Delivered by the Principal, Dr. Mrs. V. Prakash on College Day, the 18th of November, 2017.
Respected Chief Guest Mr. Diwakar Tripathi and Mrs.Tripathi on behalf of the Isabella Thoburn College family, I extend a warm welcome to you and gratefully acknowledge your presence in our midst this evening. I am so grateful to you for taking time out to be with us this evening. I also thank our President Dr.(Mrs.) E.S.Charles and Mrs.Sen, Principal, Isabella Thoburn Intermediate College for being with us this evening. I am also grateful to all the parents, guardians, guests, alumnae and friends from the media, who have taken time out to share this evening’s programme with us. Your presence is an encouragement to us.
It is my privilege this evening to present before you my report of the events, activities and achievements of the year that was. You are our integral part of our college through your association with us and it is a joy to share our progress with you.
Isabella Thoburn College is a premier Institute of the country, established by Ms. Isabella Thoburn, an American Missionary of the Methodist Church, providing quality education to women for the last 131 years. What started as a small school in our one room tenement has now grown to sprawling campus that houses nearly 4000 students, 25 departments, 9 post graduate programmes and two professional degree courses.
The year 2017 began with a Retreat for the faculty. Later in the month we had the Baccalaureate Service and Awards Ceremony in which the meritorious students were awarded. It was a matter of pride or us that we had the highest medal tally in the Lucknow University out of all the colleges in Lucknow. We also felicitated are outgoing teachers – Dr.M.Harrison, Incharge, Dept. of Chemistry, Dr.S.N.Shaw, Incharge, Dept. of Zoololgy and Dr.R. Chakravoaty, Incharge, Dept. of English for their long and dedicated services to the college. The same evening, in another beautiful ceremony, the Golden Circle, the light of knowledge from a flaming torch was passed from the outgoing students to the present generations against the setting sun and the melodious strain of the college songs in the background.
Another proud moment for us was to host a National Seminar on the Feminist Quartet of Isabella Thoburn College. Writings of Rashid Jahan, Ismat Chughtai, Aatia Hossain and Quaratulain Haider organized by the dept. of English. All these literary trail blazers were alumnae of Isabella Thoburn College. The Chief Guest on the occasion was Waris Hossain son of Aatia Hossain, who came from London to celebrate his mother with us. Eminent literateurs and researchers presented insightful papers on these writers and students enacted vignettes from their writings.
The visit of Senator Deb Peters and State Representative Helene Keely from the USA on 16th May, culminated in an animated inter-active session with the students on various global issues and American politics. The students engaged in a lively discussion including women in politics, civility in politics and Federal government. The event was organized in collaboration with the American Corner.
The session 2017-18 began with a two-day Orientation Programme for the freshers where they were introduced to the history and heritage, faculty and facilities, activities and opportunities that the college offers in full measure to all the students for holistic growth and development. It was wonderful to see the eager and enthusiastic freshers signing up for various programmes. This was followed by the solemn and inspiring Portal Ceremony when the students pledged to uphold the 10 ideals of the college in and through their lives as each one accepted a copy of ‘One Heritage’ to hold and to keep, before the ribbon was cut to welcome them into the portals of Isabella Thoburn College.
On 25th July Geetanjali Singhal from USIEF met with the students of Masters in English to inform and educate them about the Fulbright Fellowship for students to study and teach in the American Universities. On 27th July, the American Embassy in collaboration with the NGO Swechcha and the Atelier Theatre Group performed ‘Prithvi’ a mesmerizing play on Environment followed by a panel discussion on climate change with panelists representing various stakeholders. It had the desired effect on the young minds and conveyed the message to save our planet.
The Student Government Association office bearers took their oath of office on 3rd August with Pooja Tiwari as the college President pledging their whole hearted devotion to the discharge of their duties. The Student Christian Movement office bearers with Niharika Spencer as President had their investiture ceremony on 11th August and undertook to lead and support all Christian activities on Campus.
Arbour Day was celebrated on 12th August with much enthusiasm when plants and saplings were planted in the Campus by the Faculty and students to keep up the greenery on campus and pledged a number of green initiatives to contribute to an eco-friendly campus.
Founder’s Day, on 1st September, is a day when we honour the memory of our Founder Ms.Isabella Thoburn. The day begins with the laying of a wreathe on her grave in the Nishatganj Cemetery and also on the graves of other members of the Chandbagh family. This was followed by a service in the Auditorium where the B.Ed. students made a presentation of the life and times of Ms.Thoburn and alumnae Ms.Sehba Hussain, Founder, Beti Foundation, Dr.Farzana Mehdi, Director, Academics, Era Medical College Ms.Prachi Gangwar, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Ministry of Environment and Forests and Dr.Meenakshi Singh, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Isabella Thoburn College and shared their reminiscences of college life with the students. The serving of the traditional imli panna concluded the programme which everyone enjoyed.
Teachers Day on 5th September was celebrated with much aplomb with the students performing a variety entertainment programmes for the faculty, organized games and presented gifts as a token of their appreciation.
Rangmanch, the inter-house cultural competition was held on 13th, 14th & 15th of September, with the students vying to represent their houses in various activities to clinch the first prize. It was a run-up to the Inter-collegiate Cultural Festival AURA in October which is becoming bigger and better with each year. With more than 30 colleges participating, it is a mega event with everyone putting their best foot forward to take home the Champion of Champions trophy. This year, sports competitions were also added to AURA, much to the thrill of the competitors. The Chief Guest on the occasion was Ms.Manika Lal, alumna, author and PRO, Indian Railways.
Most departments organized workshops, seminars, field trips, awareness programmes for the students. Students of M.Sc. Zoology went on field trip to Chennai and Pondicherry for exposure while the B.Ed. students went to Shimla and Amritsar. The Chemistry P.G. students went on an education tour to Punjab and Himachal Pradesh which the Geography students went to Shimla and Chadigarh. The physical Education students visited the Lakshmibai National University of Physical Education in Gwalior to see the best that sports in Indian offers.
The Dept. of English under the aegis of Parnassus, the Literary Society organized an interactive session on Women in Media. The Hindi Dept. observed the Hindi Diwas and organized various activities like Poetry writing, story writing and slogan writing. Students of the Geography Dept. participated in the National Remote Sensing Day on 11th August and also collaborated with RSAC, Lucknow and Indian Space Research Organization to collect data for the digitalization of gram panchayats. The Biotechnology dept. organized talks, workshops and cleanliness drives under the banner of the Biotechnology Society of Isabella Thoburn College. The departments of Mathematics and Physics organized very interesting quiz sessions for the students to exchange knowledge.
This year the dept. of Chemistry formed the Chemical Society of Isabella Thoburn College to give an opportunity to the students to participate in invited lecture series by the experts in various fields in Chemistry. They are also planning a Science Fest later this year. The Isabella Thoburn College Economic Forum organized talks on GST, Success Mantra, Financial Literacy by the Reserve Bank of India and a certificate course on Econometrics. The Commerce Dept. organized talks on various topics like marketing, Consumer Protection, Proprietorship and Inclusion of Women. The Dept. of Botany organized an exhibition on Diversity in Plant Kingdom which was attended with great interest by the students of other depts. as well. The Nutrition Department observed the National Nutrition week in September, planted a Nutri garden and organized a diet gallery and food service outlet. They also organized a health check-up camp and a breast cancer awareness programme and Nutri Fair collaboration with the State Food and Nutrition Board. The Faculty and students of Psychology dept. attended a Seminar on 10th October 2017 at the Noor Manzil Psychiatric Centre on the occasion of World Mental Health Day. The resource person was Dr.Nancy Kelley from the US department of Health and Human Service.
Volunteers of NSS and cadets of NCC observed the Swachch Bharat Fortnight from 1st to 15th September by engaging in a cleanliness drive in the college campus. NSS volunteers along with students of the Economics dept. participated in community work in Govt. Primary Schools in collaboration with the NGO-ICARE and were felicitated with awards and appreciation for exemplary work. They also participated in a rally ‘Save Rivers’. The NCC cadets participated in various camps and competitions and won laurels. Shraddha Thapa was selected for a youth exchange programme which 2 cadets were selected for the RDC Camp. The cadets won the 1st position in the National Integration Awareness programme. An aptitude fest CDQ was organized by IIT BHU in which Yashi Negi and Vasudha Sharma won the 1st and 2nd prizes.
The Service Learning Programmes offered many opportunities to students to engage in social action by visiting and educating children with special needs, slum dwellers, old peoples homes and also organizing a blood donation camp.
The Career Counselling Cell runs classes of spoken English, French and Spanish for the students and organized workshops on resume writing, career opportunities and career aptitude and planning. The Research and Networking Cell organized a mentoring session with Ms. Surya Rajan, from the University of Warwick for the post-graudate Science students to educate them about research in Science in British Universities.
The IQAC – Internal Quality Assurance Cell organized a programme to educate our karamcharies on the ills on tabocco addiction and the medical facilities available for treatment. They also organized a National Seminar on “Women on Board – Towards Exemplary Governance” in which researchers presented their findings and students got an opportunity to interact with women executives on board from Indian and abroad.
Many of our faculty presented and published papers in National and International Conferences and journals, authored and edited books, were invited as resource persons in various for a. The Economics dept. released the 3rd volume of their journal. Dr.Vinita Vijai, Incharge, dept. of Mathematics and also an alumnae was awarded seven gold medals by the University of Lucknow which were due to her as a student 31 years ago. Dr.Neetu Sharma, Incharge of Hindi was presented the UP Ratan Samman by the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Mr.Ram Naik. Dr. Hina Siddiqui, Dr.Anupama Srivastava, Dr.Neetu Sharma authored books. Faculty also attended Refresher Programmes to update their knowledge content. Mrs.Neelam Kumari was awarded a major project from dept. of Science and Technology for research in Diabetes.
The Friday assemblies brought experts in different fields to address the faculty and students while the Spiritual Value Education classes on Thursday gave an opportunity to students to dwell on moral and ethical values as an integral part of education. Chapel services everyday lead the students to meditate on God’s word and pray for divine guidance in everyday life.
This year also our students have done very well in the University Examinations at the undergraduate, post-graduate and professional degree examinations. Two students from the Geography Dept. and four students from the Nutrition dept. qualified the NET examination while Radhika Melhotra topped the University Examination in Women’s Studies. Prakarti Shukla of the Physics dept. was the State topper in National graduate Physics Examinations 2017. The results of the University examinations are as follows:-
UNDERGRADUATE RESULTS 2016-17
| Class | No. of students appeared | No. of students passed | No. of Students with Back Paper | No. of students failed/dropout | Not Declared |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B.A. Part I | 578 | 494 | 44 | 45 | – |
| B.A. Part II | 513 | 468 | 32 | 13 | – |
| B.A. Part III | 501 | 1st Div. 133 | 17 | 02 | – |
| IInd Div.243 | |||||
| IIIrd Div.106 | |||||
| B.Sc. Part I | 425 | 294 | 55 | 76 | – |
| B.Sc. Part II | 343 | 294 | 34 | 15 | – |
| B.Sc. Part III | 327 | 1st Div.144 | 26 | 08 | – |
| IInd Div.139 | |||||
| IIIrd Div.10 | |||||
| B.Com. Part I | 317 | 279 | 24 | 14 | – |
| B.Com. Part II | 234 | 222 | 11 | 01 | – |
| B.Com. Part III | 226 | 1st Div.58 | 08 | 01 | – |
| IInd Div.146 | |||||
| IIIrd Div.13 | |||||
| B.L.I.Sc. | 13 | 1st Div.07 | 01 | – | – |
| IInd Div.05 | |||||
| B.Ed. IVth Sem. | 56 | 56 | 00 | 02 | – |
| 1st Div.55 -Theory | |||||
| IInd Div.1 -Theory | |||||
| Ist Div.56 -Practice-in-teaching | |||||
POST-GRADUATE RESULTS 2016-17
4th Semester
| Class | Enrolment | Appeared | I | II | III | EBP | Incomp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biotechnology | 13 | 13 | 04 | 06 | – | – | 03 |
| Economics | 28 | 28 | 15 | 11 | – | 02 | – |
| Chemistry | 21 | 20 | 17 | 03 | – | – | – |
| English | 45 | 44 | 21 | 20 | 01 | 01 | 01 |
| Geography | 24 | 24 | 21 | 03 | – | – | – |
| Nutrition | 35 | 33 | – | – | – | – | |
| Sociology | 41 | 40 | 12 | 19 | 08 | 01 | 01 |
| Women’s Studies | 10 | 09 | 04 | 03 | – | – | 02 |
| Zoology | 40 | 39 | 18 | 10 | 0 | – | 11 |
RESULTS SEMESTER-II
| Class | Enrolment | Appeared | Passed | Incomplete | Fail |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biotechnology | 20 | 19 | 17 | – | 02 |
| Chemistry | 26 | 26 | 26 | – | – |
| Economics | 34 | 34 | 25 | 03 | 06 |
| English | 53 | 52 | 50 | 01 | 02 |
| Geography | 13 | 13 | 13 | – | – |
| Nutrition | 36 | 36 | 21 | 08 | 07 |
| Sociology | 32 | 32 | 32 | – | – |
| Women’s Studies | 01 | 01 | 01 | – | – |
| Zoology | 44 | 42 | 39 | – | 03 |
Like every year, this year also we have figured in the top 40 colleges of the country in the India Today National Ranking and the top college in the city in Arts and Science. Every year we go through ISO inspection and this year we are preparing for the 3rd Cycle of the NAAC- National Accreditation and Assessment Council. We have already been graded ‘A’ twice.
Every year we celebrate College Day marking it with as play in Hindi and English in alternate years. This years play Madhvi, is a culmination of long hours of practice, team work, bonding, stress and fun, challenges and innovations. I hope you will enjoy the play tonight. And to make the experience better, I request you to please put your phones on silent mode and refrain from using them during the course of the play. As the year comes to an end we look forward to the Christmas Activities including the presentation of the Christmas Pageant, the White Gift Service, Karamchari Christmas and the much awaited Christmas Candlelight Service. I take this opportunity to invite all of you to the Christmas Candlelight Service on 9th December at 6 p.m. in the College Quadrangle.
Let me conclude my report by putting on record my grateful thanks to the faculty for their sincere hard work to maintain the high standards of this institution and their desire and will to take the college to greater heights. I am grateful to the office staff and the support staff, all of whom work hard to upkeep the accounts and the infra-structure. My grateful appreciation of our Board of Governors and the Committee of Management under the able leadership of our Chairman Bishop Philip S. Masih for always upholding the college with their support and encouragement. My heartfelt thanks to our President Dr.(Mrs.)E.S.Charles for being available at all times to guide, support, encourage and provide valuable insights for the growth and development of this Institution.
God is our foundation in whose mighty name we serve. It is God’s Word that directs our steps and His grace and Mercy extends to us we live under His benevolence.
We give all glory & honour to Him.
Respectfully submitted
Dr.(Mrs.)Vinita Prakash
Principal
Isabella Thoburn College
Lucknow.