Government Vishwanath Yadav Tamaskar Post-Graduate Autonomous College, Durg is a leading higher education institution in Chhattisgarh. It is affiliated to Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur. The college has been conferred with the status of autonomy by UGC in 1989. The college was accredited with grade ‘A +’ by NAAC in the second cycle, and has been recognized by UGC as ‘College with Potential for Excellence’ (CPE), receiving the grant under IIIrd Phase of the scheme. Five departments from faculty of Science and one from Social Science have been identified by UGC under CPE scheme as highly rated departments. The institute has been shortlisted and recognized under DBT Star College Scheme by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) Govt. of India. Under this scheme 6 departments from faculty of Science have been selected for providing financial support. The Department of Chemistry was recognized under Funds for improving Science and Technology Infrastructure (FIST) Scheme by Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. The college has the distinction of being one of the 20 prominent institutions across the country to have been selected for providing suggestions on National Higher Education Qualification Framework (NHEQF) of India.
The college offers UG and PG courses in Science, Arts and Commerce streams. Equipped with 21 teaching departments, including 16 PG departments, and 104 faculty members, it has 14 departments as recognized research centres, namely Hindi, English, History, Political Science, Sociology, Geography, Commerce, Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Zoology, Geology, Mathematics, and Biotechnology department. Department of Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Botany, Microbiology, Biotechnology, Geology have research collaborations with national and international institutes of high repute. Many of the departments render paid as well as free consultancy services for sharing their knowledge resources for the benefit of institutions and society. The college houses study centres of IGNOU and Pt. Sundarlal Sharma Open University.
The college has a strong, committed and dedicated teaching faculty of 68 PhD holders and 5 M.Phil. holders. There are 46 non-teaching members and 38 daily wage employees. The teaching faculty is actively engaged in research work. A number of co-curricular and extracurricular activities are regularly organized throughout the year. This has also been acknowledged by NAAC peer team in their report.
The college had a humble start with just two rooms that housed Arts and Science faculty, at the local Hindi Bhawan. The foundation stone of the present building was laid by the then Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Dr. Kailash Nath Katju in November, 1958. It was shifted to its present site, campus of 21.75 acres, in 1962. Since then the college is continuously growing in terms of infrastructure and learning resources in its journey towards excellence.
At the time of independence, Durg was a backward district, with a diverse demographic composition, consisting mostly of OBC, SC and tribal populations. The district was backward in terms of educational, industrial and economic development. In the post-independence era, new avenues of development were opened with the beginning of industrialization in the region. An integrated steel plant, biggest of its kind in Asia, was founded with the support of erstwhile USSR. During the same period higher education was introduced in the region with inception of Govt. Arts and Science College, Durg in August 1958. Later on the college was renamed after late Shri Vishwanath Yadav Tamaskar, an eminent politician and freedom fighter from this region.
The college served as a major resource to provide man-power to Bhilai Steel Plant. This led to a breakthrough in socio-economic transformation of this region. Presently the college is one of the biggest Govt. Colleges in Chhattisgarh, a Lead College* of Durg district that provides administrative and academic support and guidance to 56 colleges of the district. The college has student strength of 4326 in the current session. It holds the unique opportunity of being a mixed bowl of urban, tribal and rural students, majority of them being first generation learners. The college, since its inception, is serving the society in a significant way by providing higher education to first generation learners. This is a distinctive feature of this institution.
This institution holds high repute in the field of academics as well as in sports. A large number of students from this college are holding prestigious and distinguished positions. Many of them are serving the society with their significant contribution in the field of administration, public services, education, art and literature, sports, business and entrepreneurship.
This institution holds high repute in the fields of sports. The students have excelled in power lifting, weight lifting and Judo at both the National and International levels. It has Football ground, Cricket ground, Badminton Court, and other facilities for indoor games.
The NSS, NCC and Youth Red Cross wings are actively involved in social activities and hold camps regularly in the rural areas, with the mission of spreading literacy and hygiene. They also organize Blood donation camps and Environmental Awareness Campaigns. NSS and NCC also have a separate Girls Wing.
The college library is well equipped with books, journals, periodicals and reading rooms. It has a book bank facility for SC and ST students.
The college has a study centre for IGNOU since 1987 where nearly 800 students are enrolled for management and other programmes. The college has a Placement Cell and organizes campus interviews every year.
The college gives a number of scholarships for SC / ST /OBC/ Sports/Merit students sanctioned by the government.
Keeping pace with the challenging need of the day the college has undergone major paradigm shift in terms of pedagogical methodology, from conventional ways of teaching to ICT enabled teaching. It has successively established smart classrooms, provided with Wi-Fi connectivity and computerized library to encourage effective teaching and learning.
The college is moving forward with a multi pronged strategy towards excellence with a view to come out as an institution of the future that prepares the students equipped with knowledge, skill, aptitude and social commitment.
* The Department of Higher Education, Govt. of Chhattisgarh has identified this institution as Lead College of District Durg to mentor and monitor academic and administrative functioning of other govt. and non-govt. colleges in this region.