Vision
- Provide quality to the youth who seek it irrespective of caste, creed, religion, wealth etc.
- To mould the youth from all sections of society into responsible citizens to the nation’s progress.
- Imparting knowledge for a brighter and broader tomorrow.
- Enlighten and empower students to succeed in changing world.
- Inculcate wisdom, compassion and humanitarian spirit.
Mission
- To lay a foundation to inspire students to learn and develop as whole persons physically, mentally and intellectually.
- Teaching, learning, scholarships, research innovation and leadership development for promoting student success.
- To prepare and inspire students for a changing world.
- To encourage students to achieve excellence in their chosen field.
- Ensure the deprived find their feet in the main stream by providing equal opportunity to all.
The History
The institution was started in the year 1866 as a Rate School as it depended for its finance upon an educational rate which was at that time levied by the Local Government. In 1871 the local Fund Act came into force and educational rates were abolished, the school was taken over by the Local Fund Board.
In 1877, the school became a Government High School and in 1884, it was handed over by Government to the management of the Municipal Council, Government paying the net charges of the college. In January1888 the high school was raised to the rank of a Second Grade College and was affiliated to the University of Madras. The Municipal Council resolved to work the institution on the salary grant system from 1st April 1894.
A new block of building was erected in 1901. In 1913, a hostel with a beautiful quadrangle and furnished accommodation for 100 students was opened and in the next year further addition to the college buildings was completed. The college was taken over by the Government of Madras on Ist April 1919 and raised to the First Grade from Ist July 1925 with provision for teaching History and Philosophy. In1939, the college was affiliated for teaching B.Sc in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. In July 1950 B.Sc Courses in Botany and Zoology was introduced. A new Science block was completed in February, 1951.
With the introduction of the three year Degree course the intermediate course was abolished and the Pre-University course was started in 1956. As a result of the formation of Linguistic Provinces, the college was affiliated to the University of Kerala in 1957. Post-graduate course in English Literature and Statistics and pre-professional course in Engineering and Non-Engineering were started in the same year. Postgraduate course in Zoology was started in 1958 and Physics in 1960. Pre-Professional courses abolished in 1966 and in 1967 students were admitted to the first batch of Pre-Degree class with commerce subjects. The M.A course in Economics and M.Sc in Botany were started 1970, M. Sc Chemistry and B.A Tamil in 1978 and M.A History in 1979. Vocationalisation of Degree Courses was introduced under UGC assistance in B.Sc Zoology and B.Com in 1996.
The College celebrated its centenary on a grant scale in February 1968 based on the starting of rate school, again it celebrated Centenary in the year 1989 based on the starting of the college. After the implementation of UGC Act in 1990 the Last Batch of Pre-Degree was delinked in 2000. The college is currently affiliated to the University of Calicut with 11 Post-Graduate Courses and 15 Under Graduate Courses under 18 departments in Arts & Science subjects and recognized as a Centre of Excellence by the Government of Kerala.
Institutional Distinctiveness
Biological and Cultural Diversity of Palakkad
Palakkad is one of the districts in Kerala where the hot spot of biodiversity the Western Ghats, fetches a gap of about 32 km on the border of the district, which affects the climate and water regimes along with cultural diversity in the district. Apart from biodiversity studies of Silent Valley National Park and Parambikkulam Wild life Sanctuary, no other serious studies on the bioresources of the district, biodiversity degradation, its management, etc. have been undertaken by any other institution. Hence the institution focuses on the biodiversity heritage along with the cultural and archaeological heritage of the district with the research focus of departments of Botany, Zoology, History, Economics, English, Malayalam and Tamil. This study is unique to its vision and it typically provide opportunities for cross – disciplinary learning and research, involving multiple departments. They provide the faculty with the opportunity to integrate experiential learning and provide students with hands on, project – based training in addition to traditional classroom teaching.
The floristic diversity documentation of the different forest areas, riverine beds and panchayats of the district undertaken by the department of Botany could add species new to science, new additions to district flora, new distributional records and also a baseline data for the post flood monitoring studies of the biodiversity loss of the district in terms of flora and fauna. The outstretches of the district is engaged in Sericulture. This household industry need keen support not only from the policymakers, but from the scientific community also. The department of Zoology is engaged in molecular level studies to improve the variety of silkworms. Economics department is engaged in the studies on sustainable agriculture, organic farming and climate change.
The History department has been actively involved in uncovering the early history of Palakkad and recovering the archival records. The best part of the activities has been in bringing to light the importance of several prehistoric and Iron Age sites through out the district. The department has also contributed to the municipal council’s Endeavour in publishing a volume on the history of the local body in the 150th year of its inception. It was the department initiative which helped in acquiring several palm leaf records and manuscripts for the college in 2019.
The Department of Malayalam has initiated in documenting the unique ritualistic performance of Palakkad, Kanyarkali and brought out an hour long documentary to this effect. The art form covers the ritual related to the fertility rites of Chittoor and Palakkad Taluk. The English department has conducted efforts to understand the incidence of dropout among the tribal students of Attappadi through contact programs which has given opportunity to interact with the stake holders of the area.