Government Arts College, Salem

Government Arts College, Salem, is an autonomous college in Salem, Tamil Nadu, India.

Government Arts College, Salem-7

Government Arts College Gate, Salem
Motto in English	Knowledge, Power, Sweetness
Type	Public
Established	1857
Principal	N. Shenbagalakshmi
Academic staff	234
Students	5,580
Location	Salem , Tamil Nadu , India
Campus	Urban
Language	Tamil, English
Affiliations	Periyar University
Website	http://gacsalem7.co.in/

History

Anglo-Vernacular School (1857-79)

The college was originally established as an Anglo-Vernacular School in 1857 by Alexander John Arbuthnot and converted into District School (Zillah High School) with 195 students. The school functioned in a rented building till 1863, then it moved to its own building, constructed in collaboration with public subscription and Government grant. In 1864 the school sent its first batch of students to the Matriculation Examination conducted by the University of Madras.

Affiliate College (1879-85)

In March 1879, the school was upgraded to a second grade college affiliated to the University of Madras. Seven students from the college attended First Arts Examination held in 1880-81.

Salem Municipal College (1885-1960)

In October 1885, the college was undertaken by Salem Municipal Council and was named as Salem Municipal College.

In 1928, the college was shifted to the present location after purchasing 11 acres of land near Maravaneri.

On 29 June 1931, P. T. Rajan, then Minister for Development, Public Works and Registration in the B. Munuswamy Naidu ministry of the erstwhile Madras Presidency, laid the foundation stone for the clock tower block (near the north end of the campus). The block was built at the cost of ₹.1,50,000, and was opened on 24 November 1932 by Radhabai Subbarayan, the Zamindarini of Kumaramangalam.

In 1944, the college was upgraded to a first grade college.

During his tenure as Salem Municipal Chairman (1941–47), P. Rathinaswami Pillai constructed a second building in the campus with subscriptions and donations received from the public and other institutions.. Consequently, the student strength increased from 408 to 1008.

Students of the 1950-51 batch established a bust in memory of A.Ramasamy, the sixth principal of the college (during 1923-50). It was unveiled on 16 September 1951 by S.G. Manavala Ramanujam, then Vice Chancellor of Annamalai University.

Government Arts College (1960-present)

The Government of Madras (now Tamil Nadu) took over the college from 1 April 1960 onwards.

In 1976, a two-storey building was built in the campus at the cost of ₹.9,11,000 for the departments of Geography Physics and Zoology.

From 1983, non-semester system was followed.

From 1998-99, the college became a co-educational institution.

The present semester pattern was introduced from 1999-2000.

In 2000, the college received a three-star rating from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).

In 2006, the NAAC re-evaluated the college and rated it 'B ++'.

The college gained autonomous status in 2007. Since then, the old method of examination was replaced by an alternative system with internal marks in semester system.

In accordance with the order of the State government, shift system was introduced in the year 2007-08 and the second shift classes started functioning in departments like Maths, Computer Science, Tamil, English, Commerce, History and Co-Operation.

In 2018, the NAAC re-accredited the college with 'B' status.

In 2019, the University Grants Commission (UGC) extended the college's autonomous status till 2023-24.

List of Principals

Key

• ^d Died in Office

No.	Name	Term of office
		From	To
1	Boert	Unknown	1904
2	Spencer	1904	1914
3	Seshathiri	1914	1918
4	S.K. Yagna Narayanan	1918	1922
5	S.K. Narayanan	1922	1927
6	A. Ramasamy	1927	19 August 1950[d]
7	?	20 August 1950	1955
8	V.Achuthan Nair	1955	1964
9	K.S. Venkateswaran	1964	1965
10	Mir Saheer Hussain	1966	1967
11	Ramanan Unni	1967	1969
12	K. Meenakshi Sundaram	1969	1971
13	V. Kannaiyah	1972	1973
14	P.T. Muniappa	1973	1977
15	M.K. Thangavelu	1977	1978
16	R. Ayyasamy	1978	16 July 1979
17	K. Perumal	16 July 1979	31 May 1980
18	R. Narasingam	31 May 1980	12 October 1981
19	A. Nagarajan	12 October 1981	28 January 1982
20	?	28 January 1982	5 November 1982
21	N. Kailasam	5 November 1982	30 April 1984
22	?	30 April 1984	31 May 1984
23	M.S. Srinivasan	1 June 1984	16 June 1984
24	?	16 June 1984	9 July 1984
25	S.M. Kamal Basha	9 July 1984	31 May 1987
26	?	1 June 1987	10 June 1987
27	G.S. Narasiman	11 June 1987	8 June 1988
28	?	8 June 1988	13 June 1988
29	K. Jayaraman	14 June 1988	20 June 1989
30	M. Ganapathy	21 June 1989	10 November 1992
31	?	11 November 1992	15 December 1992
32	T.C. Shanmugasundaram	16 December 1992	5 July 1993
33	?	6 July 1993	15 July 1993
34	Thanga Rayer	16 July 1993	30 November 1994
35	?	1 December 1994	30 December 1994
36	V. Santhanam	31 December 1994	2 August 1995
37	A. Kumararaj	3 August 1995	31 May 1996
38	?	1 June 1996	4 July 1996
39	S. Natarajan	5 July 1996	31 May 1997
40	N.M. Viswanathan	31 May 1997	31 May 1998
41	?	1 June 1998	7 June 1998
42	P. Thangavel	8 June 1998	8 July 1999
43	P. Thanigasalam	9 July 1999	31 August 2000
44	P. Thiyagarajan	1 September 2000	3 February 2001
45	P. Syamalabai	4 February 2001	20 June 2001
46	M. Balakrishnan	21 June 2001	26 January 2003
47	?	27 January 2003	1 May 2003
48	D. Pathmini	2 May 2003	3 May 2003
49	?	4 May 2003	27 July 2003
50	L. Lakshmanan	28 July 2003	3 September 2004
51	?	4 September 2004	14 December 2004
52	A. Jayalakshmi	15 December 2004	5 July 2005
53	C. Murugesan	6 July 2005	31 May 2006
54	?	1 June 2006	13 June 2006
55	M.N. Chandrasekaran	14 June 2006	31 May 2007
56	?	1 June 1007	6 June 200i7
57	R. Periyasamy	7 June 2007	31 May 2008
58	?	1 June 2008	12 June 2008
59	K. Mohammed Rashak	13 June 2008	31 May 2009
60	?	1 June 2009	14 June 2009
61	S. Seetharaman	15 June 2009	31 May 2011
62	P. Thirumoorthy	1 June 2011	3 June 2011
63	?	4 June 2011	6 June 2011
64	P. Ganesan	7 June 2011	17 June 2011
65	?	18 June 2011	22 June 2011
66	S.V. Govindaraju	23 June 2011	25 July 2011
67	R. Rangarajan	26 July 2011	1 August 2011
(66)	S.V. Govindaraju	2 August 2011	23 December 2011
68	?	24 December 2011	25 December 2011
(67)	R. Rangarajan	26 December 2011	30 December 2011
69	?	30 December 2011	31 December 2011
(66)	S.V. Govindaraju	1 January 2012	17 February 2012
70	?	18 February 2012	19 February 2012
71	K.R. Ravindran	20 February 2012	29 February 2012
72	?	1 March 2012	22 August 2012
73	A.R. Rasamani	23 August 2012	31 May 2014
74	S.C. Suriyanarayanan	1 June 2014	1 July 2014
75	R. Dhanalakshmi	2 July 2014	31 May 2016
76	K. Murugeswari	1 June 2016	12 October 2016
77	T. Subramani	13 October 2016	27 October 2016
78	P. Esther Joice	28 October 2016	1 August 2017
79	G. Venkatesan	2 August 2017	28 August 2017
80	M. Sakunthala	28 August 2017	30 June 2018
81	?	1 July 2018	3 July 2018
82	S. Kalaichelvan	4 July 2018	8 June 2023
83	N. Shenbagalakshmi	9 June 2023	Incumbent

Academic programmes

The college offers undergraduates and postgraduate programmes in arts and science streams. It has been accredited by NAAC and operates autonomously under the Periyar University.

Departments

Subject	Undergraduate	Postgraduate	Research
Arts and Commerce
Tamil	Y	Y	Y
English	Y	Y	Y
History	Y	Y	Y
Political Science	Y (shift 1)	Y
Human Rights		Y
Public Administration	Y (shift 1)
Economics	Y (shift 1)	Y	Y
Business Administration	Y
Commerce	Y	Y	Y
Commerce (Co-Operation)	Y	Y
Science
Physics	Y (shift 1)	Y	Y
Chemistry	Y	Y	Y
Mathematics	Y	Y	Y
Statistics	Y (shift 1)	Y	Y
Geology	Y (shift 1)	Y	Y
Geography	Y (shift 1)	Y
Botany	Y (shift 1)	Y
Zoology	Y (shift 1)	Y	Y
Computer Science	Y	Y	Y
Chartered Accountant	Y	Y

Notable faculty

• G. Devaneya Pavanar (1902-1981): Professor of Tamil during 1944-1956

Notable alumni

• Perunchithiranar (1933-1995): Tamil poet and Tamil nationalist ; B.A. Tamil
• Kolathur Mani (b. 1948): President of Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam (DVK) ; Pre-university course (1964-65)
• P. Dhanapal (b.1951): Former Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly ; B.A. History
• Brammarajan (b.1953): Tamil poet, translator, essayist, critic and editor ; B.A. English
• M. Thiravidamani (b.1960): Member of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from Gudalur (2011-21) ; M.A. History
• Saravanan (b.1966): Tamil actor ; B.A. Tamil.
• Taj Noor: film score composer; B.A. Physics

In popular culture

The college is one of the settings in the Tamil film Maamannan (2023).

External links

• "Government Arts College Salem". Retrieved 25 September 2017.