History
Government Engineering College Thrissur (Trichur) is the second oldest government engineering college of Kerala. Although the college was started officially in 1957, the functioning of the college in the beginning years was held at Maharaja's Technological Institute and at Guest House situated at Chembukkavu, located very near to Thrissur Town. One year later, foundation stone was laid for the new campus at Ramavarmapuram in 1958 by Jawaharlal Nehru, the honourable Prime Minister of the nation of that time. Succeedingly during 1960, the academic activities were shifted to the new campus located at Ramavarmapuram, which is actually situated in a wider geographical area situated in between Cheroor and Viyyur.
It is understood that the name of Dr C H Abdul Bukhari is in the first line of the college admission register who also stood actively for setting up of a private charitable hostel in the college premises. The civil engineering student Bukhari and his engineering batch mates P Kunji Mohamed, M Abdulla, V P Abdulla, P N Hashim, Pareed, Jafar, Abdul Kadar and few others faced difficulty in attending the Friday Sermon. This was because of the lack of the special long lunch break on Fridays during that period as well as due to absence of nearby mosques at Ramavarmapuram. They felt a need for a mosque in the immediate premises of the campus. The faculty members joined in the new campus during 1960-61 such as M S Abdul Kader, Prof (Dr) V N Vappicha and Musthafa also parallely thought in the same direction.
The joint efforts of teachers and students led to the purchase of 50 cents of land near to Pallimoola. The students and teachers participated actively in fund collection for completing the payment related with purchase of the aforesaid land. Thus. Well Wishers from all over Kerala supported the venture. The well known social worker and industrialist of that time Raja Abdul Kader Haji Chavakkad offered financial support for the construction of a new mosque. At the same time, Babu Ismail Sait (Producer of the film- 'Chemmeen') extended support for construction of two hostel rooms in the newly purchased land.
These efforts eventually led to the formation of Muslim Educational Association (MEA) Trichur in 1961. Accordingly, the MEA Trichur came into official existence and was registered in August, 1962 under The Travancore-Cochin Library, Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act XII of 1955 with S No: TR 25 of 1962, dated 04/08/1962. The first committee of MEA led by Prof Muhiyidheen Shah in the capacity of President took efforts for the construction of the hostel and the mosque. During 1962-63, Prof Bukhari as well as Prof Mammootty joined as faculty members in GECT. This also again strengthened the beginning activities of MEA. It is worth mentioning here about the whole hearted support of Santhapuram Islamiya College, one of the premier islamic institutions of Kerala, by sending Khateebs every Friday during the 1960s.Janab Mammunni Sahib also played crucial role for sustaining the spiritual and religious activities at the MEA hostel and mosque.
The recognition by the Government of Kerala (GoK) was obviously a great milestone in the history of MEA. A provisional recognition for MEA hostel was approved by GoK in 1968. The Educational Minister of that time, Mr C H Muhammed Koya Sahib took keen interest in the same, understanding it would be a centre for uplifting the educationally backward minority community of Kerala. Further, it is worth mentioning here that this order for provisional recognition was put forth even before the rules for granting recognition to hostels were framed by GoK. In 1968 itself, the Trivandrum Muslim Association also extended thier support through Scholarships to the educationally and socially backward students through MEA. The MEA committee was entrusted to choose the eligible candidates for the scholarship. MEA also stood in the leading role of organizing academic promotion activities for the general community in and around the hostel premises. In one of such endeavours held during March 1969, esteemed Farook College also joined hands. Prof V Muhammed of Farook College participated as a Chief Guest in the aforesaid endeavour.
MEA celebrated its Silver Jubilee in a grand manner during 1987 at Thrissur. The Golden Jubilee year was celebrated during 2012. One of the meetings held at MEA during 2015 chaired by Er K V Mohammed Sakker worked as a catalyst for further renovation and expansion of hostel activities in a more systematic and scientific manner. Prof (Dr) Haris Naduthodi and P K Raheem Sahib also actively participated in that decision making meeting.
