‘Notre Dame College, Dhaka‘ is one of the country's leading colleges. In short it is called NDC. It is a private college, and only boys can be admitted here. It is an educational institution dedicated to sound teaching and to the formation of students' character. After admission to Notre Dame College, students are given careful training, values and moral formation throughout their college life, so they must be diligent in observing all the college's rules and discipline.
Contents
- Location and introduction of Notre Dame College
- Why study at Notre Dame College?
- The infrastructure of Notre Dame College
- The groups and related matters of Notre Dame College
- The lab facilities of Notre Dame College
- Other facilities at Notre Dame College
- The philosophy of Notre Dame College
- The mission of Notre Dame College
- Campus life at Notre Dame College
- The clubs of Notre Dame College
- The memorials and sculptures of Notre Dame College
- The admission process and preparation for Notre Dame College
- Other matters at Notre Dame College
- Final words
Location and introduction of Notre Dame College
Notre Dame College, set on Toynbee Circular Road in the Motijheel–Arambagh–Shapla Chattar area of the capital Dhaka, was first established in 1949 in the Lakshmibazar area of old Dhaka under the name ‘St Gregory's College‘. In the 1954–55 academic year it moved to its present building, and the college's name was changed to ‘Notre Dame College, Dhaka‘.
Although it is an educational institution run by Roman Catholics, students of every faith can study at this college. It is run by the fathers of the Congregation of Holy Cross. The congregation has three branches — fathers, brothers and sisters. All of them devote their lives to the service of God and of people, and to the formation and education of the young. The fathers of the Holy Cross congregation run the University of Notre Dame, the University of Portland, King's College and Stonehill College in North America. At present a number of ordained religious and a good many experienced teachers are engaged in teaching and administration at Notre Dame College.
The main gate of Notre Dame College
Why study at Notre Dame College?
It is one of the leading colleges in Bangladesh. The reasons for Notre Dame College's success are:
- The study at most colleges is really centred on the higher secondary examination. But the study at Notre Dame College is centred on the university admission test. So studying here prepares you for the higher secondary examination and the university admission test at the same time.
- Among all private colleges, Notre Dame College's fees are comparatively low.
- A special feature of the college is that you get to know people from different districts, different regional dialects, different professions, different classes, different religions and different ethnic groups. In other words a nationwide network of friendship is formed. Besides the 130 in your own group, there are more than three thousand students in the whole batch, and the help of all the seniors of the alumni association is available across the country and indeed the world.
- Considerable emphasis is placed on practical classes here, and the college's contribution to that is really large. I have not included the clubs here; you will learn all about them once you study at the college.
There are many more reasons; start listing them and there is no end. As a student of the college I can give this assurance: the experience, the sense of discipline, the morality and the rest that you can acquire after enrolling in this college can only be had by studying at Notre Dame College, and nowhere else.
Read more: University of Dhaka Review
The Father Tim building of Notre Dame College
The infrastructure of Notre Dame College
- 4 academic buildings Father Harrington Building Father Tim Building Father Peixotto Building Father Ganguly Building
- 1 large playing field
- 1 basketball ground
- 1 very large library
- A hygienic canteen
- A prayer room
- 23 clubs and club rooms for co-curricular activities
- A literacy school
- A charming green campus
- An artificial aquarium for keeping fish
- The three-storey Martin Hall for the accommodation of poor Christian students.
- An open-air stage
- A very large auditorium
The central playing field of Notre Dame College
The groups and related matters of Notre Dame College
Notre Dame College has three groups: science, business studies and humanities. In the science group, Higher Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology are taught. The subjects of the business studies group are accounting, management, finance and statistics. In the humanities group, philosophy, economics, geography, history, sociology and civics are taught. The college currently has 25 sections (groups) in total. Of these, 16 are of the science stream (groups 1 to 14 in the Bengali medium; groups 15–16 in the English medium), 7 are business studies (groups A–F) and 3 are humanities (groups G, H and W). Of these, both Bengali and English media run in the science group only.
Read more: Programming from A to Z
Every week from Sunday to Thursday, first-year classes run from 8:00 am to 12:40 pm and second-year classes from 1:00 pm to 5:45 pm. Lab work is held after the first-year classes finish. In the same way, second-year students have their practical classes in the morning session. On Wednesdays, after the fourth period, there is a values lesson. Fridays and Saturdays are the weekly holidays, but because most of the college's club programmes fall on Friday and Saturday the college stays open. Practical education is given special importance at the college. Science students must take part in practical work in physics, chemistry, biology and higher mathematics, humanities students in geography, and students of all groups in information and communication technology.
The natural beauty of the Notre Dame College campus from the air
The lab facilities of Notre Dame College
Biology is on the 3rd floor of the Archbishop Ganguly Building, physics on the ground floor and chemistry on the 2nd floor of the Father Harrington Building, and the ICT lab on the 3rd floor of the Father Tim Building. Students receive their lab cards within a few days of admission to the college. To carry out the lab work properly, each department has several demonstrators and assistant demonstrators. The college's labs are so well regarded that when a student later enrols at an engineering university and uses the lab facilities there, the demonstrators there give priority to Notre Dame College students.
Read more: Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology Review
Other facilities at Notre Dame College
Publications
Notre Dame College's main publication, ‘Blue and Gold', is the fruit of the students' own energy. Blue and Gold is published institutionally each year for the higher secondary candidates. Besides this, a quarterly magazine called ‘Dhak-Dhol/Chit-Chat' comes out every 3 months, and these are given to students free of charge. In both the annual and the quarterly publications, students' poems, stories, research, science fiction and other writing find a welcome.
Among the other publications, Dwairath, Poribesh (Nature), Newsletter, Cosmos, Saptadinga, Adventure, Sputnik (Bengali and English), Biponon, Abishkar, Business Horizon, Prabrajya, Judhisthir, Gobeshona, Prodaho, Dhaner Shirshe Agun, Prakriti, Sebabroti, Brinda, Bikikini, Medicine, Durdanto, Jogajog, Anirban, Bandhan, ‘Curser', Swasthyabarta and Naibedya are notable.
Library
The library is on the fourth floor of the Archbishop Ganguly Building. On admission to the college students become library members and receive a library card. The library regularly keeps 6 daily newspapers, weekly papers and 4 monthly magazines. Many important periodicals and collections of essays are also kept irregularly. Books can be borrowed on a library card, but dictionaries, encyclopaedias, textbooks and other rare books can be used only within the library. Keeping silence in the library is treated as important.
An academic building of Notre Dame College
For science writing, visit: Shikkha Web Science Club
The philosophy of Notre Dame College
The aim of education at Notre Dame College is the whole development of the whole person — to form students who are dedicated, creative, service-minded, devoted and skilled in acquiring knowledge and applying it, and responsible in facing the challenges of the age.
Motto
The student of Notre Dame College: ‘dedicated, creative, competent and responsible'.
The mission of Notre Dame College
Established and run by the priests of the Congregation of Holy Cross, Notre Dame College's aim and purpose is, through spreading quality education, to form students in moral values, tolerance, integrity, compassion, a sense of responsibility and a deep and genuine love for society, country and world. Notre Dame College strives, through the refinement of students' minds, intellects and hearts, to form them into people rich in fully developed human qualities.
Motto
Notre Dame College: ‘dedicated to the development of mind, intellect and heart'.
The entrance of Notre Dame College
Campus life at Notre Dame College
For me my campus life was quite different, because first I was a Notre Damian and alongside that I was a Missionian. So naturally my lifestyle was a little different from other people's. There were 40 of us at the Ramakrishna Mission. We would rise early and have prayers. Then breakfast, then a bath, and then we would get ready for college. In the first year our classes began at eight in the morning.
There are 5 periods of class every day. After three classes there is a 15-minute break in the middle. Classes end at 12:40; then back to the mission for lunch and a short break. If there is a lab class, I would come back to the college, finish the lab work and return to the mission. In the evening, after the evening prayers, I would sit down to study. At 9 at night I would eat and sit down to study again. I kept 6 to 8 hours for sleep. That was my mission life plus Notre Dame life.
Now let me speak of those who stay in the hostels in Dalalgoli beside the college. Their lifestyle is a little different. In hostel life you come to college with sleepy eyes, do your eight o'clock class, and the other things follow naturally. The interesting thing is that in hostel life you can live as you please, so you have to control yourself. That is why time should be used well. And pushing through the overflowing crowd of the college canteen to eat a shingara is a story of its own. There are two quizzes a week. Outsiders think a quiz test is like any other quiz — but the quiz at Notre Dame College is a thing apart.
The Notre Dame College campus
The clubs of Notre Dame College
Among the colleges of the country, only Notre Dame College has the greatest number of clubs and organisations. The clubs and organisations of Notre Dame College are:
- Notre Dame Debating Club
- Notre Dame Science Club
- Notre Dame Adventure Club
- Notre Dame Rover Group
- Notre Dame Business Club
- Notre Dame Chess Club
- Notre Dame Manobik Sangha
- Notre Dame Nature Study Club
- Notre Dame Degree Club
- Youth Red Crescent, Notre Dame College
- Rotaract Club of Notre Dame College
- Notre Dame Nattyadal
- Notre Dame Recitation Group
- Notre Dame Eco and Space Club
- International Understanding and Relationship Club
- Notre Dame Cultural Club
- Notre Dame Lekhak Kunja
- Notre Dame English Club
- Notre Dame Art Club
- Notre Dame Math Club
- Notre Dame Ethics Club
- Notre Dame Photography Club
- Notre Dame IT Club
Every club has two moderators, and the clubs have their own programmes.
Read more: Brahmanbaria Government Women's College Review
The memorials and sculptures of Notre Dame College
Mother Mary
The most iconic place at Notre Dame College is considered to be the collage of Mary, “Seat of Wisdom”, a little way in from the main entrance, and the area around it — popular among ordinary students simply as Mother Mary. This 6 foot × 8 foot collage stands on a freestanding base to the east of the “Harrington Building”. Because the institution is dedicated to the memory of Mary, the mother of Jesus, it was planned over a long period and made as a symbol of the college.
In the collage Mary is teaching the child Jesus the alphabet, while from one side a bright “radiance” lights up the whole setting — symbolising the Christian idea of Jesus as the source of light for the world. Mary is seen in an ordinary Bengali sari and Jesus in pyjama-panjabi, representing the universality of their teaching.
The artist of the collage is Mirza Rabiul Alam Khokon. He and his team spent a full month on this collage at Notre Dame College. Alongside Dhaka and Chattogram, some tiles were not available in Bangladesh and were brought from Sri Lanka. The work was finished and the collage set in its place on 29 October 1999.
The admission process and preparation for Notre Dame College
From the beginning Notre Dame College has admitted new students through an admission test following its own assessment method, so new students are usually admitted through the admission test. Within one to two weeks of the publication of the SSC results, the admission notice is published on the college website, where all the information about admission is described in detail.
In 2020, because of COVID-19, the admission process was completed online. Since the admission test is taken outside the usual fixed rules, demo tests and demo processing videos covering every matter on which guardians might face difficulty with online admission were explained first, and then the test was taken. This time — that is, in 2022 — the admission process will be offline, in the traditional way, or so I hope.
Many coaching centres run preparation batches for the admission test. To tell the truth, the college's teachers discourage taking admission preparation at any coaching centre — because if a student has studied properly for the SSC, that basic knowledge alone is enough to succeed in the admission test. So there is no need to enrol at a coaching centre to prepare for it.
Other matters at Notre Dame College
The college roll number is entirely unique. Only the person who holds that roll number is its successor. My roll number was #12112093. Here,
- 1 is the mark of the science group
- 21 is the HSC 2021 batch
- 12 is group 12 and
- 093 is the class roll
Final words
Notre Dame is a vast family, a piece of Bangladesh before your eyes. Just as this family grows wider with the passage of time, so it goes on lighting up society, the country and indeed the world with pride. From its founding, Notre Dame College has been resolved to form its students, alongside their formal education, into people of moral values and into citizens of the world. To everyone connected with the Notre Dame family, Notre Dame is like oxygen: its ideals and spirit continually refresh them, giving them the strength to live as true human beings and giving inspiration until death. This courtyard teaches you to be humane, teaches you to raise the flag of honesty in the battle of life with courage, teaches you to fight with your spine straight. In this courtyard the seed of morality is sown.
Decade after decade, as Notre Dame College goes on showing the way as a beacon of light in building a beautiful tomorrow through intellect, thought and reflection, the hope is that this current will continue in future too! May the beloved college that is bound up with our very being go forward, and remain radiant in its own glory!
Jayatu Notre Dame!
Jyotirmoy Roy
College representative, Shikkha Web
Higher Secondary (batch 2019–20, HSC 2021 batch)
Science group
Notre Dame College, Dhaka
