Nawab Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qayum was deeply concerned about the prevailing state of affairs in the province. The experimental schools run in the Khyber Agency in the first decade of 20th Century which were established there as the result of the mutual efforts of Sir Abdul Qayum and Sir George Roos Kepple had given promising results and this inspired Sahibzada Sahib to start thinking about the development of education on a grand scale. By the year 1909, the idea of a College in the Province was taking its abstract form in the minds of sir Abdul Qayum and Sir George Roos Kepple which was further strengthened by their visit to Aligarh the same year.
At the time of its establishment, no one could visualise that during the course of its existence it would bloom into a University which in turn would give birth to University of Engineering and Technology, Agricultural University, Khyber Medical College and a nursery for other educational institutions. However, it was the farsightedness of Nawab Abdul Qayum Khan, who envisaged a separate University for this area. He had gradually been expanding the Darul-Uloom in a way to evolve itself into a University in the end. He was so certain in his imagination that while responding to the pinching remarks of the then governor he emphatically predicted in 1935 that “the Darul-Uloom will certainly become a University when I may not be on earth and your excellency may be in Britain”.
The sponsors of the Darul-Uloom made the occasion memberable by inviting Haji Sahib of Turangzai, to lay the foundation stone of the mosque. The school started functioning in March 1913 with 25 students representing every important Pathan tribe on its rolls, which rose to nearly two hundred after the first summer vacation. The College began its instructional activities, six months later i.e. on 1 st October 1913. Within a short span of time it acquired the features of a public school in the west alongwith the spirit of Islamic Tradition. The farsightedness of the founder can be judged from the fact that the school was established before the College which aimed at providing a firm base for the college education . The number of the School Hostels were gradually increased to six which indicated the importance of residential character of an institution for all round development of the personalities of its students. This policy was almost reversed after the independence when the school was left with only two hostels, the number of day boys increased and the ratio of boarders and day boys at one time stood as 1:10. In this manner the foundations of the institution were shaken. The Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah visited the College in 1936 and was granted life honorary membership of the Khyber Union of the Islamia College. It was this impression which led him to decide to write his will in 1939 to bequeath one third of his property to the Darul-Uloom-e-Islamia Sarhad .
To restore the school its old status & to check the growing trend for admission on the basis of entitlement the then Principal, while presenting the Annual Report in 1962, proposed that restriction on student enrolment is a must for concentration on quality education & emphasized the quality of the staff & selection of students through entry test. The then Vice-Chancellor declared that Islamia Collegiate School would be converted in to a Public School. Unfortunately the decision was not properly publicized which led to some suspicions among the people of the area and some employees of the University. The University Authorities had to reverse the decision and accordingly the school was bifurcated into two schools, one English Medium & the other Urdu Medium. The effect of this decision was adverse on Islamia Collegiate School. It was named as Urdu Medium School with students drawn mainly from low socio-economic groups and uneducated families & there was no check on admission. Check could be imposed on admission as three-fourth of the school children claimed their right as University Employees children or as residents of the surrounding Villages. Development plans could not be initiated as no Government Department, Agency was ready to sponsor them, each arguing that the school did not come under their purview or priorities.
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