Government Training College, Rajahmundry

The Government Training College at Rajahmundry trained teachers for the schools of the Telugu districts.¹ It grew from a small normal school (a school for training teachers) opened in 1883.¹ In 1939–40 it was one of the two professional colleges of the Andhra University.²

A normal school becomes a college

According to the Godavari gazetteer of 1907, the Godavari District Board opened an elementary normal school at Rajahmundry in 1883.¹ In 1890 it was raised to a second-grade normal school.¹ In 1892 the Government took it over.¹ In February 1894 it was raised to the rank of a college.¹

The Union High School of the town became its practising school, where trainees learned to teach.¹ The committee that ran the high school handed it to the Government with all its property.¹ It also gave a site of two and a third acres in the heart of the town.¹ On this site the Government began a building in 1897, at a cost of about Rs. 65,000.¹ The training classes moved into it when it was finished in 1899.¹

The gazetteer gives the college two aims.¹ It was to supply the schools of the Northern Circars and the Ceded Districts, except Cuddapah, with trained Telugu teachers.¹ The lack of such teachers had long held back education in those districts.¹ It was also to run a large high school at Rajahmundry as its practising school.¹

From May 1904 the college prepared graduates for the Madras University’s L.T. (Licentiate in Teaching).¹ It was run by the principal of the Government Arts College, with a vice-principal under him.¹³

Closed and reopened

The Andhra University’s register for 1939–40 tells the later story.⁴ By 1910 the L.T. class had 17 students.⁴ But the Government thought it cost too much for its use.⁴ By an order of March 1909, the L.T. class was joined to the Teachers’ College at Saidapet, near Madras, in July 1911.⁴ In 1914 the classes for elementary-school teachers were also moved to a separate rented building.⁴

Soon the places for Telugu graduates at Saidapet were found to be too few.⁴ In May 1916 the Government agreed to reopen a Teachers’ College for the Telugu districts at Rajahmundry.⁴ For lack of money it was put off until 1917.⁴ It was to train fifty graduates a year, with a staff as good as Saidapet’s.⁴ The new college opened on 2 July 1917, with its own principal, quite separate from the Arts College.⁴

In 1939–40

The college was then run by the Madras Government under the Director of Public Instruction.⁴ It prepared students for the B.Ed. degree.⁴ In 1939–40 the register gave it a total of 108 B.Ed. students.⁵ Its figures by subject were 38 in mathematics, 19 in physical science, 27 in history and 29 in geography, which add up to 113.⁵ Its library had 13,674 books, and a hostel was kept for the B.Ed. students.⁴

Where the sources disagree

No disagreement was found among the sources used for this page.

Footnotes

1. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (1907), p. 156 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷

2. Andhra University: The Annual Register 1939–40 (1939), p. 302, list of colleges (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

3. S. Satthianadhan, History of Education in the Madras Presidency (1894), p. 295 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

4. Andhra University: The Annual Register 1939–40, p. 330 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

5. Andhra University: The Annual Register 1939–40, p. 331 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²