Three Pakistani schools among Top 10 finalists for World’s Best School Prizes 2025

The picture shared on May 1, 2025 shows students coloring a work sheet at Sanjan Nagar Public Education Trust School in Lahore, Pakistan. (Sanjan Nagar Public Education Trust School)
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Updated 19 June 2025
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Three Pakistani schools among Top 10 finalists for World’s Best School Prizes 2025

  • Finalists are Sanjan Nagar Public Education Trust School, Nordic International School, Beaconhouse College Program Juniper Campus
  • The winners and finalists of the global schools prizes will be invited to the World Schools Summit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on November 15–16

ISLAMABAD: Three Pakistani schools have this week been named among the Top 10 finalists for the World’s Best School Prizes 2025, prestigious global awards founded by T4 Education to spotlight exceptional schools transforming education and communities.

T4 Education is a global digital platform and community founded to empower teachers and schools to share best practices and drive positive change in education worldwide. It launched the World’s Best School Prizes to spotlight schools making an exceptional impact beyond the classroom.

Winners of the five World’s Best School Prizes — for Community Collaboration, Environmental Action, Innovation, Overcoming Adversity, and Supporting Healthy Lives — will be announced in October following evaluation by an expert Judging Academy and a global public vote. Finalists and winners will share their insights at the World Schools Summit in Abu Dhabi in November.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif commended the management, teachers and students of the three Pakistani schools: the Sanjan Nagar Public Education Trust Higher Secondary School and Nordic International School, both in Lahore, and the Beaconhouse College Program Juniper Campus in Quetta.

“These schools have made a name for themselves in terms of modern curriculum, research, technology, environment, development of backward and rural areas,” Sharif said in a statement released by his office.

“These educational institutions have made the country’s name known all over the world.”

Sanjan Nagar Public Education Trust Higher Secondary School in Lahore has been shortlisted for the World’s Best School Prize for Overcoming Adversity. The charity school, which began in an abandoned factory, now educates nearly 800 students from marginalized backgrounds through the International Baccalaureate’s Primary Years Program. It is the first in Pakistan to offer this curriculum to underserved communities, empowering students with critical 21st-century skills and bridging socio-economic divides.

Beaconhouse College Program, Juniper Campus, Quetta, is a finalist for the Community Collaboration prize for its “Science Gaari” initiative — a student-led mobile science lab bringing hands-on STEM education to remote schools in Balochistan, one of Pakistan’s most underserved provinces. The project has reached over 150 schools, boosting science engagement and inspiring rural students to pursue careers in technology and research.

Nordic International School Lahore has also been named a finalist for Community Collaboration. The independent school emphasizes strong parental involvement and a culture of kindness to foster a supportive learning environment. Parents are engaged throughout students’ academic journeys via an interactive app, regular workshops, and celebrations of learning milestones.

“It is in schools like Sanjan Nagar, BCP Juniper Campus Quetta, and Nordic International School Lahore where we find the innovations and expertise that give us hope for a better future,” T4 Education Founder Vikas Pota said.


Imran Khan’s party calls for ‘shutter-down’ strike on second anniversary of Pakistan elections 

Updated 55 min 40 sec ago
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Imran Khan’s party calls for ‘shutter-down’ strike on second anniversary of Pakistan elections 

  • Khan’s PTI party claims 2024 general elections’ results were rigged in their opponents’ favor
  • Pakistan’s government denies the allegations, says polls were conducted in transparent manner 

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has called on the masses to observe a countrywide “shutter-down” strike by closing their businesses in protest against alleged rigging today, Sunday, on the second anniversary of the Feb. 8, 2024, general elections. 

Millions of people took to polling booths across the country on Feb. 8, 2024, to vote for their national and provincial candidates. However, the polling was marred by a nationwide shutdown of cellphone networks and delayed results, leading to widespread allegations of election manipulation by the PTI and other opposition parties. The caretaker government at the time and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) both rejected the allegations. 

Khan’s PTI candidates contested the Feb. 8 elections as independents after the party was barred from the polls. They won the most seats but fell short of the majority needed to form a government, which was made by a smattering of rival political parties led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The government insists the polling was conducted transparently and that Khan’s party was not denied a fair chance. 

“Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the opposition alliance Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayin-e-Pakistan (TTAP) are holding a nationwide shutter-down strike today,” Haleem Adil Sheikh, president of the PTI’s chapter in Sindh, told Arab News.

“We had appealed to the people to keep their businesses closed today because on this day, the people of Pakistan were deprived of their right to send their true representatives to parliament.”

Sheikh said the party was also mourning the victims of a deadly suicide blast in Islamabad on Friday which killed over 30 people. 

TTAP chief and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, appealed to police in Sindh and Punjab not to disturb people who were participating in the strike. 

“The people of Pakistan must express their anger by closing their shops,” Achakzai said on Saturday while speaking to reporters. 

Khan was ousted from power in April 2022 after what is widely believed to be a falling out with the country’s powerful top generals. The army denies it interferes in politics.

He has been in prison since August 2023 and faces a slew of legal challenges that ruled him out of the Feb. 8 general elections and which he says are politically motivated to keep him and his party away from power. 

In January 2025, an accountability court convicted Khan and his wife in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust land corruption case, sentencing him to 14 years and her to seven years after finding that the trust was used to acquire land and funds in exchange for alleged favors. The couple denies any wrongdoing.