In this episode of Shillong’s Iconic Structures, we are featuring the Raid Laban College, located at Madan Laban, Shillong, which is essentially an outcome of a collaborative vision and set ideals shared by a few forward-thinking citizens of Greater Laban towards providing quality education.
The College was founded in the year 1984 and is managed by the “Raid Laban College Educational Society”. The College was first established for the benefit of students of Meghalaya, despite later opening its fold to students coming from all over Northeast and the other parts of the country.
The institution was formerly an evening college that was a part of the Raid Laban Higher Secondary School. With the institution scrambling for a site of its own, it was only in 1986 that the Raid Laban Dorbar donated 3.4 acres of land for the construction of the college. The college then relocated in 1988 to its present permanent location. It was inaugurated by the then Chief Minister (L) P.A. Sangma that was followed by an upgrade of degree classes. 
However, in 1999, the degree level courses were upgraded to honors level in BA and B.Com streams.
The next big step in the uphill journey of the College was to acquire affiliation with the North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), but at that point of time to get the desired recognition the College had to maintain a reserve amount of one lakh rupees. It was then that two influential businessmen from Shillong, Shrolenson Marbaniang and M Nongkynrih, generously donated the amount to help overcome the stumbling block and then the Meghalaya Government furnished the college with an Ad-hoc Grant in the Aid system from December 1986.
The building, which was one of the first RCC structures constructed in Laban is a sight to behold. The campus is surrounded by lush greenery which enhances its beauty and makes it an ideal place to study. Raid Laban College has a library that is well furnished and for the 
advantage of the students, the library maintains a resource pool of previous years’ question papers. Soon the library will be well equipped with wi-fi facilities as well.
A sitting gallery that was completed in August 2013 is another noticeable architectural component of the campus.
The other noteworthy opportunities that the College provides is to promote deserving students in the field of sports, especially basketball, volleyball, and badminton with sports scholarships.
The College’s academic performance is consistently on the upward rise. Even though the College mostly serves students from rural backgrounds, one bright spot has always been the students’ academic performances in their final examinations. Among some of the notable alumni, is an Economics graduate who is now employed with the World Bank, along with other successful graduates some of whom are surgeons, orthopedists, and one who has his own Christian ministry in Delhi.