RONO HILLS, 6 Sep: Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) celebrated Teachers’ Day on 5 September through an online programme titled, ‘The encomium – celebrating the pioneers on the occasion of Teachers’ Day’.
The programme was part of the annual event of RGU, in which the RGU community pays homage to the retired professors of the university who have contributed immensely to the development of education and research in the state in particular and the country in general.
Retired teachers Dr PT Abraham and Prof Arup Kumar Das were invited to be members of the programme.
Dr Abraham had joined RGU in March 1997 and served the university as a reader, professor and head of the department of tribal studies, and as the director of RGU’s Arunachal Institute of Tribal Studies. He left the university in December 2007 on superannuation. During his service, he authored a Nyishi grammar book, an Adi grammar book (jointly with Prof Tamo Mibang), An Introduction to Adi Language (jointly with Prof Tamo Mibang) and published a few articles on different aspects of Arunachal’s languages. Prior to his joining Arunachal University, he had published an Apatani grammar book and compiled an Apatani-English-Hindi dictionary (Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore). Currently, he is engaged in the study of Malayalam grammar and has published books on different aspects of Malayalam.
Prof Arup Kumar Das served as a professor in the department of botany since its inception. He authored and published many articles and completed many research projects during his academic career. Prof Das also served as the dean of RGU’s faculty of life sciences. He superannuated in June 2017 and on reappointment, served the university further for more than a year. During his service, he completed 10 projects and is still working on another project. Under his guidance, 20 students have been awarded their doctorate degrees so far.
“Both these teachers were pathfinders in the establishment of this university. They have seen the university grow from its humble days of beginning to the current day when it is one of the premiere institutes of higher education in the country,” the RGU stated in a press release.
For their exceptional contribution and unending fortitude in imparting and establishing the trend of modern education in the state, RGU Vice Chancellor Prof Saket Kushwaha presented them with tokens of love in the form of cash of Rs 11,000 each and a citation.
Both of the teachers expressed immense pleasure over being invited by the university for the event. They shared their experiences in the olden days and reiterated that that they were confident that the next generation of teachers and scholars are more than capable to continue the legacy that they created.
