Junior Azharians Union

cts and events which was something new to the school at that time and was seen by some as controversial. They broke all barriers and withstood challenges in moving ahead with their ideas with strong commitment and passion. Initially JAU organized events such as the AC FESTIVE and Azhar Car Wash which brought the students together to work as one unit and was well received by them with much enthusiasm. This group was led by Lukman Akram ( President of Group of 2000) who founded this group as Junior Azharians Union at a later stage. Lukman was rightly supported by Riyazi Farook (President of Group of 2001) and both of them led the others in many projects and events. In 2002 , the first Maroon Awards Ceremony was organized by the Group of 2000 with the support of Junior batches. This Awards Ceremony was similar to the Colours Night events of leading schools of Sri Lanka where the best students who excelled in Sports , Academic and Extra Curricular Activities were recognized and awarded with colours. This was a much need of the hour at that time for our college and came in as a morale booster for the students. As they progressed, they realized the need of a stronger alumnus which will spearhead and undertake the development of the school. Even though the college existed close to a century and had produced many talented individuals in various fields, many were not taking part in the upliftment of the school. There were only a selected few who were involved keenly in the college while others were either reluctant, not interested or they got the willingness but didn’t know how they could contribute. An Old Boys Association was existing at that time but was limited with members and as well as resources. It was felt that there are many Old Azharians out there who could contribute in many ways to take their Alma Mater to the next level. So with this in mind the group led by Lukman Akram took a bold move and initiated a project to bring together all Azharians. They didn’t possess any information or record on the past students. So they laid out a plan to visit each and every household in Akurana to conduct a census on all past Azharians. The group of 2003 who were the first year Advanced Level students made the first steps to this enormous task guided by Lukman Akram with the support of Riyazi Farook. They walked miles visiting door to door collecting information on every Azharian in each household. The group were very young in age but was matured enough in their thinking to explain the importance of the contribution from the past students. They spoke to many people spending hours in the field every day after school hours. Many welcomed them and were willing to join, some shut their doors and refused to talk to them, some humiliated them and some discouraged them. Nevertheless the passion and commitment never stopped this young group and they continued with their task. The census process took longer than they expected and later it was continued by the Group of 2004 and the Group of 2005 boys. After one and half years of tiresome efforts of all these committed Azharians the task was completed. At the end they had visited more than 1500 households and had gathered information on 3500 past Azharians. This information was a goldmine for them and they sent out letters to all of them inviting for a mega gathering to reform the Old Boys Association. A total number of 200 people from the list turned up for this meeting on the 14.04.2002 where the OBA was transformed as Old Azharians Union (OAU) strengthened by new members and with a fresh look. The enthusiasm and the passion was clearly seen in all the Azharians who attended this event, and they regularly conducted meetings and started planning out to prepare for the Centenary Year which would come in 2007. Today the OAU acts as the main body in developing the college and have initiated and also completed many large scale projects. We also see many positive changes have taken place since the commencement of Old Azharians Union. The following events are being organized and supported by the JAU for
-Maroon Awards Ceremony
-OLA Azeez Trophy
-Azhar Car wash
-Publishing Annual Student Magazine – Thooral
-AC Ifthar
-AC Festive