MULTAN: The centenary celebrations of the historical Government Emerson College are under way with a pledge to continue its journey of excellence.

Talking to Dawn, Dr Muhammad Saleem, the principal of the college, said the celebrations that started on Wednesday would continue till Jan 25 and Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, an alumnus of the college, would be the chief guest of concluding ceremony.

“The college is currently giving education to about 7,000 students while it has the potential of more than 15,000 students,” said Mr Saleem.

The college was established on April 13, 1920 as the Govt College Multan. It was renamed as Multan College in 1923 while it was shifted to another building at Chowk Katchery in 1933 and was again renamed as the Govt Emerson College to pay tribute to the educational services of the then Governor Punjab Sir Herbert William Emerson (1881-1962). In 1963, the college was shifted to its new building on the Bosan Road while its last building was given to the Government College for Women where now the old campus of the Women University Multan is established.

“At the end of 1963, the original name of the college ‘Government College Multan’ was restored; however, it renamed yet again as the Emerson College in 2009,” said the director students affairs Dr Imtiaz Hussain Baloch.

He said renowned Pakistani scientist Dr Samar Mubarakmand, cricketers Inzamamul Haq and Sohaib Maqsood and writers and poets Asghar Nadeem Syed, Mohsin Naqvi and Dr Anwar Ahmed also studied at the college. In connection with the centenary year celebrations, he said, the activities being organised included sports events and speech, Naat Khawani, Qirat, debates and poetry contests.

Principal Dr Saleem said the proposed BS Block on the campus was urgently needed to accommodate the students and new programmes.

“The provincial government has allocated Rs160m for this purpose under annual development programme 2019-20; however, eight BS disciplines could not be accommodated due to inadequate building infrastructure and equipment. The college is in dire need of additional Rs600m,” he added.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2019