Are We Ready For The Centennial Celebrations ?
Dr. Abdus Salam [email protected]
GC Attock will celebrate its centenary in 2024
1. GC Campbellpur was opened in 1924 as 4 classes Inter College having 9th to 12th class.
2. Any idea When 9th and 10th classes were separated from inter college.?
3. In 1942 it was upgraded to Degree College
4. Any idea PG classes started in which year ??
5. Was college initially started in present Pilot School building ??
6. Which is the oldest building of college?
7. Where is Butler block? how was it named?
9. List of Books written by students / teachers on any topic
10. Commemorative Postal stamp.
Our class fellow Amjad Aftab Pre-Med 72/74 retired from Pakistan Post in 2016, as Additional Director General (Operations) BPS 21. He is willing to help.
Colleges with Milk-teeth are having commemorative stamps even at 10th birth day Stamp: 2021-01-04 April, 2021–10 Years Of Karnal Sher Khan Cadet College Swabi (2011-2021) Commemorative Postage Stamp.
11. College Magazine –Special Number with articles about how the buildings and staff evolved.
12. Articles about Teachers & Principals
13. Shining Star Alumni, Major Generals and above, Grade 20 and above, Parliamentarians, Writers any criteria decided by Centenary Committee
14. Basic / Lower Administrative Staff like Old Mali, Naib Qasid etc. Like Shahiya, Maita –Chacha Nawab, Azad bio-Lab.
15. Roll number one of 1924 class.
16. Oldest official document / degree. Professor Tariq Nomani was able to dig out Chemistry Attendance Register of 1972 Pre-Medical group.
17. Tracing the eldest living student and teacher — making sure that he attends the event. Taking their interview for the college magazine.
18. Timely preparation of CENTENARY—2024.
19. Getting Special Gift from Government in shape of New Campus or Hostel. University Status for the College.
20. Digging about when Golden jubilee was celebrated and what events were there?
21. Oldest book in the library? Attock station Library had displayed its oldest book in 2003 and Army Central Library Rawalpindi in 2021.
22. How / when different subjects were added like pre-medical, pre-engineering?
23. How different buildings were added?
24. Oldest Photo of staff / students / buildings?
25. Students with maximum generations as these college students. Like great grandfather in 1924 and great grandson in 2024.
26. I am lucky to get email from Javed Shaikh an old alumnus of GC Attock in Apr 2022. It goes like this. A bit edited. Javed says……
I was born and raised at R-214, mohallah shed / shid. I did matric in 1956 from the high school and the FSc. in 1958 from the Campbellpur college. Then I went to Engineering College Lahore (now UET) and did the B.Sc. in electrical engineering in 1961. I left Pakistan in 1971 and am currently residing in the US.
27-Our college was founded in 1924 by converting Normal Middle School into intermediate College (Boarding House 1922). The centennial anniversary is at the corner and the college deserves some celebration.
28-Will it be possible for somebody to write an article providing the old history specially putting emphasis on the pre-partition period. The article can include names of the principals, the college population, the year coeducation started, the number of girls students, the curriculum, the faculty, sports, any championship won etc.
29. The article may also be supported by some old pictures, photos of some pages from old registers. There is a picture on the college internet showing the principal with two boards on the wall at his back with names of the principals starting from 1924. Unfortunately, the boards did not come out clear and are not readable.
30. It may be difficult but not impossible to retrieve this information. In our days it used to be the librarian or the head clerk of the college who would help in gathering this type of old statistics and records. I know one old college student who may be interviewed to provide information of the old era. He is Lt. Col. Nasim Shaikh and resides near the hospital and the railway bridge at main Kamra Road. He did his FSc in 1946 and B.Sc. in 1948. Likely the neighborhood is Mohallah Sheikhan Mehrpura East. They used to live in Mola’s Gali in the old days.
31. Please make serious efforts to arrange an interview with Lt. Col. Nasim Shaikh. His younger brother, Fahim Shaikh is a retired banker. Fahim might be class fellow of Professor Wajahat Ashraf Qazi. Nasim could be the senior most living student, a graduate from 1948.
FOLLOWING ARE THE POINTS LIFTED FROM GOOGLE WITH THANKS
A. Celebrating a 100th birthday as an organization is a big achievement. So, if your organization is about to hit the magic 100, there’s a lot to work out to maximize the opportunity.
B. Tell Your Origin Story
The centennial provides an opportunity to tell the college origin story, demonstrate growth and evolution, and set the stage for the future. A 100th won’t have anyone to tell the origin story firsthand.
C. Take Better Care of Historical Assets
Anniversaries tend to reveal to the organizations the sorry state of their historical assets, including old images, videos, papers, artifacts and other items.
Use the excuse of your 100th to rectify this situation, not only for what you’ll need for your centennial but for future college milestones as well. Consider building archives. If you already have one, make sure that it’s up to date and adheres to current standards for preservation and access. Fill in the gaps in the collection. And digitize what you have, to preserve and provide ongoing utility.
D. Focus on the Future
It may sound strange to recommend that for a 100th anniversary, an organization should focus on its future, but it’s true. The most successful anniversaries are those in which the past is seamlessly connected to where the organization is headed tomorrow.
A hundred years old college like GC Attock deserves to be elevated to the status of university. Local parliamentarians / politicians must be persuaded to do this job regardless of their political affiliation.
E. Make the Centennial Inclusive
Through careful archival research we can retell the story. The results may be a coffee-table history publication, a content bank featuring students’ stories, This is a comprehensive campaign.
F. Start Early
We always recommend that organizations start any anniversary planning as early as possible. Since centennials tend to be bigger and broader than most milestones, it makes sense to allow as much lead time as possible. Doing that, and bearing in mind these suggestions, should lead to a highly successful 100th anniversary program for any organization.
P.S.
i. Lt. Col (R) Dr. Abdus Salam shared this post with Prof Wajahat Ashraf Qazi Sahib. He asked me to share it with Prof Majid Waheed Bhatti, Principal GC Attock
ii. Tariq Saud sahib provided pic of honor board of principals of GC Attock through courtesy of Prof Majid Sahib
iii. We request Attock e-magazine editor Jahangir Bukhari Sahib and Nusrat Bukhari Sahib to see Nasim Sheikh for interview before it is regrettably late. He is likely the oldest surviving alumni of GC Attock. (Para 31 above)
iv. Readers to give input.
Dr. Abdus Salam -
([email protected])
