Welcome to Mahamati Prannath Mahavidyalaya Chitrakoot

Mahamati Prannath Mahavidyalaya is situated 70 Km from Allahabad at Mau on the Allahabad-Jhansi highway (NH 76). The institution, named after the renowned Bhakti saint Mahamati Prannath, was established in 1982 to facilitate a liberal arts education in Mau, a primarily rural sub division of Chitrakoot district. There was then no institution for higher education in Mau, and the nearest such centres were either 70 kilometres away in the city of Allahabad, or 80 kilometres distant in the township of Atarra. However, students even in that constraining milieu had proceeded to acquire higher education in these and other centres. Higher education was largely inaccessible to girls from the area in the prevailing socio-cultural scenario. Education to women was also a significant factor driving the courageous resolve of the group of individuals who decided to found a college in their native village. The college was started with meagre resources in a functional structure consisting of six rooms and quite basic facilities. One is naturally moved to pay tribute to the spirit of philanthropy and social vision of the idealistic core group comprising academics, bureaucrats, social workers, and entrepreneurs, which braved such odds in this noble endeavour. The pioneer in this group was the academician Matabadal Jaiswal, Professor of Hindi in the University of Allahabad. It was largely due to his unceasing endeavour that the foundations of the college came to be laid. The Government of Uttar Pradesh through a department grant enabled the college society to deposit the one time amount needed for affiliation to Bundelkhand University. The college was subsequently granted permanent affiliation by Bundelkhand University and included in 1988 by the government in the category of colleges receiving grant in aid for salaries to staff and faculty. Concurrently, the faculty began to be recruited through the statutory body in this regard, The Uttar Pradesh Higher Education Services Commission. In 1996 the managerial powers were vested by the Government of Uttar Pradesh in the office of the District Magistrate who was made the Authorised Controller of the college. The arrangement has since then been extended every year.

By the early nineties, the college soon gained a reputation in the region for its academic atmosphere and fair conduct of examinations. With the passing years there has been significant improvement in the employability of its students. Sine some recent years, the majority of its students has come to be comprised of girls. The college has endeavoured to familiarise students, in the initial weeks of every academic session itself, with the objectives and mission of the institution to introduce an academic culture in the student community in accordance with the general objectives of the graduate system of the country along with the aspirations which lay behind the establishment of the college in Mau. It is a matter of some satisfaction that the student community has generally tried to be sincere in pursuance such aims.

The objective of founding the institution lay in the providence of a graduate degree, for further pursuance of education and employment, in a limited spectrum of 6 disciplines – English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Economics, History, and Political Science. The objectives of the institution have however not remained confined to a simple transference of information and knowledge. In addition to the primary function of enabling the students for further educational qualifications, the institution aspires to inculcate civic and ethical awareness required from members of a responsible ethical citizenry. Towards this aspect, teaching the curriculum has on the part of the faculty involved a linkage with crucial issues regarding marginalisation, gender, economy, ecology, culture and society.