Aluthgama Zahira College has great potential
View(s):Aluthgama Zahira College, as it was known at the beginning, is rendering a valuable and outstanding service to the Tamil medium
Principal M.S.M. Yesmin
students since its inception. It was established as a branch of the Zahira College, Colombo in 1942 when the Second World War started to affect the city of Colombo. Dr. T.B Jayah, then principal of Colombo Zahira, took this timely decision for the benefit of the outstation students attending his school.
Aluthgama Zahira started to function in a large house belonging to the Late Mr A.A.A. Hameed and the Late Mr M.B. Noordeen, B.A. assumed duties as its Vice Principal. In 1943, when Mr. M.S.M. Haddad B.A was appointed as its vice principal, this school had 49 students and 5 teachers. There were classes from Standard 1 to 5.
Mr.T.P.S Laxana assumed duties as the vice principal in 1944. The school moved to its own building constructed adjacent to the Govt. Teachers’ College on a plot of land belonging to Al-Haj A.L.A. Hameed on
Members of the Staff
29.12. 1945. The new building was ceremoniously opened by the then Minister in charge of Education, the Late Dr C.W.W. Kannangara.
On 01.06.1946 Aluthgama Zahira ceased to be a branch of the Colombo Zahira College when it was registered as a separate school. Thus, Mr. T.P.S.Laxana became the first principal of the new school.
Aluthgama Zahira entered a period of rapid development when the Late Mr S.L.M. Shafie Marikkar assumed duties as the principal of the school on 01.06.1948. He was instrumental in establishing hostel facilities and starting a small scale library in the school.
Board of Prefects – Girls
On 09.12.1951, foundation for a new two-storey building was laid by the then Prime Minister Hon. D.S. Senanayake on a 2½ acre land jointly donated by Mr.A.A.A.Hameed, Mr.I.L.M. Mahmood and Al-Haj M.L.Abdul Jabbar. It took almost 3 years to complete the building and finally it was ceremoniously opened by the Hon. Minister C.W.W.Kannangara on 23. 09. 1954.
When Aluthgama Zahira College was nationalised by the then government, Mr. S.L.M. Shafie Marikkar who has been efficiently leading the school since 1948 had to retire from service. In January 1963, according to a government directive, Zahira M.V. and Alhambra M.V were amalgamated and as a result Zahira became a primary school with classes only up to Grade 5. Mr. M.M. Sally became the Head Master of the Zahira primary school.
Board of Prefects – Boys
When a Primary section in Tamil and Sinhala media was started in 1985, Zahira became a fully fledged school with classes from Grade 1 to Grade 13. When school clusters were formed in 1987, Zahira became a Cluster head school.
In November 1987, Al-Haj I.L.M. Shuaib retired from service after serving as the principal for 21 years. He was succeeded by Mr. A.W.M. Ajward who acted as the principal until Mr. M.R. Malik took over the leadership in September 1989. However, Mr. Malik served only for 4 months. Then, Mr. M.L.A. Abdul Ahla assumed duties as the principal in December 1989.
Zahira College celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 1993 and the pinnacle of the celebrations was a week-long Mahapola Exhbition and fair which started on 23.10.1993. Then State Minister for Housing Al-Haj Imtiaz Bakeer Markar and the then Chairman of the Beruwala Pradeshiya Sabha Al-Haj A.R.M. Badiudeen along with the parents, teachers, students, old boys and well wishers were instrumental in making the Exhibition and other events a great success.
In March 2011, Zahira College was selected to be developed under the 1000 School Development Project. This was made possible due to the untiring efforts of provincial councilors Al-Haj M.M.M. Amjad and Mr Piyal Nishantha along with former ADE Al-Haj M.S.M.Hussain.
The Football Team
In 2011, the deputy principal Mr M.S.M. Yesmin took charge of the school. Mr. Yesmin was a devoted and committed administrator. Today the school is boosted with over 1500 students and 74 teachers and functions as a 1AB Tamil Medium school.
Between 1994 and 2011 around 87 students have entered the various faculties of the Sri Lankan universities. Another considerable number of students have entered private higher Education institutes here and abroad and have obtained higher diplomas, degrees and various other professional qualifications. According to the O/Level results among Grade AB1 schools, Zahira College attained 29th, 20thand 15th ranks in the years 2006, 2009 and 2010 respectively. This clearly shows the progress in academic activities. Today annually more than 10 students enter universities. They conduct free evening classes to achieve this goal.
Students of Zahira College have also excelled in the field of sports and other co-curricular actives. In 2008, Zahira became the under-13 soccer champions in the Kalutara District. Mohamed Arafath was selected to represent the Sri Lankan schools against Saudi Arabia. Similarly in 2010, Zahira became under-15 soccer champions in the district and Mohamed Rahmath was selected to represent Sri Lankan schools against Iran.
Further, students of Zahira have attained top positions in English day and Tamil day competitions at various levels. They have also scored top marks in subject oriented competitions conducted at various levels.
Zahira College, Dharga Town has a great potential to become a radiating centre of high quality Education in the region. It has all the basic facilities needed to maintain a higher standard of performance.
- Sujitha Miranda
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