NJV School standing tall for 157 years
NJV School established by Sir Bartle Frere in 1852
Karachi, Jan 21: Narayan Jaganath High School (NJV High School) that proudly
stands on M.A. Jinnah Road today was established by Sir Bartle Frere in 1852 and
has produced luminaries such as eminent Sindhi short story writer and newspaper
columnists Amar Jaleel. A heritage monument and one of the finest
buildings in Karachi, the school starkly contrasts with structures built after
the creation of Pakistan in 1947 which are aesthetically imperfect and
architecturally flawed. The yellow sandstone building that houses the NJV High
School is not only a heritage building, but also has historic value, as the
Sindh Assembly was temporarily held in its eastern portion. However, during the
era of President Ayub Khan, the assembly was shifted again to its original
building. After a passage of 157 years, the school's grandeur attracts
citizens from the city and foreigners alike. The heritage building is also
important because it imparted decent education to both poor and privileged
children. "Children of secretaries in the Sindh government along with poor
students of working classes hailing from Lyari and Malir both studied at the NJV
High School, and teachers would never differentiate between them," Hasan
Mansoor, a senior journalist and Karachi Bureau Chief of AFP said. "I
was admitted in the NJV High School in 1978 and passed my Matriculation
examinations from there in 1983. Mirza Aijaz Baig, grandson of Mirza Khaleej
Baig was our headmaster," he said. "Shamsharul Haidery is one of the best Sindhi
language poets and Tejal Bewas who died last month was one of the best Sindhi
writers. They were quite well off but their sons studied with me," Mansoor
said. "Even the son of a feudal lord from Jacobabad who is now a senior
police official studied with me," he said. Mansoor attributed parents' faith in
the school to the teachers' commitment to standard education. "Teachers would
give priority to education. Even if there was a free period, they would love to
teach us," he said. "Students never missed their classes and were not even
bothered if lectures continued during recess," he added. "The NJV High
School imparted education in Sindhi medium in the morning and in Urdu medium in
the afternoon," he said. "Today there is a chasm in the education system in the
city as elsewhere in Pakistan. On one hand, government schools are producing
clerks while on the other, elite schools are producing bureaucrats," Mansoor
said with bitterness. The school has the distinction that the great Sindhi short
story writer and newspaper columnist Amar Jaleel not only studied in this school
but also emerged as a fine player in first class cricket and a
wicketkeeper. The NJV High School was also declared a Model School in
2008 after it was renovated. It is one of the 600 listed heritage buildings in
Karachi. However, it should be remembered that its grandeur has been the outcome
of the dream of Sir Bartle Frere who made significant contribution to the
establishment of Karachi and its fine teachers and students. "Frère did not
forget the importance of education and started an English school in Karachi,
Sindh in 1852 (now the Narayan Jagannath High School) thus encouraging others to
start schools in Karachi. Actually the lead had already been given when Col.
Preedy who, on his own accord and at his own cost commenced a school somewhere
off Lawrence Road, the present Church Mission High School. The Grammar School of
Karachi, also owes its current location to Bartle Frere," wrote Behram Sohrab H.
J. Rustomji in his book 'Karachi during the British Era'. The News
Your Comments
"since here is muhsin abbasi learned basically from the njv school i m proud to b the matriculate from this institute.the competant teachers of this institute gave me great courage to live happily in our society.now i m the 3rd year student of engineering at mehran uni jamshoro.i encourage my sindhi younger sindhi brothers to take education from this institute and bring this to the heights of success....... ."
Name: MUHSIN ABBASI
Email: muhsii.abbasi@gmail.com
City, Country: karachi
"My self and my elder brothers ZafarKazmi ,saeed hassan shah and younger brother Altaf also studied at NJV.. I matriculated in 1957..we had co-education that time.. That was Grand Era of NJV.. Inter School cricket "Rubie shield" game was holiday for school to support your school team.. My cousin syed Ali Hyder shah & zafarKazmi were our teachers too! Zafar Kazmi and Amar jalleel were part of NJV cricket."
Name: iqbal shah
Email: acl5507@hotmail.com
City, Country: Abu Dhabi UAE
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Sindh University VC proposes shuttle train
Hyderabad: The University of Sindh authorities have requested the
federal government to launch a shuttle train from Mirpurkhas to Jamshoro to
facilitate students of Sindh, Liaquat and Mehran universities and people
visiting Liaquat University Hospital. This was said by the university's
Vice-Chancellor Mazharul Haq Siddiqi while taking to Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F)
Senator Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro during his visit to the university. The senator
told the vice-chancellor that the visit was aimed at ascertaining problems
confronting the university. Mr Siddiqui informed the senator about
enrolment of students at graduate, postgraduate and MPhil and PhD programmes and
briefed him about on-going construction and research projects at the
campus. The vice-chancellor said that a large number of students from
Tharparkar and Mirpurkhas were facing transportation problem. He said
that the university was facing problem of shortage of houses for employees at
the campus. He said that due to shortage of funds since 1988, no new residential
quarter or bungalow had been constructed for the employees though the number of
employees had increased by 100 per cent over the years. He requested the
senator to help in providing funds for the construction of houses for the
teachers and employees. The vice-chancellor said that human resource
development for the university was essential and it was need of the time to
provide resources to faculty to do PhD. He said that many teachers after
qualifying tests were waiting for funds to go abroad for PhD and added that due
to deficit in annual budget of the university and reduction in its funds, the
university was facing lot of problems. Dr Soomro appreciated the
university's progress and promised that he would ask the education ministry to
solve problems of the university and provide funds for faculty scholarships and
construction of houses. The senator also visited the Liaquat University
of Medical and Health Sciences and Mehran University of Engineering and
Technology. WORKSHOP: Pakistan faces massive environmental
pollution, particularly air and water, caused by increasing human pollution,
industrial processes and agrochemicals, speakers said at a workshop on
Monday. Sindh University Vice-Chancellor Dr Mazharul Haq Siddiqui who
opened the workshop on "Environmental Electrochemistry", said that the
application of electrochemical techniques to remedy this menace was a viable and
much needed solution due to its affordability and simplicity as compared to
other techniques. Dawn
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