Cadet College, Hasan Abdal (Urdu/Pashto : کیڈٹ کالج )ّّّّّ is a residential secondary school located in Hasan Abdal, Attock District, Punjab, Pakistan.
Cadet College, Hasan Abdal is the first-ever Cadet College in Pakistan. It was established by the government of Punjab at the initiative of General Muhammad Ayub Khan, the then Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army, originally to serve as a feeder institution to the Services Academies. For this purpose, Military Wings were started in 1952 in Government College, Sahiwal, and Islamia College, Peshawar. On the completion of buildings at the present location, the Military Wings were shifted to Hasan Abdal and the Cadet College started functioning as Punjab Cadet College in April 1954. In 1960, the government constituted a Board of Governors to exercise administrative control over the college. Hugh Catchpole was the founder Principal of the College.
The college is located on the Rawalpindi/Peshawar road about 29 miles (48 km) from Rawalpindi/Islamabad, in natural surroundings near the junction of the National Highway and Hazara Trunk Road.
Cadet College Hasan Abdal, being the first institution of its kind in Pakistan, has been a trend-setter in the field of quality boarding schools meant for boys. In its history of over sixty years, its graduates have not only contributed tremendously in the national mainstream, many have moved across frontiers, and are now playing their roles at the global level. Above all, being a trailblazer, the institution has helped set the blueprints of milliard of institutions, which have followed in its wake.
A well-rounded personality, built around the core values of character, integrity, intellectual superiority and commitment have always been at the centre-stage of our grooming at Hasan Abdal. That’s why our graduates have always managed to survive in some of the most hostile conditions of fiercest competition and of formidable adversity. They have always managed to fight their way to the top and have led from the front, because that’s how they have been prepared and conditioned during their highly impressionable years of adolescent youth here. Their natural propensities for effective teamwork and strong communication skills actually draw from the years of intimate comradeship developed in the dorms of their Wings here, and from the moments of mind-blowing sporting glory experienced at the Winlaw’s sports ground. Their eloquence and intellectual robustness are nothing but the reflection of their insightful and heated discourses in the class theatres of Ayub block, or during the after-dinner strolls around the Scholar’s Walk.
The BOGs have recently christened The CCH roads/facilities, and the College sports grounds have been named after the Second British Principal, Mr A.W.E Winlaw. The road around the Oval, has been named as The Scholar’s Walk.
Academic excellence has always been the central point of our priorities here, because we know that it plays a pivotal role in the proper placements of our graduates. Hassan Abdal has produced so many high-achievers in its academic history that CCH has become synonymous with Board toppers. Our programs have had the strength to have our students accepted not only in the very best of the national universities, but even in some of the Ivy League institutions.
CCH has come a long way from where it started its journey 61 years ago, and is ready to take-on new challenges. With Pakistan at the centre-stage of many controversies in the global perceptions, we need to equip our scholars with the skills to not only excel and distinguish in multi-cultural global settings, but to also prove effective ambassadors of a progressive Pakistan. It’s time for us to break out of our national shell now, and to prepare our graduates for the greater challenges of a cosmopolitan global village. Which institution in Pakistan can be better placed to embark upon this new challenge than CCH?!!
Cadet College Hasan Abdal was founded and funded by the Government of the Punjab whereas the land was contributed by the army. It was established at the initiative of the then Commander-in-Chief Pakistan Army, General Muhammad Ayub Khan, originally to serve as a feeder institution to the Services Academies.
CCH in 1954
CCH in 2013
Education Block
For this purpose, Military Wings were started at Government College Sahiwal and Islamia College Peshawar in 1952. On the completion of the present campus, it was named as Punjab Cadet College Hasan Abdal which started functioning in April 1954. Its name changed to Government CadetCollege in 1957, and finally, in 1960 it came to be known as Cadet College Hasan Abdal and started functioning as an autonomous body.
CatchpoleIts founder Principal was Mr. Hugh Catchpole, an Englishman, who gave this institution a remarkable start, which the successive generations of principals, teachers and Abdalians are trying to maintain by putting in their all-out efforts. Primarily, the College prepares the cadets for the SSC and HSSC examinations and GCE ‘O’ Level Cambridge University Examinations. Every year, the College distinguishes itself by securing most of the top positions of Rawalpindi Board examinations.
Similarly, it achieves admirable success in Cambridge University Examinations. Moreover, being a residential institution it offers a wide range of co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, which instill leadership qualities and confidence in the cadets and give them an opportunity to explore and then promote their talents; it also emphasizes on all-round personality development and character-building of its cadets.
Edu Block BackThe total strength of the College is about 520 cadets, who are selected in a batch of nearly 110 in 8th grade after qualifying the written examination and interview. The training is oriented to prepare the cadets for the Armed Forces, but they are at liberty to pursue any career of their choice. Nowadays, Abdalians are joining all walks of life, leaving their mark in almost every profession.
In the battlefield, the old boys of this College have set records of bravery by sacrificing their lives for their sacred Motherland. Sitara-e-Jurat has been conferred on as many as 18 old boys of the College! The list of achievements of Abdalians in civil and Armed Forces goes on and on! This College has contributed comprehensively and substantially to the progress of our country: perhaps, it has delivered far more and far better than visualized by its founding fathers. Truly, it would not be wrong to say that this College has earned a unique and unparalleled place of excellence all across Pakistan.
