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Brief History of the School

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The Anglo Arabic Model School is the latest addition to the longest running educational complex in Delhi located just outside the Ajmeri Gate. The complex stands on a site that has a rich political history dating back over 300 years. The school emerged as a new chapter in the evolving story of this site. To understand the context in which the Anglo Arabic Model School was created, we must go back to the era of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Ghazi ud‐Din Khan Feroze Jung I, a general in Aurangzeb’s army, established a madrasa and a mosque at this place in the 1690s. It was named after him, the Madrasa Ghazi ud‐Din Khan. With the decline of Aurangzeb’s reign, the madrasa closed between 1790 and 1791. After his death, Ghazi ud‐Din Khan was buried on the site and his tomb still exists today.
The Courtyard of the Madrasa Ghazi ud‐Din, Watercolor by Seeta Ram, 1814
After the partition in 1949, the building was given to Pakistani refugees who stayed there for two years. In 1948, Dr Zakir Husain and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the education minister of the new Republic of India, reactivated the school again under its old name‐Anglo Arabic Senior Secondary School [2] . In 1951, Dr. Zakir Husain set up the Delhi Education Society with fellow academicians and philanthropists including Prof. Mohammed Mujeeb, Shahbaz Mirza Beg, S.M. Zaidi, Mir Mushtaq Ahmed, Shafiq ur‐Rehman Kidwai, Mufti Atiq ur‐Rehman, Dr. Salamat Ullah, Hakeem Abdul Hamid , Mahmud Mirza Baig and others. The society was formed to impart to the Muslims of India their heritage and preserve the old Madrasa of Ghazi ud‐Din. The Anglo Arabic Senior Secondary School thus came under the aegis of the Delhi Education Society. The Anglo Arabic Senior Secondary School taught classes XI to XII..


In 1994, some alumni of the Anglo Arabic School and the Delhi College approached Mr. Firoz Ahmad, then secretary of the Delhi Education Society, with a proposal. A proposal to build a new school on the same premises that would teach classes in English from Nursery to Vth. This proposal was motivated by a desire in the community to teach young children in English who would then enter the senior secondary school on a strong footing. Co‐locating the school with the senior secondary school which only taught middle and senior classes would create a synergy, feeding students from one to the other.


The proposal was accepted and work started to build what is now called the Anglo Arabic Model School. Early work for the school was undertaken by members of the community led by Anglo Arabic School and College alumni. The buildings that had fallen into disrepair were renovated and new furniture and equipment was purchased. The Anglo Arabic Model School hired a receptionist as its first employee and began registering students on a table and two chairs in the front courtyard in 1996. It started with only the Nursery section admitting 53 students in its first year. Ms Talat Parveen was hired as the first teacher. Ms R.K. Youhana, a Christian missionary, was hired as the first headmistress to bring in her experience of running efficient, high‐quality, English medium schools.
Work commences on the premises for the establishment of the Anglo Arabic Nursery and Primary School Classroom Renovation



Since its establishment in 1996, the Anglo Arabic Model School has grown more than ten times in terms of student enrollment, has added classes VIII through Xth and has been recognized by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in 2012. The story of the school is a centuries old, fascinating tale of shifting political power structures, the need to serve the Muslim minority community and a desire to provide modern education in English. The school is a minority institution but places no restriction on who may enroll. At the Anglo Arabic Model School, we hope to continue this legacy and serve the community without prejudice or partiality and help build an educated, modern and just society that is self‐reliant and imaginative while being connected to its rich cultural heritage.



Anglo Arabic Model School



References and Notes

1. Margrit Pernau, The Delhi College , Oxford University Press 2006, pg 38‐39
2. Margrit Pernau, The Delhi College , Oxford University Press 2006, pg 38‐39. Pernau uses the name “Anglo Arabic Higher Secondary School