On December 12, 2012, Bishop Lumen Monteiro, the Bishop of the Diocese of Agartala, blessed the foundation stone for Holy Cross College in Agartala, Tripura, in India. Present at the celebration were not only many members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, including Rev. Emmanuel Kallarackal, C.S.C., the Principal of the College, but also many of the Congregation’s key lay collaborators.
Since its opening August 10, 2009, Holy Cross College has borrowed classrooms, labs, and administrative space from Holy Cross School in Durjoynahar, a primary and secondary school run by the Congregation. This new building will give the College its first permanent home.
Phase One of the construction, which is slated to be completed by December 2013, includes the basement and most of the ground floor of what eventually will be a 65,000 square feet, three-story building. It will provide the College with almost 21,000 square feet of space for nine classrooms as well as a laboratory, library, reading room, administrative office, staff room, seminar hall, and restrooms.
Holy Cross College was founded to provide the Congregation’s holistic and rigorous education to post-secondary students, especially from among the tribal peoples, in Northeast India. Affiliated with Tripura University (Central University), Holy Cross College is both the only Catholic college and the only English-medium college in the state of Tripura.
Check out the website of Holy Cross College, Agartala
On August 9, 2012, 42 students participated in the College’s first Commencement Exercises and received their bachelor’s degrees. Their performance on university examinations prompted Professor Arunodaya Saha, Vice-Chancellor of Tripura University, to say, “Out of all the colleges affiliated to the University, Holy Cross stands apart in its discipline and excellence in performance.”
Currently, Holy Cross College offers three-year bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration, Computer Applications, English, Political Science, Hindi, Computer Science, and Zoology. It also offers a Certificate Course in Spoken English. The College envisions adding degree programs in Philosophy, Geography, Journalism and Mass Communications, Commerce, Psychology, Nursing, Engineering, and Computer Applications.