JAHU · BHORANJ · HAMIRPUR DISTRICT · HIMACHAL PRADESH · 2002
Republic College of India, Jahu, Himachal Pradesh
In 2002, at Jahu in Himachal Pradesh, the Prem family brought a long-held educational vision to life: a modern college created so girls and young women could gain qualifications, see a path into careers, build independence and imagine a future larger than the limits placed around them.
Chandra Shekhar Prem had spent part of the 1950s and 1960s as a college principal in Jalandhar. Decades later, that experience helped shape the Republic College of India at Jahu: a purpose-built learning centre for a new generation, funded, designed and developed as a Prem family project.
Republic College of India at a glance
Location: Una–Jahu–Nerchowk Road, Jahu, Bhoranj, Hamirpur district, Himachal Pradesh 176048, India.
The Prem family project became a reality at Jahu in 2002.
Chandra Shekhar Prem and Savita Prem led the family project. Their daughters, Aneeta and Vineeta, were also involved, including in its funding, design and vision.
Chandra Shekhar Prem had previously served as a principal in Jalandhar, where he met Savita Prem. The family also retains an earlier photograph carrying the Republic College name.
Chandra Shekhar Prem died at the college in June 2002.
Designed for its time as a modern learning centre: proper desks, modern classrooms, air conditioning and a professional environment for students, lecturers and teachers.
A family vision made real
The Republic College of India at Jahu did not begin with a building. It began with a belief shared by my parents, Chandra Shekhar Prem and Savita Prem: education could change what a young person believed was possible.
My parents led the project. My sister Vineeta and I were involved too, contributing to the funding, design and vision. As a family, we put money, time, work and determination into turning an idea into a real college at Jahu.
By 2002, the idea had become classrooms, desks, offices, grounds and students walking through the gates. The photographs on this page record that moment when a family ambition became an educational institution.
For us, the college was never simply bricks and land. It was an investment in what the next generation, especially girls and young women, might be able to become.
The building mattered because of the message behind it: your education matters, your future matters, and your possibilities should not be small.
From Jalandhar to Jahu
In the 1950s and 1960s, Chandra Shekhar Prem served as a college principal in Jalandhar. Education was already at the centre of his life, and it was there that he met Savita Prem.
Decades later, that experience helped shape the Republic College of India at Jahu. The journey ran from the classrooms he knew as a principal in the 1950s and 1960s to a modern learning centre designed for a new generation in 2002.
A FAMILY DREAM
The college at Jahu, 2002
In 2002, the Republic College of India at Jahu became the physical expression of a long-held family ambition. It stood in Himachal Pradesh as a college our family had helped fund, design and bring into being.
The purpose was larger than a building. We believed education could widen a young person’s future, creating more opportunity, confidence and independence, especially for girls and young women.
A college designed to raise expectations
Chandra Shekhar Prem wanted the Republic College of India to be state-of-the-art for its time. He helped shape a purpose-built learning centre with proper desks, modern classrooms, air conditioning and a professional environment for lecturers and teachers as well as students.
For students coming from much more basic learning conditions, including classrooms where chalkboards and sitting on the floor were still familiar, the difference was meant to be visible immediately. The surroundings said something important before a lesson even began: serious education belonged to them too.
Good facilities were never the final goal. They were the foundation for good teaching, stronger qualifications and higher expectations. My father wanted girls and young women to see teaching and other careers as realistic futures, to build financial independence and to have more power over decisions about marriage and the life ahead.
JUNE 2002
He lived to see it
Chandra Shekhar Prem died at the college in June 2002, the same year the family vision became real. He did not live to see all the years that followed, but he lived long enough to see the Republic College of India standing at Jahu.
That makes the college inseparable from the final chapter of his life. After decades spent believing in education, he saw one more educational idea move from conversation and planning into bricks, classrooms and a place for learning.
For our family, that matters. He saw the dream become real.
Savita Prem, Aneeta and Vineeta
The Republic College of India was not the work of one person. Savita Prem was central to the project, sharing the funding, decisions, planning, journeys, sacrifices and hopes that turned the idea into reality.
Her daughters, Aneeta and Vineeta, were involved too, including in the funding, design and vision. The college was a family project, built through the contribution of parents and daughters together.
What the college stood for
The idea behind the Republic College of India was bigger than access to a classroom. Education could raise expectations, open career paths and give a young woman more confidence, more independence and more choices about the direction of her life.
The college was created to make that possibility feel real: a serious place to learn, a professional place to teach and a visible statement that the next generation of girls and young women deserved ambition, opportunity and a future without artificial limits.
Republic College of India, Jahu: key questions
What is the Republic College of India at Jahu?
The Republic College of India at Jahu is a Prem family education project in Himachal Pradesh, India. The family project became a reality in 2002 through the vision, funding, design and work of Chandra Shekhar Prem, Savita Prem and their daughters.
Who created and funded the college?
The project was led by Chandra Shekhar Prem and Savita Prem. Their daughters, Aneeta and Vineeta, were also involved, including in the funding, design and vision that shaped the college.
Where is the Republic College of India?
Republic College of India is on Una–Jahu–Nerchowk Road at Jahu, in the Bhoranj area of Hamirpur district, Himachal Pradesh 176048, India.
Why did the Prem family build the college?
Chandra Shekhar Prem wanted girls and young women in Himachal Pradesh to have a modern learning environment, strong qualifications and a route towards careers, financial independence and greater choice over marriage and their future.
What survives from the college’s early history?
The Prem family collection includes photographs of the college building, gates and grounds, students, classroom activity and the college office, together with an earlier photograph carrying the Republic College name.
What made the Republic College of India modern for its time?
Chandra Shekhar Prem wanted a state-of-the-art learning environment for its time, with proper desks, modern classrooms, air conditioning and a professional setting for lecturers and teachers as well as students. The aim was to raise expectations, improve the quality of teaching and show girls and young women that their education deserved serious investment.
For the next generation
The Republic College of India was built to do more than teach a syllabus. It was meant to change expectations. For a girl entering a modern classroom, sitting at a proper desk and learning in a place designed to take her education seriously, the message was clear: education could lead somewhere. A qualification could become a career. A career could bring independence. And independence could widen the choices she had about marriage, family and the life ahead of her.
IN MY FATHER’S MEMORY
My father did not live to see all the years that followed. But he lived long enough to see the dream become real.