Prithvi Narayan Campus, Pokhara, Nepal

Department of English

The Department of English at PN Campus has a long and illustrious history, and a dynamic and vibrant present. The department is at the core of the humanities that engages the imagination of our students, teaching them to ask questions and to seek for answers. Our faculty members encourage them to believe in the fact that words and ideas will shape the world. More importantly, our students, through innovative courses, learn to write clearly, creatively, and effectively so that they would able to face the complexity of the 21st century globalized world.

History
The teaching of English language and literature started in PN Campus since its establishment in 2017 BS with 2 faculty members running classes for 13 students. George John was the first English teacher who was also the first Principal of the campus. Now, the number of students has increased each year that has also caused in the increase of faculty members and academic programmes in the department.

To date, George John, Bal Gopal Amatya, Devendra Adhikari, Krishna Prasad Aryal, Tikaram Koirala, and Dr. Man Bahadur KC (who is now on leave) served the department as Head during their tenure and recently Rajendra Prasad Tiwari leads the department as its Head. It has now 33 faculty members for running English classes: 16 with permanent status, 14 with contract status and 3 with adjunct status and 2 administrative staff for office management.

A Place to Study
The department has also a long-standing stake in three publications, The Outlook: Journal of English Studies and Literary Magazine and English Bulletin. The members of the department both build on and contribute to the fields of language, literature, critical theories, philosophy, and the visual arts. It includes a broad range of subfields, media, and genres: from epic and romance to cultural studies and films, from theatre to transnational literature to literary intersections with science.

In order to meet all these commitments, the department often conducts seminars/workshops and other interactive forums that offer both faculty members and students opportunities to present and discuss work in progress and to hear and comment on current work by scholars from other institutions as well.

The Bachelor’s Degree courses like Major English as such attract the larger number of students in the Humanities and offer emphases in both literary analysis and in creative works. The Master of Arts (MA) in English is still larger; around 100 students enter the department each year. The department continues to hire energetic faculty members to consolidate its strengths in the fields of language and literature, and to expand its offerings in creative writing, transnational literatures, media, Nepal studies, and other developing areas of inquiry.

The department runs classes at Master Level as well as English classes at Bachelor’s Level of five faculties – around 324 classes in total (in the morning and in the day). Additionally, the department, through its research committee, organizes orientation programmes for thesis writing, provides guidance and counseling to thesis writers, and fixes viva voce.

The department is rich in resources with thousands of reference books, textbooks, overhead and multimedia projector, video with cassettes of dramas, novels, films and poems. They can be used by both faculty members and students.

English Resource Centre
The English Resource Centre (ERC) at the Department of English is a resource for the study of English language and literature, and American Studies. It aims to provide an environment in the department where faculty members and students can improve their skills in both language and literature in English.

The ERC was founded in 1986 and was pioneered by Mark Keller, an American teacher of English in the Department of Language, headed by Ram Ashish Giri. Here, the small library was expanded, a collection of language tapes built up, and the room was used regularly by students and teachers as a study and meeting place where English was practiced. Under the chairmanship of Bal Gopal Amatya, a member of staff took responsibility for the ERC, which ran successfully until 1989, when external events led to its closure.

In 1992, under the Chairmanship of Devendra Adhikari, the ERC opened. A Tutor for the ERC was requested by the Campus Chief, and a British VSO Worker, Christine Clinch, was appointed. Books and tapes were checked, and display boards mounted to supply information and demonstrate teaching ideas. The British Council was approached, and through it a handsome donation for books received from the British Overseas Development Agency. Further donations of books came from Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), and through the work of Andy Swarzman, from the USIS (American Library), a regular supply of newspapers and magazines in English was established. They proved beneficial to the students and teachers who used the ERC as a place to pursue English studies.

In the first year of its new life, the ERC opened its door for the students of the new MA English course. Teachers and students alike enjoyed the pleasant atmosphere of this unusual classroom in which they worked for four hours. MA students, as well as teachers, were allowed the privilege of borrowing books, and access to the shelves. The ERC was opened for the students of all faculties, and a few had made regular use of the language books and the tapes, and was taken the opportunity to practise speaking English in an encouraging environment.

It was Christine’s great hope to see a variety of English speaking activities established in the ERC. Some workshops were held with education students, and in April 1993 a successful workshop was conducted in which Mr. Pottinger of the British Council donated books, that were provided by the ODA, and spoke about the formation of a Nepal English Language Teacher’s Association (NELTA) in Kathmandu inviting anyone interested to become a member, and suggesting that future local activities might be arranged. In December the same year, a meeting was held in the ERC at which a Pokhara branch of NELTA was formed, and a committee elected which took responsibility for the organization of events in this area. In the ERC, there were changes of management in 1993. At the end of Mr. Adhikari’s term of office, Mr. Amatya resumed Chairmanship of the English Department. Christine returned to the UK and her place was taken by Barbara Laing, also from the VSO. Then, Jyoti Krishna Shrestha, a member of the English teaching staff, allocated time so that he could work alongside Barbara with a view to taking over the position of the ERC Tutor.

A committee was formed to look after the interests of the ERC. It was chaired by the Tutor, and the Chairman of English Department provided a supervisory and supportive presence. Two other members were drawn from the English staff, the President of the Student’s Union gave his support, and two representatives were elected from the MA and B.Ed. students, the main users of the ERC. The committee met occasionally to decide on matters of the ERC policy.

A major piece of work has been the classification of books according to the Dewy system. This was done with the help of VSO Librarian Marji Cross. The process of cataloguing continues as the new books come in. The EIC Bulletin was resurrected, with a board led by Devi Gautam as editor. The single sheet bulletin came out at the beginning of each month, and was popularly received.

The handsome TV set and VCR presented by the British Embassy are a most valuable addition to the ERC. Classes have been able to supplement studies of books and plays with viewing of films, and teachers are discovering methods of using film in workshop situations.

As the term of Barbara was nearing, the Head of English Department, Mr. Amatya was becoming increasingly concerned about how the ERC would be successfully run with Jyoti as Tutor who had no training except working under Barbara. So the British Council was requested and a scholarship was granted in July 1994 when Barbara was anticipating to leave in December.

Jyoti having left for England to pursue a course in January, Amir Man Shrestha was appointed in his place. It was then decided to take the stock of the library. In January (Magh 2051), there was a change in the ERC management. Dhruva Karki replaced Amir Man as Tutor and with efforts the ERC came back to life. Activities such as debates, and speech contests were organized and certificates distributed to the successful participants. Clerical officer, Chandra Raman was replaced by Radha Karki. The rules of the ERC were for the first time drafted and submitted to the Campus Chief for support to the management of the ERC.

In 1995, Jyoti Krishna Shrestha returned and took over the responsibilities of the ERC. He displayed ELT materials which he had brought along from the UK, gave a talk and conducted workshop. In the meantime, Radha Karki’s going on study leave set up a pressure on the Tutor, which was relieved by the appointment of Krishna Bikram Rana to look after the ERC in the morning.

In 1997, Krishna Prasad Aryal took over the Chairmanship of the English Department, and in 1998, Jyoti Krishna Shrestha was replaced by Min Pun as Tutor. The ERC held a committee meeting on 16 November under the Chairmanship of Mr. Aryal, Head of the English Department. Then meeting decided to publish 3 serial publications such as Journal of English (research oriented), Literary Magazine (creative writing oriented) and English Bulletin (news oriented). Min Pun, a faculty member at the department, was appointed as Tutor. The new adjustment was made when Jyoti Krishna Shrestha, the former Tutor, took over the chair of the Language Teaching Department. The meeting also passed new library regulations which Mr. Pun expected to help the library function smoothly. During Mr. Pun’s tenure, Michael Metzler, an American Peace Corps Volunteer, and Andy Swarzman contributed to the department by organizing TOEFL and language classes. Seminars and conferences were organized frequently and activities of the ERC increased. In 2001,Mr. Pun was on study leave to pursue his Master’s Study in Canada and then in Tokyo University as a Visiting Research Fellow for more than two years.

The responsibilities of the ERC were transferred to Saroj Koirala, another faculty member of the department. In 2000, Mr. Aryal was also replaced by Tikaram Koirala as Head of the department. During the tenure of Mr. Koirala, the activities of the ERC were increased and continued with vigour. On 25 April 2007, Tikaram Koirala was replaced by Dr. Man Bahadur KC as Head of the department and the responsibilities of the ERC went to Homa Nath Sharma, another faculty member of the department, who has been working for the ERC even now after Mr. Ghan Bahadur Thapa became Head of the department.

Over the years, the ERC has always been attempting to create an academic environment in the department and to expose the teachers and students to English to enable them to develop their skills in both language and literature. It has a small but rich library, which maintains a collection of over 5000 books, 300 periodicals and audio-visual materials on English language and literature and American Studies. Activities of the ERC include the following:

  • Seminars/ Conferences/ Workshops
  • Language classes
  • Publications of journals, magazines and bulletins
  • Film and documentary shows
  • Quiz, poetry, and debate competitions
  • Group discussions
  • Book exhibitions
  • Display of posters

Courses Offered/ Syllabus
The Department of English offers the following programmes with more than 8 courses for Bachelor’s Level programmes and more than 50 courses for the Master’s Level programme. The following are courses offered Bachelor’s and Master’s Level programmes at the department:

Bachelor’s Level Syllabus Master’s Level Syllabus
- Compulsory English – I
- Compulsory English – II
- Major English – I
- Major English – II
- Major English – III
- Business English
- Business Communication
- Technical Communication
- MA in English – I Year
- MA in English – II Year

Publications
The Department of English has also involved in publication activities, publishing a research journal, a magazine, and a bulletin, which are published regularly and periodically. The following are the latest issues of them:

The OutlookEnglish MagzineEnglish Bulletin

Departmental Research Committee
The Departmental Research Committee consists of the following faculty members as its members to manage, monitor and evaluate the departmental research activities:

  1. The Chair - Ghan Bahadur Thapa, Head & Associate Professor
  2. Member Secretary - Homa Nath Sharma, the ERC Tutor & Teaching Assistant
  3. Member - Bishwo Raj Adhikari, Professor
  4. Member - Dr. Saroj Koirala, Professor
  5. Member - Dr. Min Pun, Professor
  6. Member - Dipendra Parajuli, Associate Professor

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Contact
Ghan Bahadur Thapa
Head
Department of English
Tribhuvan University
Prithvi Narayan Campus
Pokhara, Nepal
Phone: +977-9846041490
Email: eng@pncampus.edu.np
URL: www.pncampus.edu.np

The Faculty Members Directory

S.No.NameTitleAdmin TitleCV
1. Bishwo Raj Adhikari Professor
2. Dr. Saroj Koirala Professor Campus Chief
3. Dr. Min Pun Professor Coordinator
4. Ghan Bahadur Thapa Associate Professor Dept. Head
5. Dr. Bhanubhakta Sharma Kandel Associate Professor
6. Dipendra Parajuli Associate Professor
7. Dr. Nagendra Bhandari Associate Professor
8. Top Bahadur Thapa Lecturer
9. Nirmal Thapa Lecturer
10. Dr. Bhawana Pokharel Lecturer
11. Radha Devi Sharma Lecturer
12. Ashok Kumar Shahi Lecturer
13. Homa Nath Sharma Lecturer
14. Kamal Gurung Lecturer
15. Laxmi Sapkota Lecturer
16. Dr. Sabindra Raj Bhandari Lecturer
17. Tej Narayan Adhikari Lecturer
18. Ganga Ram Paudyal Lecturer
19. Dipendra Regmi Lecturer
20. Rohit Baral Lecturer
21. Bishwo Raj Adhikari Lecturer
22. Tej Narayan Timilsina Teaching Assistant
23. Binod Bhandari Teaching Assistant
24. Laxmi Gurung Adjunct Faculty
25. Anil Parajuli Adjunct Faculty
26. Rajendra Mani Poudel Adjunct Faculty