Gokhale Memorial Girls College, Kolkata was established in 1939. The college is affiliated to Calcutta University and accredited by NAAC.

Gokhale Memorial Girls' College enjoys the distinction of being the first undergraduate college to be affiliated by the Calcutta University to teach Psychology in the Three Year Degree Course in 1957.

Sarala Ray, popularly known as Mrs. P. K. Ray, a great social reformer and educationist, founded the Gokhale Memorial Girls' School in 1920. A pioneer among Bengali women to aspire for Higher Education, she was one of the first Indian women to acquire a University degree. As a social reformer Sarala Ray's primary objective was not merely to churn out women graduates but to train and guide women to become worthy citizens, capable home-builders and conscientious workers in their chosen field of activity.

The Institution is named after Gopal Krishna Gokhale, a distinguished teacher, educationist and freedom fighter. This great patriot of India fervently believed that a wide diffusion of female education in all its branches is a crucial determinant of the true welfare of a nation. Greatly inspired by his ideals and educational aspirations for women, Sarala Ray founded the Institution as a memorial to Gokhale, to serve the cause of education of girls in the country.

Dr. S. E. Rani Ghosh was the first Principal of College. She served it from its inception in 1938 till her death on 18th November 1961. A true educationist and believer in woman's emancipation, she nurtured the Institution from an Intermediate College of Arts and Science to a Three Year Degree College. Under her able guidance, the Institution gained a wide reputation and lived up to the expectations of Gokhale and Sarala Ray.

VISION & MISSION

The vision of Gokhale Memorial Girls' College is:
To develop and empower women through education that fosters knowledge and skills, promotes values of equality, secularism and national integration, moulds character through discipline and rigour and creates an open mind capable of assimilating the best traditions of the East and the West.

The mission statements of Gokhale Memorial Girls' College aim at translating its vision into action plans through:

• Dissemination of knowledge leading to academic excellence and personal growth
• Stimulation of the academic environment of the Institution for promotion of quality in teaching-learning.
• Maintenance of a balance between education that promotes knowledge per se and training that imparts skills for employability.
• Broadening the base of women's education in keeping with the framework of a pluralistic society.
• Inculcation of egalitarian, secular and non-parochial values among students in addition to the core values of honesty, discipline, courage, compassion, self respect as well as respect for others
• Promotion of all-round development of the students to face the emerging and futuristic challenges arising from complexities of the rapidly changing national and international scenario.

In keeping with the broad vision and mission, the objective of the Institution is to enrich the society by creating women - intellectually astute, economically independent, socially aware, politically conscious, morally superior yet graceful, gentle and sensitive.