Right from the inception of A.M.A.L.College in 1953 by the Anakapalle Merchant Association, Department of the English has been an integral part of the college. The Department was first headed by Sri Ganti Sri Rama Murthy garu, who later became Dr. Ganti Sri Rama Murthy when he submitted his Ph.D Thesis on Dylan Thomas in 1975. For that thesis Sir T Venkata Ratnam Naidu, Resaacch Medal was awarded. Truly it was a great honour. Sri Rama Murthy garu was a prolific writer, not only in English, but also in Telugu, Hindi and Sanskrit. He wrote 7 books, but his “ Satyaprabha”, stands out to be his best. He has a list of Poetry to his credit. He was the role model of the entire faculty members in the department.
Later Sri. S. Sree Ramulu garu, joined the department and then in 1956 Sri G.Krishna Kumar joined the department. Both were stalwarts in the art of teaching English Language and Literature. Sri S Sree Ramulu garu was not only a great teacher but also a romantic poet. His collection of poems was titled and published as “ Fire and Fury”. Ramu “Mastaru” as he was lovingly called by his students. He was also a very good research guide. A research Scholar named R Krishna Rao the Department of English Andhra University, P.G, English branch at Kakinada approached Sree Ramulu garu for his guidance on his thesis based on Wole Soyinka. It was adjudged the best thesis by the Department of English, Oxford University, London. And all the credit went to Sree Ramulu garu. Sri G. Krishna Garu was a good teacher and who held class spellbound with his sheer excellence in teaching. He was a very simple, sensitive and honest man. In 1956 itself another teacher Sri V Kameswara Rao joined the department. He always maintained a very low profile and he was a good teacher of English traditional grammar. It was during this time another eminent person joined the department, Sri. K.S.R. Murthy. But he soon left after he qualified for I.A.S. in 1957. During the 1960’s Sri S. V. Subrmanyam garu, Smt. G Lalith garu and Sri N.S.S. Ramaiah, joined the department as tutors, but later they were promoted as lectures, as per U.G.C. norms. Sri. K Appala Naidu and Sri V Deva Prasad garu joined the department in the mid 1960’s.
In the 1960’s three other eminent personalities joined the department. Dr. M.S.R. Murthy who went on to become a professor in Andhra University, Visakhapatnam. Sri. A.S.N. Ramana Murthy qualified for APPSC, Group II and he left the department to become the District Cooperative Registrar. Dr. K. Madhusudan Rao garu worked for a short stint and he opted to become a professor in Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur.
In the mid 1970’s Sri. B. Venkateswara Rao joined the English Department. In January 1981 Sri. S.S. Venkateswar and A.S. Kamalakar joined the department. It was an honour to the department that Dr. Ganti Sree Ramamurty garu attained the status of Principalship in the year 1983. All the first and second generations English Teachers were retired. In the mid 1990’s gradually even the third generation teachers were retired. I, Akkapatruni Ravindra and Sri. B. Satyananda Sagar joined as part-time lecturers in the department in the year 1989 under the Headship of Sri B. Venkateswara Rao. Myself and Sri. B.S.Sagrar were regularized as full time aided lecturers in the year 1998. In the year 2000 the then Government announced the backlog vacancies to be filled. Thus paving way for three more lecturers into the department of English. They were 1.Sri. K.V.S. Maheswara Rao, 2) Smt. D. Jyothirmai. and 3) Sri P. Venkata Sudhakar. Then the total strength of our department was eight by the year 2000.
Due to some personal reasos in 2002, Sri. S.S. Venkateswar volunteered to retire later in the year 2008, Smt. D. Jyothirmai went on to join as Assistant Professor in Sri Adikvi Nannaya University, Rajahmahendravaram. Sri B. Venkateswara Rao was also retired in the year 2009. Immediately after the retirement of Sri. B. Venkateswara Rao, Sri A.S. Kamalakar took the charge as the Head of the Department in the same year. In the year 2016 Sri A.S. Kamalakar took voluntary retirement.
I, Akkapatruni Ravindra took the charge as the Head of the Department. At present there are three lecturers namely 1) Sri. B. Satyananda Sagar 2) Dr. Koram. V. S. Maheswara Rao and 3) Dr. P. Venkata Sudhakar, assisting me in the duties of the very department. I am very happy to have one Doctorate Sri. K.V.S. Maheswara Rao and one honorary Doctorate Sri. P. Venkata Sudhakar.
HEIGHLIGHTS OF THE DEPARTMENT