Govt. Gandhi Memorial Science College

Govt. Gandhi Memorial Science College, Jammu, erstwhile Prince of Wales College, is a fusion of antiquity and contemporaneity: An institution that has its roots in the annals of history and has evolved and grown ever since, so as to be preserved as ed and grown ever since, so as to be preserved as a part of our educational and cultural heritage. The college with its aura of history and heritage dates back to 1905, when His Highness, Maharaja Sir Pratap Singh announced the opening of the college as Prince of Wales College. This was to commemorate the visit of His Royal Highness, Prince of Wales, the future King George V. Maharaja Pratap Singh, a benevolent ruler and a great visionary of his times, thus, created the only institution of higher learning in the entire Jammu region. Prince of Wales College actually started functioning from 20th April 1907 in the then Ajaibghar. It had 26 students on its roll and Prof. R.N. Mukherjee officiated as the Principal of the College. The foundation stone of the present college campus was laid in July 1904, amidst a vast lush green area of about sixty-five acres, by the then Resident of Kashmir, Sir Francis Young Husband. The college was shifted to the present campus on 18th September 1912 with Prof.S.Robson as the Principal. The founders of the college were undoubtedly men of great acumen and vision. The infrastructure planned a hundred years ago, continues substantially to meet the ever increasing needs of this institution even now. The college hostel that started functioning in July 1910, nearly two years before the college was shifted to the present campus, bears an ample testimony to the farsightedness of the founders.The Prince of Wales College was affiliated to Punjab University, Lahore in May 1908. Initially a stream of subjects namely English, Mathematics, Chemistry, History, Persian, Sanskrit and Philosophy were taught up to the Intermediate state. In January 1910, two more subjectsnamely Geology and Arabic were introduced and gradually most of the courses were upgraded to graduation level. During this period, the college excelled academically and its infrastructure was amongst the best in the whole of northern India. It attracted scholars and teachers of repute and stature as its faculty members. In the thirties, postgraduate classes were started in Geology , Economics and Mathematics. The doyen of Indian Geology Dr.D.N.Wadia established the Department of Geology of the college. Its departmental museum, with its rich and rare collection, continues to be one of the best museums of Geology in the whole of Northern India. From 1931 onwards the college admitted both male and female students on its rolls till 1944, when a separate Maharani Mahila College was opened in the Present Luthra Academy at Kachi Chawni. However, in medical stream, female students continued to be on the rolls till as late as 1966. In the recent years with the introduction of subjects like Electronics, Computer Applications, Functional English, BCA and Postgraduate course, the college has once again started admitting female students. The college continued to expand and in 1940 Sh.K.G.Sayaiden, the then Director of Education inaugurated an independent Library block. Around the same time, the Arts Block came up and subsequently departments of Bio-Sciences (1954) and Geography were also added. With the dawn of independence, Prince of Wales College could not escape the spirit of freedom and euphoria sweeping across the country. Thus, the College was renamed as Govt. Gandhi Memorial College on 20th May 1948. In the subsequent years, Arts and Science streams were separated and in the Year 1954, two colleges namely Govt. Gandhi Memorial Science College and Govt. Maulana Azad Memorial Arts College came into existence. Initially both the Colleges operated from the same campus until the Arts stream was shifted to the present campus of M.A.M.College. After independence, the college was affiliated to the then J&K University and subsequently to the University of Jammu in 1969, which came into existence under the University Act-XXIV. The College is recoganized by UGC under Section 2b & 12f of UGC Act-1956. Since its inception, the College has been epitome of academic excellence, adhering to the ever-changing aspiration and the needs of the student community. The College strongly believes in blending tradition and modernity in order to instill age-old values amongst the students and yet remain relevant to the 21st century academic scenario by transforming and modernizing its academic and extra curricular schedule. To meet the growing challenges of the fast changing global scenario, our faculty is actively involved in research and extension activities. Till date the faculty members of the staff of the College have published numerous research papers in Journals of National and International repute. Teaching faculty is also regularly deputed to attend refresher courses/orientation courses, summer school and national/ international seminars, conferences and workshops. ...view more