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Professor & Head of Dept of Chemistry (1958-1969)
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Prof. Feroz Yusuf Khan - 1958
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By Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui,
671/Latif
The late Mr. Feroz Yusuf Khan was head of the
department of Chemistry at Petaro in the 1960s.
He joined the college in 1958
and left early in 1969.
He was born on
2 September 1924. He had one daughter - Anjum.
When I joined Petaro, Feroz Sahib was also the
house master of Liaquat House. Later on Bhatti
Sahib took on this position. I am sure that the
early Liaquatians could would have many
interesting stories to tell us about Feroz Sahib.
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Feroz Sb had 5 brothers and 2
sisters. He acquired his university education from
Aligarh Muslim University. He moved to Pakistan shortly
after its creation.
Probably in 1950, he joined the Ministry of Education
and was appointed a lecturer in the Chemistry Department
of Government College Hyderabad. He remained in this
position until 1956, when he was transferred to
Government College Mirpurkhas.
In
1958, he met Col. Coombes who convinced him to join
Govt. Cadet College Mirpurkhas (i.e. Cadet College
Petaro). He managed to do so under deputation while he
remained an employee of the Ministry of Education.
During
his Petaro years, he was the Head of Department of
Chemistry. When Mr. Zahoorul Hassan left Petaro in 1961,
he succeeded him to become the second
House Master of
Liaquat House, a position he held until 1965.
In
1969, Feroz Sb chose to go back to his parent department
in the Ministry of Education, which brought his tenure
at Petaro to a close. He was posted back to Govt College
Hyderabad, and was appointed the Head of Department of
Chemistry there.
During
the following years, he remained the Principal of Govt
College Shikarpur and Deputy Director Education at
Hyderabad. He retired from service in this position. He
then moved to Karachi and spent the rest of his years
there.
Feroz Sahib died on 20 December 1993 at Karachi.
Most Petarians will not remember Feroz Sahib since he
left Petaro rather early in 1969.
He was one of the coolest of all our teachers. And I have
yet to find a better teacher of Chemistry. It was solely
because of his teaching method that I fell in love with
Organic Chemistry, and eventually ended up doing my B.S. in
Chemical Engineering from MIT. Had it not been for him, I am
certain that I would have been doing some other engineering.
For all
the lovers of Ahad Sahib, please note that it was Feroz Sahib
who was his boss, and it was he who brought
Ahad Sahib to
Petaro.
Feroz Sahib had a deep voice, and his guttural "aray bhi"
coming from deep within his chest in the long drawl is
unforgettable.
He was a
class in himself, and one of the best of educationists in the
country at that time (in my opinion). And the principles he
stood for are so well enumerated in the autograph he wrote for
me. Truly, how many are there amongst us who talk of honesty,
yet how many are there who will drink the poison to uphold
honesty like Socrates (or Suqraat) did? I suppose that is a
dying species - if it isn’t extinct already. Most of us are
hypocrites. How loudly do we proclaim that we must bring in
honesty, yet we deceive ourselves.
May
Allah rest Feroz Sahib's soul in peace in Jannatul Firdaus!
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