150 years of Aliya School: Alumni get nostalgic, revisit school's history & legacy

Hyderabad: It was an evening of nostalgia for nearly 250 alumnus of Madrasa-i-Aliya as they reconvened at the Nizam Club on Saturday evening to celebrate 150 years of Aliya School, the pre-Independence era institution now known as Aliya Government School.

Established in 1872 by the sixth Nizam Nawab Mir Mehboob Ali Khan, the institution's sesquicentennial celebrations (1872-2022) took place at the 138-year-old Nizam Club, another historic institution of the Nizam era.

The reunion was organised by a group of Aliyans whose efforts brought together students from the 1949 batch to the 1980s. Many Aliyans were posthumously remembered as Aliyans revisited the remarkable history and legacy of the institution in a short documentary produced by Media Plus Foundation. Exhilarated by the reunion, senior citizens went back to their school days and nostalgia was apparent on their faces as they viewed the documentary.

Zahid Ali Khan, the chief editor of Siasat Daily and an alumnus of Aliya School, released the Aliya School souvenir in the presence of other senior alumnus, including noted businessman Abdul Munim, president of the Nizam Club and secretary Sultan ul Uloom Education Society Zafar Javeed, in the presence of the organising team comprising Iftakhar Hussain, Hamid Lateef, Ghulam Mohammed, Syed Abdul Mutakabbir, Mohammed Yousuf Jaffar, Mohammed Nayeem Siddiqui, and Mohammed Qutubuddin, among others.

The souvenir documents the history, the alumni of Aliya, their recollections and contributions and also contains the alumni directory containing names and phone numbers of over 300 alumni.

The website of Madrasa-i-Aliya, developed by Tericsoft, was launched by noted businessmen and philanthropist Abdul Muneem on the occasion.

Senior journalist Somasekhar Mulugu announced that an alumni foundation will be set up to help pay back the institution that served as the launch pad for many of its students to become distinguished achievers. Aliyans pledged to take initiatives to help restore the now-dilapidated premises of the school to its former glory.

Turning dreamers into achievers

When Madrasa-e-Aliya was established in 1872 for the noble and the aristocratic families, there were 125 schools in the Hyderabad state and 16 in the city of Hyderabad. Madrasa-i-Aliya was established by the sixth Nizam on the proposal of Salar Jung I. It was the only English-medium school in those days. Top-drawer mathematicians and English tutors were hired to teach at this institution.

Madrasa-i-Aliya was first housed in the mansion of a British Businessman Horace Rumbold in King Kothi area. It was later moved to a portion of Asad Bagh, the present-day Nizam College, belonging to a great noble, Nawab Fakhr-ul-Mulk. In 1949, Madrasa-i-Aliya was moved to its present premises, also a residence of Nawab Fakhr-ul-Mulk.

When the Aliya School was made open to the common public, it helped countless dreamers become distinguished achievers. Earlier, students of TMREIS Bahadurpura Boys school presented the Tarana-i-Aliya.

The Aliya School's close proximity to the Nizam College inspired many budding sportspersons to play for Aliya School, then for the Nizam College, then further at the L.B. Stadium in the vicinity. From here, many great cricketers were born who went on to play national and international cricket, including three captains—Ghulam Ahmed and Mohammed Azharuddin who led the Indian cricket team and Asif Iqbal Rizvi who first played South Zone and then led the Pakistani cricket team as its captain.

The institution also churned out sports greats like Abbas Ali Baig, S.M. Hadi, Nawab Mohammed Hussain, Edulji Bujorji Aibara, and Shabbir Ali, former captain of the Indian football team, to name a few.