Edwardes College Peshawar

Edwardes College Peshawar is a semi-government degree

The college's undergraduate and graduate degree programs lead to the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.), 4 year BS Programme in English and Computer Science, Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) and 5 years Llb degrees awarded through the University of Peshawar Edwardes also offers an A-Level program and the Faculty of Arts (F.A.) and Faculty of Science (F.Sc.) certificates through the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Higher National Diploma (H.N.D.) BS English program in business and information technology offers the option of a third year in an institution in the U.K., U.S.A. or Australia.

Originally a co-educational college, it became a boy's only college in 1930s. Edwardes has become co-educational again since 2000 with about 200 female students and 15 women among its faculty members, with numbers of women anticipated to increase. The college has a vital community life, which includes freedom of worship for all faiths, sporting events, a debating society, drama productions, and student publications. Up to 1974 it was running up by as organisation affiliated with the Church Mission Society however following Nationalisation Reforms of 1974 it was handed over to the Board of Governors headed by NWFP Governor. A ruling of the Peshawar High Court dated 14 Nov 2019 dismissed the plea of the Principal challenging the nationalisation of the college.

In 2019, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa nationalised the college.

History

The Church Missionary Society established the Church Mission College in 1900 as an outgrowth of Edwardes High School, which had been founded in 1855 by the society as the first institution of western-style schooling in the northwest frontier region of what was British India. For many years the college was the only institution of higher education in the northwest frontier. Sir Herbert Edwardes was a British colonial administrator and commander whose name the college later adopted.

The first major college building, now known as the Old Hall, was built in 1910 in a Moghul style that was replicated in a number of the college's later buildings. Edwardes College was visited three times by the founder of the nation, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, by Mahatma Gandhi, and the previous Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. In its early years Edwardes awarded degrees through the University of Punjab; since 1952 its degrees have been awarded through the University of Peshawar.

Hostel

Edwardes has hostel accommodation for about 200 male students.

Decline

The college is currently in decline as a result of a long running legal battle about its ownership, which is contested between the Provincial Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Diocese of Peshawar. The latter argues that Edwardes College was established as a private missionary educational institution by the Church Mission Society and had its own financial resources, which were created through donations and fee; the authorities contending that all privately owned schools and colleges had been taken over by the government in 1972 and that as such the college had been funded for more than five decades by the provincial government regularly and had become an autonomous institution rather than a private one.

The legal battle has brought the institute to the verge of collapse. Multiple incidents of corruption and abuse of power have come to light, such as the appointment by the principal of family members to key posts without due process. Students have held protest demonstrations and some 200 of them have left the college. According to the provincial governor, all efforts would be made to restore the trust of parents and to protect the college's glorious status.

Notable alumni

* Mehr Chand Khanna, a lawyer, well known politician and Finance Minister of NWFP from 1937–46
* Khalilur Rehman, ex-Commander of Pakistan Navy and Bahrain Navy a, Hilal-e-Imtiaz (military), served as the Governor of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, appointed in 2005
*Shafaat Ali, actor, comedian, television host
*Fasi Zaka, satirist, political commentator
* Syed Sarwar, Software Engineer at IMSciences Peshawar
*Humayun Saifullah Khan, politician
* Shahram Khan, Senior Minister Health & Information Technology Khyber Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan
* Ahmad Faraz, Urdu poet
* Wajid Ali Khan, CSP
* Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, former Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
* Prithviraj Kapoor, Indian film and theatre actor/director/producer
* Dr. Khan Sahib (Dr. Abdul Jabbar Khan), first chief minister of West Pakistan
* Aftab Ahmad Sherpao, politician and former chief minister, North-West Frontier Province
* Fida Mohammad Khan, founder of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and former governor, North-West Frontier Province
* Muhammad Suhail Zubairy, professor of physics at the Texas A&M University
* Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar, (1901–1978), Justice (retired), first Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan

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