Swami Vivekananda College has been established at Chandkhira Tea Estate, a location in the inter-state international border area of Assam, Tripura and Bangladesh; about 360 km away from the state capital, in the year 1987 at such a point of time when there was no rural based college in Karimganj district except four town-based colleges. The average distance of all these colleges is approximately 60 KM from the marginal areas. Hence students from these remote areas, belonging mainly to the tea garden communities along with SC, ST, OBC, General and Minority communities, could not continue their studies beyond HSLC level mainly due to communication problem and economic factors.
Under these circumstances, some well-wishers of the locality came up with the idea of establishing a higher education institution in the heart of Chandkhira Tea Estate in the name and style of SWAMI VIVEKANANDA COLLEGE, which is named after the great visionary saint Swami Vivekananda and on the noble occasion on his 125th birthday i.e on 12th January, the foundation of the college laid down in the year 1987 with HS Arts and subsequently degree classes were introduced in the year 1990. The College has been provincialised by the Govt. of Assam on 20th January, 2014 with retrospective effect from 1st January, 2013. During its journey of long 36 years, the college has been able to impart a significant role in changing the socio-economic scenario of this remote area of southern Assam by taking the light of education to almost every household of the tea garden, OBC, SC, ST, Minority and other ethnic communities. Hundreds of students, both male and female, from these poverty ridden families have graduated from this college and got employment in various private and public sector jobs which has impacted the life style and standard of living of the people to a great extent.
The vision of the college is to prepare students community to become successful contributors to the future of India by making under graduate level of education easily accessible to all the backward communities living in and around the vicinity of the greater Patharkandi constituency. The main focus of the college is to create graduates in every house hold and empower the young generation, especially girl-students with the light of higher education; and also to encourage unbiased and critical thinking and scientific temperament.
The vision of the college includes:
Transformation of rural populace through education and empowerment
The motto of the college is reflected in its logo with the signage Vidyayamrtamasnute meaning “Knowledge imparts immortality” that suggests a belief in the enduring impact of knowledge. The mission of the college is imparting knowledge, fostering critical thinking and preparing individuals for their future endeavours, so that the knowledge gained in the college can have a lasting influence contributing to personal growth and reaching a point of intellectual immortality through the ideas propagated by the great saint Swami Vivekananda. It addition, the college aims to make the institution a centre of excellence in under-graduate studies in a rural setup which will be at par with the national standard. Therefore, it aims:
The most significant strength of the college is that it is the only garden area college in Karimganj district started completely on a local venture and involves the sentiments of tea garden people. They visualise a greater prospect for their future generations through the college. It has a large campus of 30 bigha land which can be utilized for building a state-of-the-art infrastructure for expansion of education, innovation, and research and skill development. The college is situated on a place which shares one international border area with Bangladesh and two inter-state borders with Mizoram and Tripura. The population pattern of the area is mixed one having people from Tea-tribes, SCs, STs, OBCs and Minorities, most of whom are first generation learners. So it has a wide scope of work on the education of these communities. The college has a green eco-friendly campus.
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA COLLEGE has the potential to develop and grow if proper measures are taken and timely implemented. The following are the opportunities for development of this institution: Swami Vivekananda College, Chandkhira
The area is inhabited by different ethnic communities. So there is scope of starting a Community college for their social cultural development and for the preservation of ethnic cultures.
Swami Vivekananda College is the outcome of a venture initiated by some local philanthropists and philomaths who motivated the marginalized, backward, and poverty-ridden tea garden and other local communities to join their mission to establish a higher education institution at Chandkhira - a garden area surrounded by seven other tea gardens. The first ten years of the college witnessed hard times in respect of land, infrastructure, fund and faculty. But for the sincere contribution of the rank and file of all communities, the selfless dedication of teachers and founding members, and the guidance of the educationists and visionaries of the district, the college could overcome all challenges coming its way. It will be a long list to mention all the contributors including the daily wage-earning tea garden labourers here. Only a few of the prominent names are noted below: