Head of The Department: Dr. Nitin D. Arekar, Associate Professor

The 57 year old Department of Marathi has been at the front line of academic, research, cultural and literary activities of the College since its inception. Today, it caters to a wide range of students at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and it is actively associated with the various administrative and outreach functions of the College. It provides education at two academic levels – Undergraduate and post graduate, with three programs- BA (Marathi), TYBCom- Applied Component and MA (Marathi).

The Department grew to its present height under the guidance of pioneer Head of Department, Late Prof S. T. Joshi (HOD – 1965 to 1991), who was a well-known progressive play-writer in Marathi and a critic. Late Dr. Jyotika Ozarkar (1991-2013) who was a renouned poetess and critic. She was Vice Principal between 2002 and 2010. Dr. Nitin D. Arekar took over as head in Department of Marathi in June, 2013, after Dr. J. S. Ozarkar retired on superannuation.

Faculty Members

Degree College:

1. Ms Vrushali Kamble, MA, JRF, NET, SET (CHB)

2. Mr. Akshay Jamdade, MA, NET (CHB)

Junior College:

1. Mrs. Namrata Patil, MA, B.Ed. (Subject in charge)

2. Mrs. Pushpa Jadahv, MA, B.Ed., NET

3. Mrs. Seema Singh-Choudhary, MA, B.Ed.

Faculty members of the Marathi Department are actively involved in all most every initiative of the college viz.: Time Table Committee, Alumni Committee, Admission Committee, Marathi Vangmay Mandal, Women;s Development Cell, Cultural Committee, Counseling Cell, Arts Forum, UGC sponsored Gandhian Studies Centre, CHM-UMC initiatives like the Foundation Course surveys; Human Rights Week; Environment Week; International Women’s Week; Chandi Utsav; College Annual Day etc.

Department of Marathi has a unique record of having 100% results at Degree level since year 1991; except AY 2018-19. This is the result of the efforts put in by the faculty members and the learners jointly. While delivering the syllabus, they go from easy to difficult, from grossular to specialization, from macro to micro and micro to macro. Learners’ centric pedagogies are effectively used to attain the outcome at three different levels: 1. Experiential learning, 2. Participatory Method, 3. Problem solving method. Different types of modern teaching methods and tools are used by the faculty members, viz. Padlet, WordClouds, Quizziz, PeerDeck with ppt presentations, group discussions, role play, assignments, projects, workshops, movie screening, chock-duster method- the traditional ways of teaching. 04 students were toppers in the University of Mumbai in the Subject Marathi at TYBA examinations and 01 student ranked top at Post Graduate examinations. 04 Alumnus received the Best Thesis award from University of Mumbai for their research work.

The faculty members and learners are recognized for their contribution in research and literary world. They are recognized at the national, state and university level awards for their contribution. Dr. Nitin Arekar is a renowned writer having 04 books in his name. He is the recipient of the “Professor A. K. Priyolkar Best Thesis Award” (Instituted by Department of Marathi, University of Mumbai) for his PhD thesis. He was selected for the Mrs. Nalini Shirole Award for Best Column Book by Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad. His work in academics and education was acknowledged by Konkan Marathi Sahitya Parishad by presenting him the Bhausaheb Vartak Puraskar. He is a member of “Dnyan kosh Mandal” (Encyclopedia) of Government of Maharashtra. Ms. Vrushali Kamble is a well-known poetess. She was the faculty member of writing workshops organized by Maharashtra Rajya Sanskrutik Karya Sanchalanalay.

57 year old Marathi department takes lead in training the trainers. Department of Marathi tries in up-scaling the teachers and conduct workshops on revised syllabus for them in association with the Board of Studies, Marathi of Mumbai University. It has organized several seminars in last five decades of its existence.

The Marathi Department has its own reference section - Prof. S.T. Joshi Reference Section & Dr. Jyotika Ozarkar Library, with more than 5000 books and journals. It is proud privilege to mention that Ajit, Nitin & Sachin Tendulkar, the trio brothers decided to hand over major part of their father’s, Prof. Ramesh Tendulkar’s book collection to the department: Prof. Ramesh Tendulkar Book Collection section. We also have a collection of 3647 books in college general library.

Co-curricular activities

Marathi Vangmay Mandal is a statutory association that comes under the Marathi Department, where all students participate. Though it is a language based activity, a large number of Non- Marathi speaking students have actively contributed to the MVM activity.

Teachers from Marathi department have contributed to the college cultural activity in various capacities. They are instrumental in foundation of Marathi Abhyas Kendra. Dr. Jyotika Ozarkar was a mentor to this organization; and Dr. Nitin Arekar is one of the founders of this registered trust and he headed the fund raising committee of it.

MVM & Department of Marathi organize numerous competitions related to language & literature. Wall paper Patheya (since 1965) provides a platform to the learners to develop their literary, editorial and linguistic skills. Readers’ Club Vachta Vachta is its distinctiveness. Learners share their reviews, critics on the books they read here.

In line of the college vision and mission, MVM strives hard for the holistic development of the learner by conducting various activities. Innovative approach of the department and college, MVM train the learners for better tomorrow. It conducts workshops on various skills that would help the learners for the employment. Value added activities of the department and MVM groom the learners. Learners donate books to the department on auspicious occasion of Guru Pournima, Shiva Jayanti Utsav, Marathi Bhasha Samvardhan Pandhravada (Marathi Bhasha Development Fortnightly Program) and Marathi Bhasha Gaurav Divas are distinctive activities of the MVM and the college for development of state and regional language Marathi.

College feels that a learner should be a good citizen of this great country. In tune with the college vision and mission, MVM and the department organize several awareness programs like RTI awareness, voting awareness, democracy awareness, gender equality, and environmental issues and so on.

The department of Marathi & MVM try to go beyond books by organizing field visits to the places described in the novels or in their syllabus.eg. visit to Akshi, near Alibag where first ever Marathi stone scripts are available, visit to Asud, a village in district Ratnagiri to relive the life of Garambicha Bapu, the hero of the novel Garambicha Bapu.

To inculcate social responsibilities among the learners; is an important mission of the education system. Department of Marathi & MVM visit Shantivan, an Ashram for leprosy hit people, an old age home and a place for 100% disabled ones and celebrate Diwali with them since beginning of new millennium to inculcate social values amongst the learners. Alumni make it a point to attend the program.

Strong Alumni bonding is the strength of the department. They frequently visit the department; department invite them as Guests for various programs to share their experiences.

Department of Marathi has an active Face book page and YouTube channel which keep us in tune with the era.