# Cadet College Hasan Abdal

Cadet College Hasanabdal (CCH) is a residential secondary school located in Hasan Abdal, Attock District, Punjab, Pakistan.
The college boards 600 male students (12 to 19 years old) and offers GCE 'O' Levels, A Levels from Cambridge, and HSSC (Pre-Medical & Pre-Engineering) from the Federal Board, Islamabad. Students appear in a nationwide competitive examination for the merit-based selection, including those from overseas.

## History

Cadet College Hasanabdal is the first cadet college of the country. The idea of building a cadet college in Hasan Abdal came directly from then Commander in Chief of the Pakistan Army—General Muhammad Ayub Khan—in 1952. The purpose was to establish a military feeding institution for the Services Academies. Consequently, military wings (were) started in 1952 at Government College Sahiwal (then known as Government College Montgomery) and Islamia College Peshawar. For the present structure, the land that used to be the firing range was provided by the Pakistan Army, and funds were allocated by the Government of Punjab. The Chief Architect for Government of the Punjab, Habib J. A. Somjee, designed the structure of this institution.
In 1960, the government created a board of governors to exercise administrative control over the college. The members of the board include the honorable governor of Punjab — chairman board of governors, chairman POF's Board — vice chairman, commissioner, Rawalpindi Division (member), secretary, Finance Dept, Govt of Punjab - member, Secretary School, Education Dept, Govt of Punjab — member and principal, Cadet College Hasanabdal — member. Since then, it has been known as Cadet College Hasanabdal.

## Wings

The college is divided into six wings: Jinnah, Haider, Iqbal, Omar, Liaqat, and Aurangzeb.

## Student life

Students attending Cadet College, Hasan Abdal, are called cadets.
The college prepares boys for the secondary school and intermediate examinations conducted by the Rawalpindi Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, and also for the General Certificate of Education 'O' Levels and 'A' Levels, which follow a similar format to the GCSEs and 'A' levels used in the UK. Some cadets study for Matriculation or F.Sc. (both pre-medical and pre-engineering). English, Urdu, Islamiyat, Pakistan Studies, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology are compulsory at each level; some other subjects (e.g. Computer Science) are offered within the different levels.
Fitness activities include gymnastics, jogging, and athletics. Sports time is held in the evenings on weekdays. Cadets take part in sports such as basketball, field hockey, football, horse riding, squash, swimming, tennis, and volleyball. Students are also taught drill.
Classes are conducted in the morning and preps (individual silent study periods) at night. The routine is a structured daily regime to promote maximum performance by the students.

## Infrastructure

The college is spread over approximately 98 acres (40 ha). Buildings on the property include a mosque, a two-story education block, college hall—known as Naeem Hall in memory of ex-cadet Captain Naeem Akhtar (Shaheed)— the six boarding wings, two cadet messes—known as Khatlani Hall and Hussain Shah Hall in memory respectively of ex-cadet Lt. Ahmed Farooq Khatlani (Shaheed) and ex-cadet Lt. Hussain Shah (Shaheed)— a swimming pool, a 16-bed hospital, the administrative block, a workshop and a hobbies block. Sports facilities include two squash courts and a number of football, hockey and cricket pitches, as well as a horse-back riding ground. The college has residential accommodation for the teaching and administrative staff based within the college. There is an oval ground in the middle of the college around which all the six wings are located. Recently, every wing has been given a slogan and a mascot. A road, "Scholar's Walk" as called by BOGs, surrounds the Oval. It is a cricket ground with flood lights installed around for playing cricket matches even at night.

## Principals

Principals and their tenure start dates are:
| Hugh Catchpole CBE HI | 1954 - 1958 |
| Mirza Nisar Ali Baig | 1958 - 1959 |
| A.W.E Winlaw CBE | 1959 - 1964 |
| Lt. Col. J.D.H Chapman | 1964 - 1971 |
| Col. N.D Hasan | 1971 - 1978 |
| Shaukat Sultan | 1979 - 1982 |
| Brig (R) S. Naseeruddin SI (M) | 1983-1988 |
| Prof. Zafar Ali Shah | 1988 - 1993 |
| Brig (Retd) Syed Shah Bbar | 1993 - 2003 |
| Prof. Syed Dilshad Hussain, HI | 2002 - 2006 |
| Air CDRE (Retd) Tayyab N. Akhtar SI (M) | 2006 - 2009 |
| Prof. Muhammad Asif Malik | 2009 - 2012 |
| Maj. General (R) Najeeb Tariq HI (M) | 2013 - 2019 |
| Brig (R) Nasir Saeed Khattak SI (M) | 2019 - present |

## Notable alumni

The following notable people are graduates of the college:
* Sohaib Abbasi — former Senior Vice President of Oracle Tools and Education divisions, former CEO of Informatica
* Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi — former Chief of Naval Staff, Pakistan Navy
* Asad Abidi — first dean of LUMS School of Science and Engineering, Professor of Electrical Engineering at UCLA and Cornell
* Khawaja Asif — Minister of Defence, Pakistan
* Masood Aslam — Commander XI Corps, Pakistan Army and former Inspector General Training & Evaluation (IG T&E)
* Asfandyar Bukhari — Tamgha i Jurat recipient
* Vice Admiral Tayyab Ali Dogar — former vice chief of naval staff
* Muhammad Hafizullah — vice chancellor, Khyber Medical University, Peshawar
* Hamid Javaid — former chief of staff (COS) to the president of Pakistan and former chairman HIT
* Iftikhar Ali Khan — former Secretary Defence and ex-chief of the General Staff (CGS), Pakistan Army
* Khurram Dastgir Khan — Defense Minister of Pakistan, previous minister of commerce
* Rizwan Ullah Khan — Air Commodore of the Pakistan Air Force
* Abbas Khattak — former chief of Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force
* Raja Nadir Pervez — Sitara-e-Jurat and Bar
* Javed Ashraf Qazi — former federal minister of education, communication and railways, secretary railways, commander XXX Corps, Gujranwala and DG ISI
* Sikandar Sultan Raja — Federal Secretary to Govt of Pakistan
* Babar Sattar — judge of the Islamabad High Court
* Khalid Shameem Wynne — former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee
* Muhammad Zakaullah — former chief of naval staff, Pakistan Navy
* Naweed Zaman — rector, National University of Sciences and Technology (Pakistan), ex-commandant, Army IV Corps