The Cotton College gate

Guwahati, March 17: The century-old Cotton College is set to revive its British legacy. The college will organise various events and set up archives to recall the contributions of the Britons to make Cotton College what it is today.

Principal Indra Kumar Bhattacharyya told The Telegraph that Sir Henry John Stedman Cotton, the then chief commissioner of the erstwhile British province of Assam, had played a pivotal role in setting up the college in 1901.

He said it was not enough that the institution was named after Sir Henry. “Henry Cotton revolutionised higher education by setting up Cotton College. Thus the college will organise various competitions, talk shows and other events in memory of Sir Henry to make the present generation of Cottonians aware about the Britons’ contributions towards higher education in Assam. I have raised the matter before the general body meeting of the Cotton College Alumni Association. The association is receiving thousa-nds of letters from former Cottonians from across the globe on how to revive the old memory of the college,” Bhattacharyya said.

The next meeting of the alumni association will be held on March 29, which will chalk out ways to revive the British legacy in the college in a befitting manner.

According to Bhattacharyya, an archive will be set up to showcase the contributions of Britons’, including that of Frederick William Sudmerson, an Englishman and first principal of the college.

The college has submitted plans about the proposed archive to the 13th Finance Commission for funds.

The college has also planned to protect the principal’s bungalow where Sudmerson used to stay as heritage building. The principal said the college would also keep in touch with the present family members of Sir Henry and Sudmerson where they are living and request them to visit the institution whenever they happen to visit India.

From a small undergraduate college, Cotton College has now become a full-fledged postgraduate institution, integrated with undergraduate education having enrolled 5,000 students and around 244 teachers. There are 21 undergraduate and 20 post-graduate departments in science, humanities and social science faculties in the college.

The college has produced some of the most outstanding talents, including music legend Bhupen Hazarika and the principal scientist in Indian’s moon mission, Chandrayaan-I, Jitendranath Goswami.

The institution was named a centre of excellence by former President late Shankar Dayal Sharma in 1992. Former Assam chief secretary H.N. Das said the initiative was good and the light of higher education was first brought to this region by the British. “The teachings of Cotton College had provided jobs to its graduates and the people of this region got the opportunity to work in the government of British administration,” Das said.