Nouveau début for Ruia

The French department of Ramnarain Ruia College, Matunga, one of the oldest and the only one of its kind in the city, is all set for a revival.

A fresh host of activities set up by the department, including a street play and a lecture series to revive the language, gives hope to the department, which was non-functional for more than two years.

The 72-year-old French department, one of the few, which offers a Bachelor of Arts degree in French language in the city, was on the verge of shutting down owing to the dwindling number of students applying for the degree.

According to the vice-principal of the college, Vatsala Pai, two French teachers retired in 2006 and 2007 and the government refused to sanction a teacher’s post as there were not enough students.

“The numbers of students opting for a degree in French started dwindling. At degree level, according to government rules, we need at least 25 students to get a teacher post sanctioned. Once the teacher retires, it becomes difficult for the college to run a department with fewer students or no student, as was our case,” said Pai. There should also be at least 15 students in the final year to run a full-fledged department.

This academic year, the college has managed to appoint a well-qualified teacher and the government had to sanction the post despite not having enough number of students, said Pai.

The new professor, V Badrinathan, said, “It’s perhaps the only college to offer a BA in French. I want to revitalise language teaching in this globalised world. We will promote the language is several ways starting with a street play on cross cultural concept.”

 Badrinathan is also planning to hold an annual lecture series as a memorial for the founder head of the department, Professor VG Hatalkar (1937-1964, his tenure in college), starting with a lecture by the eminent consul general of France promoting the Indo-French bilateral co-operation early in the month of October.

These activities are supposed to attract students in huge numbers. “This is just the beginning; I am arranging a host of activities in the coming year as well to keep the language alive,” she said.