Home >

Government MADRASA-I-AZAM Higher Secondary School

A Madrasa was started in 1761, as a school for the education of the children of the Royal family of the Carnatic by Nawab Muhammad Ali Wallajah, Nawab of the Carnatic. Its scope was widened by Nawab Umdat­ul-Umra Bahadur and admission also to the sons of the noble men and officers of the State was given in the early nineteenth century. Nawab Ghulam Ghouse Khan Bahadur, the last Nawab of the Carnatic, threw open its doors to all children without any restrictions and for the development of Urdu, Arabic and Persian languages. It was after his poetic name "Azam" that this Madrasa came to be known as Madrasa-I-Azam.

The first Principal of the school was the great sage and savant Moulana Abdul Ali Bahrul Uloom of Ferangi Mahal, Lucknow. Among its early teachers was Lal Makkan Ram, a great Persian and Arabic scholar and a poet. Later Mr. Walter Joyce was appointed as the first European Headmaster.

The present abode of the Madrasa-I-Azam with its extensive and stately building called "Umdah Bagh" was the residence of Nawab Khairunissa Begum, the widow of Ghulam Ghouse Khan Bahadur Azam. The then existing oriental school produced only oriental scholars. Subsequently, with a view to providing modern education, the administration of the school was given to the Government. The vast ground became the playing fields of the school. A mosque was added to the school in 1909. In 1918, Government Mohammadan College (present Government Quaid-e-Milleth College for women) was started in the school premises.

The school caters to the needs of the Urdu speaking pupils without distinction of caste, creed or community. Urdu apart from being the medium of instruction, is also taught as first language and an English medium section was added with Urdu, Tamil under Part I in 1966-67. In 1978-79, the school was upgraded as a Higher Secondary School with Urdu, Arabic, Persian, Tamil, Hindi as languages.