Zahira College (National School) Matale, (
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
: Zahira means "Excellence"; ; ), is one of the oldest schools in the
Matale District
Matale District (, ) is a district in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. It is one of 25 districts of Sri Lanka. The administrative capital and largest city of the district is Matale.
The district is considered to be the centremost region of ...
. It is situated in the centre of the city.
History
The school was founded on 3 August 1942 by
Tuan Burhanuddin Jayah. The original school site was donated by
Vithanage Tergin Nanayakkara, the local
member
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
for
Matale
Matale ( Sinhala: මාතලේ, , , ) is a major city in Central Province, Sri Lanka. It is the administrative capital and largest urbanised city of Matale District. Matale is also the second largest urbanised and populated city in Central P ...
. The first buildings were funded by a donation from a local Muslim
philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...
, Cassim Had Sar.
The school is noted for its accomplishments in the field of
hockey
''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...
, winning a number of national schoolboy championships.
Hockey was first introduced to the school by a local businessman, George Mant, who learnt the sport at
St. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia. Mant with a number of other enthusiasts established the Matale Hockey Association in September 1942. The school has produced a number of national players, including S. I. Ajward, M. Ayub, M. Zarook, and A. J. M. Farook.
Houses
The houses compete to win the inter-house games held by the college annually.
Past Principals
Notable alumni
*
Abdul Cader Shahul Hameed
Abdul Cader Shahul Hameed (10 April 1927 – 3 September 1999) was a Sri Lankan diplomat and prominent political figure. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka from 1977 to 1989; and from 1993 to 1994. In the intervening period, h ...
(former Foreign Minister)
Further reading
*
References
{{Reflist
Schools in Matale
Educational institutions established in 1942