Story of Viquarunnisa Noon School

Viquarunnisa Noon School was founded by Begum Viqar-un-Nisa Noon (1920-2000) in 1952 at Baily Road, Dhaka, who was Austrian by birth, English by upbringing, and Indian by taste. She was married twice and both times to Indian men. In 1945 she married Sir Feroz Khan Noon who was the Indian High Commissioner in England. She later 'muslimized' her name Victoria to 'Viqar-un-nisa' which is essentially nonsensical. Feroz Khan Noon later became the 1st Governor of East Pakistan and ultimately the Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1957. The Noons did a lot of social work and Viqarunnisa Noon School was one of their projects. There is also a Noon Educational Foundation that funds Pakistani students to study in Oxford and Cambridge. Viqar-un-Nisa:She and her husband left Delhi for Lahore the same year(1945) after Sir Noon resigned from the Viceroy's cabinet. Because of her husband's leading role in Indian politics, Begum Noon had the opportunity of studying the prevailing political situation and public opinion very closely. She organized election campaigns and became a member of the Punjab Provincial Women's Subcommittee. She organized a band of girl students and other women volunteers and toured other districts of the province for promotion of the cause of the Muslim League. During the Civil Disobedience Movement in Punjab, Begum Noon was one of the leading women leaders responsible for successfully organizing the processions and demonstrations against the Khizar Ministry backed by the British, and courted arrest on three occasions. During the period of mass transfer of population after the Partition, she rendered invaluable assistance to various refugee committees and camps. She had been closely associated with Red Cross and represented Pakistan on various occasions. After a protracted illness, she passed away on January 16, 2000, in Islamabad.

VNS started as a preparatory school with only a few children. But it expanded very soon to a high school and in 1956, prepared students for Senior Cambridge Examination. It has since expanded to seven branches in the city, all maintaining a morning and day shift, at Dhanmondi, Azimpur, Bashundhara and at other locations in Dhaka.

In 1978, it started a college section with higher secondary courses. Under excessive pressure of new admission, the school had to gradually introduce multiple sections, afternoon shifts, and in 1995, a new branch at dhanmondi. Its main campus is spread over about 6 acres of land. It conducts education in both English and Bengali media in humanities, science and commerce programmes. The school is for girls only and in 1999, had 11,000 students, of whom 2,000 were in the college section. It had 212 teachers, of whom 15 were men.


Last year (2007) Viqarunnisa Noon School achieved the top most position, a total of 564 of Viqarunnisa Noon School obtained GPA-5 out of 750 examinees in Dhaka Board in the SSC examination. The school is recognized by the Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board in Bangladesh. It was declared the best school in recognition of the high percentage of successful candidates in various university examinations. I have every respect for Mrs. Hamida Ali. She served Viqarunnisa Noon School(VNS) and College(VNC) for long 21 years, first as a headmistress later as the principal, with all out sincerity. Thanks to Mrs. Hamida Ali. Best wishes of you. I pray for Mrs. Hamida Ali to have a happy life. I hope, everybody will recognize her great contribution and foregt a minor mistake.