LAHORE, Dec 1: The Government College, Lahore turned 148 on Sunday as it was opened at the Haveli (palace) of Dhian Singh in the Walled City on Jan 1, 1864.

One of the oldest seats of learning in the subcontinent, the college was shifted to the present Gothic-style majestic building that was completed in 1877 on 3,700 square feet in the north of Soldiers Garden (Gol Bagh) at a cost of Rs320,000.

The college was initially affiliated with the Calcutta University as there was no university in this part of the subcontinent at that time. It was made a university in 2002 and renamed as the GC University, Lahore.

From its first principle Dr. G.W Lietner to second vice chancellor, Prof Dr Khaleequr Rahman, as many as 27 heads have served the institution. The institution is holding a celebration on Monday (today) at 10:30am at its Abdus Salam Hall to mark its 148th birthday.

GCU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Khaleequr Rahman said the academic travel which was started in 1864 with just nine students and three teachers produced hundreds of literary figures, politicians, two Nobel Laureates, five prime ministers, jurists, sportsmen and scientists.

“The Poet of East, Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, N.M. Rashid, Patras Bukhari, Ashfaq Ahmad, Bano Qudsia; only Pakistani Nobel Laureate Prof Dr Abdus Salam, Chief Justice M. R. Kyani, Chief Justice Naseem Hassan Shah, Justice (r) Javed Iqbal, Justice (r) Khalilur Rahman Ramday, Justice (r) Khawja Muhammad Sharif and Lahore High Court Chief Justice Shiekh Azamt Saeed are Old Ravians.”

He said tennis star Aisamul Haq, cricketers Amir Sohail, Ramiz Raja, Inzamamul Haq and Salim Malik also are Old Ravians. “The GC also produced five prime ministers: Feroz Khan Noon, Yousuf Raza Gilani, Nawaz Sharif, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Moeen Qureshi besides hundreds of political leaders including Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Hanif Ramay and former governor Salmaan Taseer.

“In the field of performing arts, noted Indian actor Dev Anand, Rafi Peer, Syed Imtiaz Ali Taj, Shafqat Amanat Ali, Ali Zafar, Hadiqa Kyani and Jawad Ahmad also studied from the Government College, Lahore,” he said.

Prof Rahman said the college was established on the pattern of Cambridge and Oxford and it is available in historical records that it was decided that all students of this college would be given 10 to 15 rupees scholarship annually.

In the first year, the fee of the college was Rs2 annually, which was deducted from the scholarships of the students. Keeping in view this very historical perspective of the educational institution, he has slashed the students’ fee by almost 35 per cent besides increasing scholarships for them.

In his message, a nuclear scientist who heads the Old Ravians Union said the biggest contribution of the GC in the history of Pakistan had been that out of 140 experts who carried nuclear explosions in 1998, some 60 were old Ravians.