| Army Burn Hall College | |
| "Quo Non Ascendam" | |
| Established | 1943 |
| Principal | Brigadier Tahir Hussain Butt |
| Location | Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan |
| Homepage | [1] |
Army Burn Hall College (ABHC) is situated in Abbottabad, Pakistan. There are separate wings for boys and girls. The girls section is located on Mall Road near the city center, the boys branch is in Mandian. Originally these were Junior Burn Hall and Senior Burn Hall Schools respectively. The junior school starts from Prep class and goes up to the Masters level for girls, the boys go to the senior school after finishing their sixth grade.
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Burn Hall traces its history back to 1943 when a team of missionaries from Mill Hill, in London, established the Burn Hall School in Srinagar. The school is named after an English Manor House which had a hall with a stream (burn) running through it, hence the name 'Burn Hall'. The school was administered by the Fathers in English public school tradition.
In 1948, a year after Pakistan gained their Independence from the British Empire, a few Fathers moved to Abbottabad with a handful of students, and with the help of Brigadier Aslam Khan (a brother of Air Marshal retd. Asghar Khan who also went under the name of Brigadier Pasha), set the school up in a small building, the Abbot Hotel. The school was, and still is, among the best in the country and soon more buildings were added to accommodate the increasing number of students. The school was under the control of the Diocesan Board of Education, Rawalpindi.
In 1956, a new school was constructed a few miles outside the town, on the Grand Trunk road. Its purpose was to provide more room for the seniors and became known as the Senior Burn Hall. The new school had sports facilities and a swimming pool.
The college is located 4300 feet above sea level in natural surroundings. There are inter-house competitions between St Michaels and St Andrews, (later to be named St Gabriel's). The college motto is 'Quo non Ascendum', which in Latin means 'To what heights can I not rise'.
The only missionary left in ABHC, moved with the school to Gupkar Road in Srinagar, Kashmir in 1956. The first principal was Father Boerkamp.
The Fathers who came to set up the school in Abbottabad realised that if Pakistan, as a nation, was to do well, then it needed men of high calibre. The British Empire was built on men who came from the Public Schools system, therefore the Fathers replicated that. They were successful because boys from Burn Hall achieved distinction in the Civil Service, the Armed Forces, business and other fields.
The Fathers promoted sports as a means of character building, strongly believing that character is made on the sports ground. St Michael's was represented by a black shield with gold border, crossed white lance and sword. St Gabriel's was represented by a lion holding a fiery torch.
There were seven sports: Cricket, Hockey, Football, Basketball, Tennis, Swimming, and Athletics.
The campus in the city center was Junior Burn Hall School while the campus outside city center was Senior Burn Hall School.In 1966/67, foreign experts had come to assist in building the Tarbella Dam and their families stayed in Abbotabad. Two daughters of one of the consultants joined the school and were the first foreign girls to enroll in Senior Burn Hall. Miss Samina Manzoor (now Mrs Brig. Iqbal Hanif), daughter of Mrs Manzoor and Miss Imrana Hameed (now Mrs Bashir Wali, former Director-General of the Intelligence Bureau of Pakistan and the Pakistani High Commissioner to Sri Lanka), daughter of Mrs Hameed, senior teacher in Burn Hall, became the first Pakistani girls to join ABHC. Foreign students came from Morocco, Egypt, Laos, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Kenya, the US and Britain.
Senior Burn Hall School
Army Burn Hall College
The college shows outstanding results in O-Levels, Matriculation and F.Sc Intermediate examinations. Total strength of the institution is over 3,000 students and 200 faculty members. Physical training is usually provided by retired/serving instructors from the Pakistan military.
The students of Burn Hall are known as 'Hallians', many have risen to prominence both in Pakistan and overseas.
The college is under the supervision of the Pakistan Army. The Boys section has a serving army Captain as its Adjutant who is responsible for maintaining discipline in the college. Physical punishment is handed out only by the Adjutant and never by the teachers. The motto of the College is "Quo Non Ascendam" i.e. "To What Heights Can I Not Rise". Every year a magazine is launched by the college, the magazine for the girl's section is called the Hallian, that of the boys is called Hallmark.
Army Burn hall college for Boys is built in red brick with old British architecture style dominates most of the college structures.The complete campus is divided into administration block, academic blocks, Scanlon Hall and hostels. Before 1977 (when Fathers ran the school)the houses were:
In 1977 it became a college, St Michael's House became Shah Ismail Shaheed House and St Gabriel's Houses was renamed as Syed Ahmad Shaheed house. Presently Senior Burn Hall has three houses. The houses are named after Muslim heroes of the Indian subcontinent:
The academic year begins in the first week of March. It is divided into three terms:
The induction of students into the Boys Section begins in class 7 while that for the Girls Section begins in Prep Class, for which an entry test is organized every year at Abbottabad and Lahore. The entry test is followed by an intelligence test/interview at both locations for the successful candidates. The subjects for the examination are English, Urdu and Mathematics. The suitability of a candidate is assessed on the basis of his performance in the entry and intelligence tests, interview and final merit.
Akbar S. Ahmed
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