About the Department
The Department is engaged in teaching Botany to students of Botany (H) and B.Sc. Life Science. It has a committed team of highly qualified and motivated teachers who have raised the Department to a level of excellence. Presently, the Department offers Botany courses in B.Sc. (Hons.) and B.Sc. Life Science programmes. Few of these courses are also open to students of other departments as the Generic Elective Courses. In these courses, students are taught the fundamental subjects as well as the modern disciplines of plant sciences.The faculty of the Department is devoted to both teaching and research. Teachers have publications in national and international peer-reviewed journals and books. Many of the teachers are actively engaged in framing curricula, revising syllabus and writing elessons. The faculty conducts workshops for botany teachers of other colleges to keep them updated on the recent advancements in various areas of plant science. Teaching in the Department is done using not only the traditional chalk and black-board but also through charts, live and herbarium specimens, power-point presentations, nature walks and field visits. The USP of the department is accessibility of the staff to students. Teacher mentors are assigned to groups of students to guide and mentor them at every step. The Department also provides opportunities to students to pursue research. Students are sent to intern with scientists at National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, under the Science Setu Program. The CUBE (Collaboratively Understanding Biology Education) Programme, an initiative of HBCSE (Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education), a national centre for TIFR, Mumbai, guides students to carryout simple research projects at their convenience. Under this programme our students have presented their work at CUBE meets in Goa (2018) and in HBCSE (Mumbai) 2019 and have won awards. The Department also conducts research internship programs for students. Many innovation research projects have been successfully completed by teachers and students of the Department. Facilities The Department has three well-equipped laboratories. Modern equipments such as laminar flow cabinet, autoclave, BOD incubator, incubator-shaker, photo-microscopes, digital balances, electrophoresis units, UV transilluminator are available for practical and research activities. A Botanical Garden is being maintained by the Department where medicinally and economically important plants are grown. The Department also manages a Museum of wet and dry preserved specimens and a small Department Library functioning with the books contributed by the faculty of the Department.