became a nursery
of Basketball in the later years and produced a number
of international players, like Arjuna Awardee Sajjan
Singh Cheema, Arjuna Awardee Parminder Singh Bhandal and
many more, who represented India in Asia and other
international matches. Kabaddi was another game in which
the collegd has the distinction of producing the likes
of Sarwan Singh Bal, international player and Kabaddi
coach.
Annual Education Durbar
An annual Education Durbar used to be held every year in
the month of February or March in the college campus
with H.H. Maharaja Jagatjit Singh presiding over it.
Annual report of the college used to be read by the
principal of the college-cum-DPI of the state. The
results and performance of the other educational
institutions in the state was also presented on the
occasion. A Gold Medal, worth Rs.100 was awarded by
Maharaja to that student who stood first in F.A. exam in
the college and Silver Medal was given to the topper in
Oriental Section. All the higher authorities of
education department used to be present and prizes were
given to the students who excelled in the field o
education or sports. At the close of the function, H.H.
Maharaja Sahib used to address the students and make
major announcements concerning the education.
Eminent Alumnus:
Randhir College with a rich alumnus has the honour of
producing some of the finest students in its long
history of 150 years. They include Late S.Swarn Singh,
Ex-foreign Minister of India, Ghulam Mohammed,
Ex-Governor of Pakistan, S.Balwant Singh, Ex-finance
Minister of Punjab, S.Gulzar Singh and S.Jagtar Singh
Multani both Ex-Ministers of Punjab, S.Kirpal Singh
Dhillon, an Ex-MLA, Dr.Upinderjit Kaur MLA &
Ex-Ministers, S.Raghbir Singh, Ex-Minister, Mr.Jaspal
Singh, Ex-IP Officer and later minister in Govt. of
Gujrat. A large number of Civil Servants and other
higher officials, including Mr.A.N.Kashyap, Ex-Chief
Secretary of Punjab, Mr.D.S.Jaspal, Principal Secretary,
Information and Public Relations, Ms.Bhavna Garg, IAS,
Dr.Inderjeet Kaur Barthakur, Ex-Consultant to Ministry
of Finance, Govt. of India, Mr.G.S.Aujla, IPS DGP
Punjab, Mr.D.L.Kashyap, IPS, Mr.Jaspal Singh IPS,
Mr.R.P.Mittal, IPS and many others remained on the rolls
of this prestigious institution. Players of the
international fame in the Basketball, Arjuna Awardee
Sajjan Singh Cheema, Parminder Singh Bhandal, Mubark Ai
of Pakistan, and many others were the products of this
college. In the intellectual and literary field, it has
to its credit Sohan Singh Meesha and Surjit Pattar, the
two great poets, apart from Rajwinder Singh, the German
poet laureate. In cinema and theatre, the film actor
Promod Moutho and Harvinder Kaur Babli of National
School of Drama and and many other screen performers are
proud products of the college. In the field of
education, this institution produced a large number of
teachers, lecturers and principals.
But alas, this institution with a glorious past, today
is in neglect. Many others that came in years later are
far ahead of it because of the infrastructural
deficiencies. The college hostel, which once
accommodated more than 70 students from far-flung areas
was demolished and acquired by PUDA in 2000 with the
promise of building a new one, but it still remains a
promise. The college needs urgently a modern academic
block, which too has not transcended from te laying of
foundation stone in 2004. With tears in its eyes, this
alma-mater begs from its alumnus, who are high-ups and
occupying respectable positions in various fields, to
return it her previous shine and glory in form of new
building, equipment, sports complex and plenty of funds
so that it may produce many others like them.
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