Zamorin’s Guruvayoorappan College has a verdant campus spread over 100 acres on a hilltop near Kozhikode. The institute was initially an English School meant to provide English education to the young members of Zamorin family. It was set up by Manavikraman Maharaja Bahadoor in 1877. In 1955, it was renamed Zamorin Guruvayoorappan College after it received land from Guruvayoor Devaswom to construct a college building at Pokkunnu in 1952.
There are 11 departments in the college along with five sub departments. The main departments are English, Hindi, Malayalam, mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, sociology, economics and history. Sub-departments include courses on Yoga therapy and Sanskrit. At present, there are about 80 teaching faculty in the college. The college is affiliated to Calicut University and is being run by Zamorin’s family at Kozhikode.
The liberal atmosphere of the college fosters the literal, artistic and athletic talents of students. Sreejith PJ, a UG student of the college is a Ranji player. There are several RJs from the college who work at various radio stations in the city. The college is a regular winner at various weight lifting championships.
There are almost 500 kinds of botanical varieties in this 100 acre campus. Principal V Shoba says it was a collective effort by students, teachers and well-wishers. Shobheendran Master, who was a teacher in the economics department from 1975 to 2002, tried his best to make the campus green by planting more than 500 trees. “I felt it is essential to plant trees in the college, which was built after destroying a rich ecology. Some students were willing to work with me and we managed to reproduce a similar habitat,” says Shobheendran.
Artfully carved sculptures have been installed at various points on the campus. A 30 feet sculpture of a girl was built by a team comprising noted sculptors such as Ashokan Pothuval, VR Sanu and Jyothi Lal. The insides of the sculpture have been designed as an art gallery. Another sculpture, titled ‘Greeting Statue’ has been installed in front of the main building.
All this beauty cannot hide the its NAAC accreditation. Due to a lack of PhD-holding faculty members, the college was graded B++. However the institute claims to be working on rectifying this. A research block is coming up this year in the memory of recently demised Zamorin PKS Raja. “The parameters deciding NAAC grading is different from our standards. That doesn’t mean what we provide is second rate. A culture of liberal learning has always been here. Students demand it too. Teachers and students are very much like friends and through Campus Research Centre, an interactive domain to research, alter and rebuild the campus activities for continuous improvement, we share our views,” says Radhakrishanan Elayidathu, a Malayalam teacher. Former student Nithin Kumar echoes his sentiments. “I have learned in three colleges. I can confidently say that nowhere in Kerala can one can find such a politically and culturally vibrant campus. The vast campus also has many nooks and crannies for students to sit and discuss issues. We were growing up as complete human beings on that campus.”
Campus Research Centre conducts many programmes for the students. The college has produced stalwarts like VK Krishna Menon, A Sujanapal, and MP Veerendrakumar. “During our time, the college had a vibrant political atmosphere which was helpful to develop the students’ social consciousness,” says Shobheendran, the former teacher, who was also a student of the college.
— greeshma.an@newindianexpress.com