Abbottabad Public School

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Abbottabad Public School
Motto	"Character is Destiny"
Established	1961
Type	Public
Location	Abbottabad, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan
Nickname	APS
Website	www.aps.edu.pk

Abbottabad Public School, also commonly known as APS and Railway Public School, is a public, all boys, boarding school for, 7th to 12th grade students, located in Abbottabad, Pakistan.^[1] APS is one of the best secondary and higher education schools in the region, both in academics as well as in extra curricular activities. APS follows the philosophy of the British boarding schools where academic rigour is balanced with a disciplined boarding life with activities ranging from intramural sports to debating and cultural events.

History

Name

In 1957, Pakistan Railways opened up a school outside Abbottabad on land donated by Sardar Bahadur Khan, brother of Field Marshal Ayub Khan who was then the President of Pakistan. At that point, the school was called Railway Public School. But after just two years it was closed and then after a gap of one year, in April 1961, the school was renamed to Abbottabad Public School and was no more associated with Pakistan Railways leaving behind the building no alternate but to use it again as an educational institution.

In 1986, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the then President, re-named this institution as Abbottabad Public School & College. Later on, the school Board of Governors, in its meeting on July 20, 2002, decided to delete the words “and College” and give the institution its original name Abbottabad Public School. It is still more popularly known as APS and its alumni as Abbottonians .

The founding, and the longest serving, Principal of APS was Mr. M.A. Rahman. During his tenure the school developed into an Institution and produced a number of student batches that had a balanced blend of education, sports, personal grooming and social behavior. His team at the faculty was composed of noted educationists of the era including Mr. Hugh Cathpole, the former Principal of Cadet College; Dehradoon, Cadet College; Hasanabdal and PAF College; Sargodha. Other eminent members of the faculty included Mr. Majid Siddiqui, Syed Sultan Zulqarnain, Mr. Athar Ansari, Mr. S.M. Amin and Mr. Basharat Ahmed.

Location

The main campus is about 10 km outside Abbottabad on the road (Mansehra Road) that eventually becomes Karakoram Highway. It covers an area of about 55 acres (220,000 m²). The school is surrounded by deep natural crevices in almost a U-shape. The only non-crevice side faces a high mountain. Karakoram Highway passes between school and the mountain.

Academics

Abbottabad Public School is a renowned academic institution in the area. It has attracted many students from all over Pakistan as well as other countries. Historically, APS students have performed excellently in both the tenth grade and twelfth grade Board examinations.

Boarding houses

APS has seven main boarding houses in which all boarders reside. Usually, up to a hundred students can live in each of these houses, in different room capacity dormitories. Each of these houses has a House Master, a House Tutor and several student Prefects. The houses are:

• Iqbal House
• Jinnah House
• Liaquat House
• Sir Syed House
• Nishtar House
• Rehman House
• Sardar Bahadur House
• Sultan Tipu House

The day-scholar house is Rehman House, named after Mr M. A. Rehman, the first principal of APS.

Student life

Student life at APS is known to be a memorable experience and friendships lasts for the rest of the Alumni's life. The emphasis on sports is as important as education itself while extra-curricular activities offer students the chance to enhance personal growth. The location of APS, outside the city of Abbottabad, itself is probably as alluring for the students due to its sprawling stretches of green between the hills and the ravines, both of which offer ample opportunities for the adventure seeking souls.

Among the more famous batch of APS is the class of 1968-75 which has remained deeply networked till today. The more active members of this batch are Khalid Waseem Khokhar [KWK], Shahid Ali Durrani, Khaled Saeed Malik [KSM], Khushnood Ali Baz [KAB], Javaid Akhtar Alvi [JAA], Syed Aun Zaidi, Rashid Ijaz, Riaz Asif Janjua, Akhlaq Hussain, Naveed Tajjamal Malik, Sajid Ali Khan, Sajid Mumtaz, Mirza Aleem Agha and Jalal Umer

General facilities

A beautiful mosque , one main dining halls and a cafeteria, grocery store, general store, book store, barber shop, cobbler, washerman pit, and fruit shop are also part of the boarding facilities.

Common-rooms

All the Houses have their own recreation rooms, called “common-rooms”, where residents play indoor games during their free time and on holidays even. Every common room is facilitated with Television, DVD, Table Tennis, Carom, Chess, draughts and scrabble.

Athletics

There is one football field, two hockey fields, one cricket field (combination of two hockey fields), four basket ball courts, one tennis court, one volley ball court and an outdoor swimming pool.

School code of honour

I pledge my word of honour that, I shall do my duty to God, to my country, and to my fellow human beings and shall obey all the rules and regulations of this Institution. I shall honour my parents, teachers and elders and be good to those who are younger than me. I shall do the best that I can to help all the people who are old, poor, crippled or in distress. Everyday I shall do at least one good deed that will please a fellow human being without the distinction of country, class, colour or creed. I shall try to make the school tradition "Discipline and Hardwork" and the school Motto "Character is Destiny" as part and parcel of my life.

Famous alumni

• Shaukat Aziz - Former Prime Minister of Pakistan
• Ahmad Mukhtar - Defence Minister of Pakistan
• Ahmad Saeed - CEO Servis Industries
• Dr. Arbab Alamgir Khan - Federal Minister of Communications
• Omar Asghar Khan- (Late) Former Federal Minister, Founder of Sungi, PILER and SEBCON and President of Qaumi Jamhoori Party.
• Ali Asghar Khan - Architect and Executive Director of Omar Asghar Khan Foundation
• Iftikhar-Ullah Babar - Federal Secretary
• Naeem Khan - Former Chief Secretary, Balochistan
• Shamoon Hashmi - TV Actor and Anchor.
• Riffat Pasha - former IG Police, NWFP.
• Dr. Amir Murad - CEO and founder MEMAR Engineering
• Dr. Naveed Irfan - Internationally renoun Neurophysician / Psychiatrist - President Psychiatric Association NWFP Chapter
• Dr. Nawab Md FatehuddinKhanji MoinuddinKhanji Babi of Manavadar
• Naeem Qureshi - international journalist, broadcaster, T.V script writer.
• Rehman Khan - GIC.
• Lt Gen Shafaat Ullah Shah - former Commander IV Corps, Lahore
• Lt Gen Naeem Khalid Lodhi - Commander XXXI Corps, Bahawalpur
• Vice Admiral Mohammad Haroon - former Vice Chief of Naval Staff and Rector Bahria University
• Maj Gen Zahid Ehsan - former Chairman, National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA)
• Maj Gen Jamil-ur-Rehman Afridi - former Surveyor General of Pakistan
• Maj Gen Zafar H. Naqvi - former GOC 4 AD DIV
• Maj Gen Syed Sadaqat Ali Shah - former IGFC (Balochistan) and GOC Malir
• Maj Gen Ameer Faisal Alavi - former GOC Special Service Group (SSG)
• Maj Gen Bilal Omer Khan - former DG GOC 11 DIV
• Maj Gen Mian Nadeem Ijaz Ahmad - former DG Military Intelligence and GOC Bahawalpur
• AVM Arshad Rashid Sethi - former MD Shaheen Foundation
• AVM Muhammad Safdar Khan - former AOC Pakistan Air Force Academy
• AVM Asim Suleiman - DG Air Intelligence, Pakistan Air Force
• * Ehsan Naveed Irfan - Member Youth Parliament Pakistan, President Insaf Students Federation Hazara Division

References