Military College Jhelum

History

The college's foundation stone was laid on 3 March 1922 by the Prince of Wales. as the King George Royal Indian Military School (KGRIMS) at the Jhelum and Jallandhar cantonments in Punjab Province (Jallandhar is now in Indian state of Punjab but the school was relocated and renamed as the Chail Military School). Regular classes at the college began on 15 September 1925.

British instructors

From 16 April 1932 to 11 November 1936, the Chief Instructor of the college was Warrant Officer Charles Eaton. A bungalow was built for him and his family on the banks of the Canal and still exists. When W.O. Eaton and his family left the students lined the route all the way to the railway station and festooned him with garlands, such was their esteem. In 1943, the school underwent and the college emerged as an institution of choice for potential officers of the army.

Location

Military College Jhelum is located in the district of Gujrat in the town of Sarai Alamgir. Due to its proximity to city of Jhelum and because original Jhelum was on Sarai Alamgir side plus the inclusion of Sarai Alamgir in district Jhelum before 1998, it is widely known as Military College Jhelum (MCJ).

Student life

The students are called Cadets and they reside in hostels called Houses. Cadets take part in sports such as field hockey, football, basketball,swimming, volleyball, table tennis and horse riding. Fitness activities include judo, karate, gymnastics, jogging and running. Physical training (PT) is conducted in the morning and sports in the evening. Students are taught drill and shooting. Cadets also take part in variety of curricular and semi curricular activities like Essay Writing, Debating, Book Review Writing, Drama and Quiz Shows.

Houses

There are seven houses in Military College Jhelum: five senior houses and two junior houses. Houses compete with each other for the annual house championship. Many competitions are held among them including sports trophy assault course trophy debates competition etc. The house with the most trophies on aggregate is awarded the "Champion of the Year" status. Houses compete fiercely among each other for the pride of their house. Details of the houses are as follows :

Senior Houses

This house was established in 1925 as Birdwood house and named after British/Indian army Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Sir William Birdwood of Gallipoli. In 1958, Birdwood House was renamed Aurangzeb House after the name of famous Mughal king Sultan Mohy-Ud-Din Aurangzeb Alamgir. It was Junior House at that time and there were 73 cadets residing in the house. The first Housemaster was Jamadar Faiz Muhammad Khan and first head boy was C/No 29 Muhammad Zar Khan who held this appointment for five years. The colour of house flag is orange and motto of house was “Birdies Don’t Tell a Lie ” in 1956, “Excelsior” in 1973, “Truthfulness” in 1985 and present is “Truthfulness Always” since 1991.

In April 1928 British Army Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant General Andrio Sakeen inaugurated the house (Third House of School). It was named as “Sakeen House” after his name. The first House Master was Risaldar Muhammad Abdul Latif. In 1959, it was renamed as Tipu Sultan House. The colour of house flag is green and motto is “Duty First” since 1973.

Sir Syed House was raised in August 2011 to cater for the accommodation requirement of the cadets due to the increased intake. Almost 5-6 cadets per house/ class were shifted to Sir Syed house. House was named Sir Syed House after the Muslim scholar, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. The first house master of the house was Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Ali and first house prefect was C/No 7392 Saad Hamid. The colour of house flag is grey and motto of house is “Never Give In”.

Jinnah House was established in 1990 and named after founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in order to meet the requirement of enhanced strength of cadets. It was inaugurated by Lieutenant General Muhammad Arif Bangish. The first house master was Major Doctor Abdul Wahid and first house perfect was C/No 5395 Athar Hussain. The colour of house flag is light blue and motto of house is“ Work, Work and Work. Initially, it accommodated 8th and 9th class cadets but after few years it was later on declared as a senior house.

Iqbal house came into existence in 1992 and named after our famous philosopher and poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal. It was inaugurated by General Abdul Waheed, Chief of Army Staff. The first house master of the house was Major Manzoor Ahmed Zafar and first house prefect was C/No 5155 Muhammad Rajil Irshad Khan. In the beginning, it was a junior house. Later on, it was granted the status of a senior house. The colour of house flag is maroon and motto of the house is “I Can, I Will”.

Junior Houses

In order to expand the college for war purposes, a fourth house was established in 1943 as Auckinlect house (Kacha House) named after Field Marshal Sir Kalaad Auckinlect (Commander in Chief) who inaugurated it in November 1943. In 1959, Auckinlect house was shifted in Sakeen house and was renamed as Babur house in the honour of Zaheer Uddin Babur, the founder of Mughal dynasty. Subedar Fateh Khan has the honour of being first Housemaster and C/No 760 Muhammad Aslam Janjua was the first House prefect of the house. The colour of house flag is red. Initially, motto of the house was “Hard work, simple living and high thinking”. The present motto of Babur House is “Conviction and Courage” since 1972.

This house was established in 1925 as Robert House and named after British army Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Lord Fredrick Robert, Robert of Kandhar. In 1958, it was shifted in Birdwood House and was renamed as Mehmood Ghaznavi House after the name of a great king, conqueror and idol negotiator Sultan Mehmood Ghaznavi. This house has a unique honour of receiving the first batch of 21 students on 15 September 1925. First house master of house was Subedar Walayat Shah and first house prefect was C/ No 2 Sultan Muhammad. The colour of house flag is dark blue and motto of house was “Work is Worship” in 1972, “I Will Never Fail” in 1976, “Strive Till Death” in 1979 and present is “Work is Worship” since 1982.

Parents day

Every year parents day is celebrated at Military College Jhelum in which cadets indulge in different activities such as parade, horse jumping, gymnastics and different science and arts club activities. On this occasion, the champion house is also declared.

Senior Houses

Junior Houses

Honours of the College

The College Roll of honour radiates full with the names of martyrs, heroes, serving and retired officers in echelons of civilian and military establishments

The College has to its credit:

Some of the distinguished Alamgirians

80 General Officers Over 100 Brigadiers and 2000 Colonels. In the civilians also, there are numerous luminaries and highly placed officers from the College alumni.

1948 War

Bajore 1958

1965 War

1971 War

1999 War (Kargil)

List of Commandants

Commandants and their tenure start dates are:

List of Deputy Commandants and Chief Instructors

Names of Deputy Commandants and Chief Instructors and their tenure dates are:

List of Adjutants

Names of Adjutants and their tenure dates are:

Notable alumni

The college has produced five four-star generals of Pakistan Army, Air Force and Navy, namely former Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff General Muhammad Iqbal Khan (Late), former Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Zulfiqar Ali Khan (late), former Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Abdul Aziz Mirza, former Vice Chief of Army Staff General Yusaf Khan, and former Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

College has more than 30 Swords of Honour, and many gallantry medals including one Nishan-e-Haider Major Muhammad Akram.

The senior notable military officers of the College Alumni include;