হাজী আনফৰ আলী কলেজ
HAJI ANFAR ALI COLLEGE
The Department of English at Haji Anfar Ali College came into being with the establishment of the college in 1986. The emergence of Haji Anfar Ali College is a landmark in the history of education in this obscure and remote corner of India. Its establishment, close to the heart of Doboka town, in the District of Hojai, Assam, way back in 1986, was indeed a long-cherished dream come true. The college came up not just as a wish fulfilment for the elite class of the locality, but responding robustly to the pressing need of the peasantry steeped in poverty and illiteracy. The Department of English has three faculty members. All of them are Associate Professors, holding doctoral degrees. They are Dr. Nazrul Haque Barbhuiya, M.A., Ph.D. (Head), Dr. Hasinus Sultan, M.A., Ph.D., and Dr. Sahab Uddin, M.A., Ph.D. They are actively involved in publications and research activities. Two of them have also successfully completed UGC Minor Research Projects. All of them have participated in national and international seminars, both as participants and as resource persons. Teaching English in an institution where the bulk of the students are from very poor and rural backgrounds is indeed an exciting challenge. For one thing, almost all of them come from rural Assamese Medium schools, which have little to do with English. Moreover, they are hardly exposed to real-life situations requiring English as a vehicle for day-to-day communication. All this makes many of them think that English is a difficult language to learn and is only used by the elite. However, the teachers in the Department are happy to rise to the challenge, as they continue to be motivated by the students\' commendable achievements. Teaching English at Haji Anfar Ali College is thus more of a mission than a profession. The Department of English follows the Syllabi centrally prescribed by Gauhati University, to which it is affiliated. However, the syllabi for self-financing courses and the UGC-sponsored courses, granted to the Department, are framed by the teachers. One such course is the six-month Certificate Course in Communicative English introduced in February 2014. The syllabus is designed meticulously to give the students a solid grounding in communicative English through an integrated approach towards developing the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing so that they are best equipped with an all-round personality for today’s competitive professional world. A monthly logbook recording a comprehensive account of the classes held is maintained throughout the academic session. Each page of a logbook is checked and signed both by the Principal and the Head of the Department. It helps in monitoring the regular progress made in covering the syllabus and in taking stock of the classes allotted to an individual faculty member. Beginning with the current academic session (2022-2023), the logbook is maintained online, along with the class attendance of the students, through the college website. Special care is taken to ensure that students with average and below-average merit are making advancements in their courses. To achieve this, special remedial classes are arranged, and students are encouraged to share their problems with learning so that effective measures may be taken to solve them. A question bank is available in the Department. Discussions on previous exam questions are held on a regular basis to help the students better prepare for the examinations. The Department of English believes that edifying progress in the career of the students is possible only through a cordial relationship with them. Teachers do their best to build a friendly rapport with students.
