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Guru Griho

From Mymensingh

Nasirabad Collegiate School

Aminul Islam

Nasirabad Collegiate School, one of the oldest schools in Mymensingh region, is almost a hundred years old. During the long period of its existence, it has produced thousands of talents who are serving the nation and are working in important positions abroad. This school is an achievement of a few Muslim scholars who took initiatives to educate Muslims who did not have access to proper education and were backward. Most of these youngsters had dropped out of the mainstream education system in order to cope with their living standards.

The first superintendent of the school was Maulana Abbas Ali (1911-1922). The other heads of the school were Maulana Mir Abdul Gafur (1923-1944), Reaz Uddin Ahmed (1945-1967), Mohammad Muklesur Rahman (1969-1991), Mohammad Ansar Ali (1991-1992), Mohammad Abdus Sattar (1992-1996), Amzad Hossain Khan (1996-1999), Mohammad Nurul Amin (1999-2000) and the present headmaster Mohammad Iqbal (2000 - present).

Mymensingh used to be known as Nasirabad. It was named after Nasiruddin Nusrat Shah, one of the Independent Sultans of Bengal. During the British regime, in 1787, the government established a town at Bigon Bari, a few kilometers away from the present town and later the town was renamed Mymensingh. Maulana Abdul Hamid, Maulana Mizanur Rahman, Md. Abdul Karim Khan and Maulana Abdul Ali contributed a lot to get the school established. The first piece of land came from Maulana Abdul Ali in 1909 and the Madrassah was established in 1911.

The school was born as “Nasirabad High Madrassah” but there were conflicting opinions about whether this institution should provide only religious education or Western education. The school started to blend the religious and worldly education under 'New Scheme Madrassah' in 1911 to produce talents who would have the best of both worlds. As the students received both religious and modern education, families of the area became enthusiastic to send their children to this school and the institution steadily grew larger and larger.

At the end of the 1940s, the number of students in this institution started to recede, forcing the school into a financial crisis. Given the circumstances, the superintendent of this institution, Reaz Uddin Ahmed, tried to find alternative ways to keep the institution running. Reaz Uddin added Intermediate classes to the school's portfolio in 1948. At this point, the school was renamed “Islamic Intermediate College”.

But the overall condition of this institution did not improve much and the number of students was not increasing as expected. Later, general courses were introduced side-by-side the Islamic education under the brave leadership of Reaz Uddin and it was again renamed “Nasirabad Collegiate School” in 1958.

The school authority organized a reception for its triumphant sons last year to acknowledge their many contributions in respective fields. Graduates of the school include: Language veteran Obeadur Rahman Firoz Dastagir (late), Prof. M.R Karim and Prof. Md. Shahidul Haque of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Prof. Md. Shoaeb of Dhaka University, Dr. Nafis Ahmed of Bangladesh University of Engeering and Technology (BUET), Cultural personalities Mahmud Sazzad, M. Hamid and Shahadat Hossain Khan Hilu; Major (Retd.) Mohammad Ali Ashraf, Bir Bikram, and Honorary Captain (Retd) Md. Golam Mustafa, Bir Bikram.

Mohammad Iqbal, the headmaster of the school informed Star Insight that the school has reasonable amount of students now and the results at SSC level has been quite satisfactory. The administration is currently gearing up to make the centenary programme of the school a success.