Government College for Women

OUR HISTORY The Govt. College for Women, Thiruvananthapuram is one of the leading educational institutions in Kerala. It was started as the Sircar Girl?s School, in 1864 by the Royal family of Travancore .The Travancore Royal Family is renowned for forward thinking, progressive policies and enlightened ways of its members. Empowerment and welfare of women were among their prime concerns. The Royal family was well aware that these goals could be achieved only through educating the women folk. This led to the establishment of an educational institution for girls ? the Sircar Girl?s School, in 1864. This was during the reign of Aayilyam Thirunal (1860-1880). In 1897 during the reign of Sree Moolam Thirunal (1885?1924), this institution was upgraded as a second grade college and re-designated as The Maharaja?s College for Girls and affiliated to the Madras University. It was elevated to the status of a first grade college and was renamed as H.H. The Maharaja?s College for Women in 1920. In 1923 the College was shifted to its present location. In 1937, during the reign of Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma (1931?1949), the University of Travancore was founded and the College was affiliated to this university. When the University of Travancore was founded in 1937 the Women?s College was one of the first seven colleges to be affiliated to it. In 1957, a year after the founding of the State of Kerala, when the University of Kerala was founded, the college was affiliated to it. The Government College for Women, Thiruvananthapuram, has, for over a hundred years, been one of the leading educational institutions in Kerala and also a pioneering institution in the field of higher education of women. In 1952, degree courses were introduced in Mathematics, Botany, Zoology, Philosophy, Malayalam and Sanskrit. From the early 1970s, the college embarked on a phase of expansion. New courses were introduced regularly and departments upgraded to P.G departments. Today the College has 22 teaching departments that conduct 16 U.G. courses and 17 P.G. courses. Eight of the departments are identified as research departments. We have over 2400 regular students. The College has strength of 159 teachers and 55 non-teaching staff members.