History
A Brief History
Shia College is one of the premier institutes spreading the light of learning and knowledge to a large number of students under the management and control of the Board of Trustees of Shia College & the School and the other connected Institutions. Following the traditions of Islam, as practiced by its Prophet and his successor, the College has served all the communities without discrimination, maintaining high standards of secularism and patriotism from its very inception.
The oval shaped College Emblem carries as its motto the Hadith of the Prophet of Islam “I am the city of knowledge and Ali(A.S.) is its gate”, a pen and a book with rays emanating from it signifying the spread of light and learning, a sword signifying a fearless struggle and war against tyranny, oppression, evil and darkness. The name of the College is at the bottom of the emblem.
The faculty members, as well as the Students and other employees have always been a true reflection of our composite culture. They have contributed their best towards the development and progress of the College and the Nation. Some of the faculty members hold the distinction of being honored for their academic work.
Keeping the best traditions of Prophet Mohammad (S.A.) who said, “To seek knowledge and learning is obligatory for all Muslim men and women” his daughter Fatima (S.A.) and his twelve successors (A.S.) the first of whom Hazrat Ali (A.S.) said, “Let no child remain uneducated while I hold the reigns of power”, as such the idea of starting a degree college at Lucknow was approved by the leaders of the Shia Community in the year 1915.
A delegation met the Lieutenant Governor of the then United Provinces of Agra and Avadh to seek permission for the establishment of the College. The plan could not materialize immediately at that time due to the restrictions imposed by the State Government in view of the proposed unitary teaching-cum-residential University at Lucknow with Canning College as the nucleus. Thus Shia College started as a school in 1919. The classes were temporarily arranged in the premises of Asifi Imam Bara (Bara Imam Bara and Roomie Darwaza). The college rose to the status of an Intermediate College in 1922, teaching subjects in Humanities and Social Sciences.
The same year (1922), foundation was laid to construct a building for the College on the land provided by “Karbala of King Nasiruddin Haider of Oudh” on Sitapur Road. Land was also donated to the College on Faizabad Road. With generous donations pouring in from the masses of Shia community, the major shares naturally being from Nawabs, Taluqedars and other well wishers a spacious building for the college came into being and the classes were shifted to it in 1923. Teaching of Natural Sciences at Intermediate level was introduced in 1932 with well equipped Laboratories. Renowned Company Martin & Bern has constructed the Main Building which is named after Prophet Mohammed (S.A.) as Mursal-e-Azam (S.A.) Block).
When in 1947, the University of Lucknow decided to permit the teaching of Science outside the premises of Canning College, Shia College was one of the first three Colleges of Lucknow to be found suitable for the purpose. The same year teaching started in the College for students pursuing courses for the degree of Bachelor of Science.
The permission to start classes in courses leading to the degree of Bachelor of Arts of the University of Lucknow was granted to the College in 1960. The recognition to start classes for Bachelor of Laws was granted to the College in 1970 and for Bachelor of Commerce in 1972. Computer Science as a subject at B.Sc. level was introduced in 1989.
The College has risen to Post-Graduate level and M.A. Classes in Urdu and Sociology have been started from 1995 and 1996 respectively. M.Com. (Applied Economics) Classes were started from the academic session 2005-06, M.Sc. (Zoology) and M.Com. (Pure Commerce) classes have been started from the session 2006-07, M.A. (Journalism & Mass Communication) are running successfully from the session 2007-08. M.Sc. / M.A. (Statistics) classes have also been started from the session 2008-09.
A highly professional management course Bachelor of Business Administration (International Business) i.e. B.B.A. (I.B.) was started from the session 2005-06.
With the expansion of teaching faculties, the College constructed new faculty blocks to add more class rooms in 1967 and a large library building in 1972. A new block of class rooms has been constructed with special grant from Dr. S. Akhtar Hasan Rizvi (Rizvi Builders) Hon. Secretary. In addition to this, construction of a new building named “Hazrat Ali (A.S.) Block” having three halls and four class-rooms was completed in 2001-02.
A new block named HAZRAT ABBAS(A.S.) Block having most modern class rooms, Departmental Libraries, Staff Rooms & Offices for B.B.A. (I.B.) and M.A.( Journalism & Mass Communication) at ground floor & two Laboratories with latest equipments for research work, Physiology Lab having modern Apparatuses, Departmental Library & two Staff rooms for Post Graduate Dept. of Zoology at First floor was constructed in the year 2005-06.
The construction of a new Basket-Ball Court of International standard and a new block consisting of three big class rooms named HASNAIN(A.S.) BLOCK was completed in the year 2006. Recent Constructions of the College include - Hazrat Abu Talib(A.S.) Block - meant for Admission and Examination purposes having seating capacity of 700 students and a double storied Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq(A.S.) Block, Imam Moosa-e-Kazim(A.S.)Block measuring about 19000 Sq.Ft. consisting of a big examination hall and 5 big class rooms. Last year college has completed the construction of double story Hazrat Imam-e-Raza (A.S.) block having seating capacity of 1600 students. In the extension of facilities for the students, Imam Taqi(A.S.) block is under construction, which, will have 12 big classrooms, administrative offices and staff rooms, is likely to completed in this session only.
Established with lofty ideals, Shia College has just celebrated its centenary. By the grace of God it has grown from a School to a Post-Graduate College enrolling about 10,000 students per academic session with about 200 teachers and about the same number of non-teaching staff. We hope the College shall continue to grow to greater heights to serve the nation and humanity in a still better way.
