Bethune College is a women's college located on Bidhan Sarani in Kolkata, India, and affiliated to the University of Calcutta. It is the oldest women's college in India. It was established as a girls' school in 1849, and as a college in 1879.
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History
The college was founded as the Calcutta Female School in 1849 by John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune, with the financial support of Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee. The school started in Mukherjee's home in Baitakkhana, with 21 girls enrolled. The following year, enrolment rose to 80. In November, on a plot on the west side of Cornwallis Square, the cornerstone for a permanent school building was laid. The name "Hindu Female School" was inscribed on the copper-plate placed in the stone and on the ceremonial silver trowel made for the occasion. Support for the school waned after Bethune's death in August 1851.
The government took it over in 1856, renaming it Bethune School after its founder in 1862–63. In 1879 it was developed into Bethune College, the first women's college in India, and Bethune School was the second (the first being in Bhidewada Pune, by Jyotirao Phule) women's school in all of Asia.
Rankings
The college is ranked 91st among colleges in India by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2024.
Notable alumni
Kadambini Ganguly (1861–1923), one of the first two female graduates of the British Empire
Chandramukhi Basu (1860–1944), one of the first two female graduates of the British Empire
Abala Bose (1864–1951), social worker
Meenakshi Chatterjee (1957–2022), Applied Mathematician, and the 5th Indian Woman in Antarctica (as part of the Xth Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica, 1990–91); also the first scientist to represent the University of Calcutta
Sarala Devi Chaudhurani (1872–1945), promoter of female education
Anwara Bahar Chowdhury (1919–1987), social activist and writer
Kamala Das Gupta (1907–2000), freedom fighter nationalist
Amalprava Das, social worker
Bina Das (1911–1986), revolutionary and nationalist
Tista Das (born 1978), transsexual actress
Kalpana Datta (1913–1995), independence activist
Mira Datta Gupta (1907–1983), freedom fighter and activist
Swarnakumari Devi (1855–1932), poet, novelist and social worker
Begum Khaleda Zia, first female Prime Minister of Bangladesh
Ashoka Gupta (1912–2008), freedom fighter and social worker