Capacity Building

Mission 

The Department aims to provide opportunities for experiential learning which entails a hands-on approach to learning alongside class room teaching. Experiential learning makes learning an interactive experience that moves beyond the classroom and strives to bring more involved ways of learning. 

Initiatives: 

With this objective, several initiatives have been taken by the Department: 

1. The Department organises visits to the museums where the students can observe and appreciate the cultural heritage of our country. The students participated in ‘March to Freedom,’ which was a special event organised by DAĞ within the campus of the Indian museum which displayed through rare posters and photographs, stages in our country’s struggle for independence. The faculty along with the students also visited Marble Palace and the Jorasanko Museum on 29.1.2025.

1. Students’ seminars are organised every year on varied themes that help the students to delve deeper into subjects beyond the syllabus, initiating in them analytical skills, develop confidence and help improve their communication skills. 

1. The Department encourages Walks that gives students a closer understanding of local history. It enables students to understand and appreciate our heritage and kindle interest in unexplored histories that lie embedded in almost every nook and corner of a city as old as Kolkata. Students are given assignments based on their exploration of local history.

1. The Add on Course on ‘Ideas of Nation and Nation Building’ which is a value-added course, provided an immense opportunity for the students to develop their knowledge on a subject that has been touched upon in the syllabus. There were fourteen teachers who spoke on a range of topics using audio visual medium, making class room teaching a delightfully enlightening exercise.

1. Department of History along with the Departments of Political Science and Philosophy organised a Joint Add-On Course on ‘Swaraj, Satyagraha and Ahimsa: A Study on the Political Outlook and Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi,’ in collaboration with Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya, Barrackpore from 13th November to 16th December 2024. Through twelve lectures, the course was conducted in a blended mode along with assessments and feedback session which was followed up by an experiential learning trip to the Gandhi Museum in Barrackpore. 

Outcome:

The Department believes that experiential learning enables students to read closely varied aspects of history which eventually will help students to build an analytical mind to understand and appreciate history. This would encourage them to pursue further research on local histories or themes of interest and thus prepare them for research- oriented studies.