Jagannath Barooah College is a premier institution of higher education located in Jorhat, a city with a rich cultural heritage and a glorious historical background in the upper part of the Brahmaputra Valley of Assam. The development of modern education in colonial Assam has a close connection with the establishment of this institution at Jorhat in 1930. After 94 years of its glorious existence, it has become the hub for educational excellence, fostering its vision and mission in tune with the objectives of Higher Education of the nation. It has contributed substantially towards nation building process, promoting global competency, emphasizing continuous up gradation of teaching learning methods and techniques. It puts its best endeavor to materialize the dreams of its stakeholders through its innovative practices, programmes and policies.

The institution has already been reaccredited by NAAC in 2011 and awarded “A” grade on the basis of its performance in the field of higher education. J.B. College has also been conferred fresh autonomous status by the UGC with effect from 2016-17. Moreover, the star status has been awarded to the college by the Department of Bio-Technology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India. 

A Peep in to the Past

Behind the establishment of this premier seat of higher education lies the selfless and enthusiastic commitment of a tiny but highly learned group of scholars of this culturally rich city who, in fact, shaped the destiny of the academic milieu of the North East region in general and the entire Brahmaputra valley in particular. The valuable contributions made by this dedicated group had subsequently led to the formal initiation of an institution known as Upper Assam College in Jorhat in 19th August 1930. Less than a month later, i.e., on 4th September 1930, the first Governing Body (GB) Meeting of the Upper Assam College resolved to name the college as Jorhat College and this continued till 1938 when, in a resolution of another GB Meeting, it was again decided to rename the college as Jagannath Barooah College in the memory of Jagannath Barooah, the first Graduate of Upper Assam. Late Murulidhar Barooah, the grand-son of Jagannath Barooah donated the entire land and the Barpatra Kutir (existing office and teachers’ common room) to the college. The founder principal of this oldest institution of the region was Prof. Krishna Kanta Handique, world renowned Orientalist, distinguished scholar and academician. The other dedicated founder teachers were Prof. Tulshi Narayan Sarma (Founder Secretary), Jagneswar Sarma, Phanidhar Dutta, Prafulla Pran Changkakati and Gunagobinda Dutta. With a small batch of 14 students in 1930, the college was started first with Intermediate of Arts (IA) which received formal affiliation from Calcutta University in 1931. Thereafter, the events of the college moved rapidly. In 1939, the Intermediate of Commerce (I.Com.), in 1941 the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), in 1944 the Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.), in 1949-50 the Intermediate of Science (I.Sc.) and in 1952-53 the Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) streams were opened. From 1931 to 1948, the college was affiliated to the Calcutta University and from 1948 to 1965 to the Gauhati University. Since the establishment of Dibrugarh University (DU) in 1965, the college has been affiliated to it. The college now has a diversified field of teaching. Currently it has 19 departments, viz., Assamese, Bengali, Botany, Chemistry, Commerce, Computer Science, Economics, English and Functional English, Geography, Geology, Hindi, History, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics and Electronics, Political Science, Sanskrit, Statistics and Zoology. Except Bengali, Hindi and Computer Science, all other subjects have Major Courses at the Degree level.

The post-graduate (PG) courses in Geography and Philosophy were opened in 1995 and 1996 respectively. The new century began with the opening of the PG courses in other branches viz. Assamese, Economics, History, Mathematics, Political Science and Sociology under the Distance Education Scheme of Dibrugarh University. The other professional and self-financing courses are of recent origin.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The college has been marked by a number of specialized features concomitant to the present day need of the society. These are:

1. Enhancement and preservation of quality in teaching and learning.
2. Provision for teaching and learning from Higher Secondary to the Post Graduate levels for certain subjects.
3. Modern class rooms with audio-visual system for certain specific courses.
4. Regular monitoring of students’ progression through unit test/seminars/group discussions/ home assignment, etc.
5. Development and improvement of education at all levels through trained teachers.
6. Facilitating mechanism for students’ support like career councelling, financial aid, special awards, departmental societies/forums, etc.
7. Outdoor and indoor sports facilities with strong infrastructural base.
8. Time to time literary programmes like quiz/debating (both intra and inter college) and other cultural activities.
9. Awareness programme for Women Empowerment, Environmental Protection, ssocial development, etc.
10. Various extension activities through NCC, NSS, Human Rights Cell, Women Cell, Green Plus Society and also excursion/field trips.
11. Special talks on specific subjects by persons of high repute.
12. Yoga Course at regular intervals both for students, teachers and community at large.
13. Campus Interviews of reputed Companies are held from time to time.