A Brief History
The Government College, Kasaragod was established in1957 by the Government of Kerala, as a need was felt for a college in this underdeveloped area. In the beginning there was no facility of its own, so the classes were conducted in a local high school in Kasaragod town. It was the then Education Minister Prof. Joseph Mundasseri who took the initiative in the matter. The College commenced functioning early in August 1957 in a corner of the High School building. Prof. V. Gopalan Nair took over as the first Principal of the college on 08-07-1957. The College was declared open by the Honorable Minister of Finance, Sri. C. Achutha Menon on 07-08-1957. Prof. V. Gopalan Nair was succeeded by Prof. K.S.V. Shenoy as the principal. For starting Degree classes in Economics and Mathematics, steps were taken to speed up the construction work of the proposed new campus at Kunhimavu Katte where 30.56 acres of land had been acquired for this purpose. Prof. K.S.V. Shenoy was succeeded by another stalwart Prof. Karimpuzha Ramakrishnan, under whose stewardship the College the college started gaining importance as a premium institution of higher learning. During this time the institution became a full-fledged first grade college with the opening of third year degree classes. Prof. Karimpuzha Ramakrishnan continued up to 19-11-1962 when Prof. V. Gopalan Nair was reposted as Principal, and he continued in the post until he was promoted as Director of Collegiate Education on 13-06-1967. As of now the college offers 14 undergraduate courses, 7 post graduate courses and 5 PhD programmes. College is reaccredited with NAAC ‘A’ grade.
The site chosen for the new campus was traditionally known as Kunhimavu Katte, named after the lone mango tree on the National Highway-17 about 3 km from Kasaragod town. The foundation stone for the campus was laid by Prof. Joseph Mundasseri, the then Minister for Education, on 17th January 1958. Sri. M. Umesh Rao in the presence of the Minister announced to the cheering public of Kasaragod, the committees decision to rename the place asVidyangar.
