Kolkata|
Basabi Pal, head of the French department at Chandernagore Government College was conferred the insignia of the Knight of the Order of Academic Palms for her “outstanding contribution” towards the promotion of French language in her three decades of service by Ambassador to France, Alexandre Ziegler. Ziegler is currently o his three-day maiden visit to India. In her acceptance speech she appealed for the preservation of the built heritage of Chandernagore and the promotion of French language at the school level in Bengal.
Basabi Pal (née Ghosh) was born in October 1958 in Kolkata in the Royal Family of Sheoraphuli at the heritage town of Chandernagore. After her ‘O’ level she enrolled into Institut De Chandernagor to study French and completed her Bachelors as a Gold Medalist in French from University of Burdwan as a Gold Medalist simultaneously obtaining Diplôme d’études en langue française from Alliance Française, Paris in 1979 with Très honorable avec félicitations. In 1981 she completed her Masters in French from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and was awarded French Government scholarship in the year 1982-83 to complete her Diplôme de Professeur de Français à l’Étranger, Université Paris III, La Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris. Post studies she joined Chandernagore Govt. College as part time teacher in French and rose to her current Associate Professorship and Head of the Department of French there.
Originally founded by Emperor Napoléon to honor eminent members of the University of Paris, Ordre des Palmes académiques (Order of Academic Palms), a national order of France for distinguished academics and figures in the world of culture and education was changed into its current form as an Order on 4 October 1955 by President René Coty. Decisions on nominations and promotions are decided by the French Minister of Education.
