Osmania College

Osmania College is a provincial school in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. It was once a prominent educational institution for the city's Muslim community.

History

Osmania College, located in Jaffna's Moor Town suburb, conducted classes ranging from kindergarten to Advanced Level. In 1980 it had roughly 800 students. By 1990 it had grown to 1,800. It closed in 1990 after the expulsion of Muslims from Northern Province by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam; the city's Muslims were told to gather at the college on 30 October 1990, and then given two hours to leave, with only the clothes on their backs and Rs 50 in cash. Afterwards, the school buildings were destroyed in fighting due to the Sri Lankan Civil War, and furniture was looted.

Reopening

With the resettlement of Muslim families back into Jaffna, Osmania College reopened in 2003, but without facilities for holding lessons. By 2005, it had grown to 200 students, up to the Ordinary Level; teachers held classes on the ground floor of single, crumbling building which remained of the former campus. However, as suspicions grew that the ceasefire would break down, Muslims again left the city, and by early 2006 only 35 students remained at the school. In 2009, Jaffna District member of parliament and Minister of Social Services Douglas Devananda stated that the government would assist in the rebuilding of the college, as part of a wider plan of community resettlement and rebuilding in Jaffna.