History
The school was originally established in Srinagar, Kashmir by the English Mill Hill missionary fathers. In 1948, a year after Pakistan gained independence from the British Empire, a few Fathers moved to Abbottabad with a handful of students and set the school up in a small building, the Abbot Hotel. The school was among the best in the country and soon more buildings were added to accommodate the increasing number of students. The school was under the control of the Diocesan Board of Education, Rawalpindi.
In 1956, a new school was constructed a few miles outside the town, on the Grand Trunk road. Its purpose was to provide more room for the seniors and became known as the Senior Burn Hall. The new school had sports facilities and a swimming pool.
The college is located 4300 feet above sea level in natural surroundings. There are inter-house competitions between St Michaels and St Andrews, (later renamed St Gabriel's). The college motto is 'Quo non Ascendam', which in Latin means 'To what heights can I not rise'.
The Fathers who came to set up the school in Abbottabad realised that if Pakistan, as a nation, was to do well, then it needed men of high calibre. The British Empire was built on men who came from the public school system, therefore the Fathers replicated that. They were successful because boys from Burn Hall achieved distinction in the Civil Service, the Armed Forces, business and several other fields.
The Fathers promoted sports as a means of character building, strongly believing that character is made on the sports ground. St Michael's was represented by a black shield with gold border, crossed white lance and sword. St Gabriel's was represented by a lion holding a fiery torch.
There were seven sports: Cricket, Hockey, Football, Basketball, Tennis, Swimming, and Athletics.
The campus in the city center was Junior Burn Hall School while the campus outside city center was Senior Burn Hall School.In 1966/67, foreign experts had come to assist in building the Tarbella Dam and their families stayed in Abbotabad. Two daughters of one of the consultants joined the school and were the first foreign girls to enroll in Senior Burn Hall. Miss Samina Manzoor and Miss Imrana Hameed later became the first Pakistani girls to join ABHC. Foreign students came from Morocco, Egypt, Somalia, Laos, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Kenya, the US and Britain.
In 1977, the Burn Hall School Abbottabad, was taken over from the Mill Hill fathers and the Rawalpindi Diocese Board, by the Pakistan Army's 'Education Corps' and has since been known as the 'Army Burn Hall College and School'. Since then, gradually, it has increasingly lost its original high standards and unique characteristics, and become just another military style cadets' institution, turning out cyphers for army service.
Read more about this topic: Army Burn Hall College
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