Hyderabad: From just seven students in 1924, to over 4,000 students today, the Osmania College for Women or the Koti Women’s College, which celebrated 90 years of women’s education on Thursday has come a long way. From IAS officers including Archana Meena, commissioner of backward classes welfare department A. Vani Prasad, and Hepsibha Rani Korlapati, (also an IAS officer), to many women achievers in sports, the college has a long list of eminent alumni. With many former students opting to join the faculty, nostalgia from the 70s and 80s gripped the college during “Navatha Celebrating 90 years of Osmania Women’s College”. Some families have three generations taking part in the event. K.S. Sunita’s family, is one such example. She is a former student, former vice principal of the college and the current head of the department of English. Her mother, Sevanthi Rao, studied at the college in 1951. Ms Sunita pursued her BA in literature, history and political science in 1981, and now, her daughter is a BA student studying for a triple major in mass communication, psychology and literature. “My grandfather was a gazetted officer then. My mother used to come to college in a horse tonga with a purdah. There were 21 students in my mother’s class. But, by the time I joined, there were many students and it was more vibrant,” she said. Principal of the college, B.T. Seetha, who is also an alumnus, said, “Back then, most of us wore skirts or saris. But as time passed, many started wearing jeans and western clothing. Then everybody came to college to learn things, but now they already have access to everything on the Internet and they come here only to know how to apply it.” Currently, the college has 14 PG, 12 UG courses with 4,000 students. A song called “OUCW-We love you”, composed by students and teachers, was sung on the day to mark the occasion. Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, who attended the inaugural function of the event, spoke to the gathering in Hindi for a change and even broke into a little song during his address. He also asked the students to focus on overall personality development apart from just academics.

• published: 18 Sep 2014
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