PM Shehbaz inaugurates Daanish School in Islamabad, stresses equal academic opportunities

Why This Matters

Key context: <p>Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday inaugurated a Daanish School in Islamabad, saying the initiative aimed to provide quality education to talented students from underprivileged backgrounds and give them opportunities equal to those available to children from affluent families.</p> <p>Daanish schools, originally introduced by the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1535885">Punjab government</a>, aim to provide quality education to marginalised and talented students. It is <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1826649/pm-to-lay-foundation-of-daanish-school-today">said to be</a> the largest network of boarding schools for girls and boys in the country.</p> <p>Speaking at the inauguration ceremony today in the capital today, the premier highlighted stories of Daanish School graduates, including a girl from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who overcame challenges and a woman from Bahawalpur who went on to become a doctor after losing her father in childhood.</p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media-- media--embed media--uneven media--tweet' data-original-src='https://x.com/PakPMO/status/2111754645836349812'> <div class='media__item media__item--twitter '><span> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <a href="https://twitter.com/PakPMO/status/2111754645836349812"></a> </blockquote> </span></div> </figure> <p>“Ladies and gentlemen, this was a vision we had seen in Punjab when I was its servant. How come the sons of rich people enter the iron steel gates of Aitchison College; sons of prime ministers, governors, bureaucrats, judges, civil servants, military servants, landlords, mill owners, regardless of their acumen and their level of intelligence,” PM Shehbaz said.</p> <p>“And those millions of boys and girls, [who are] extremely intelligent, but come from the poorest of backgrounds in the four corners of Pakistan, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, cannot even imagine opening the gates of Aitchison College, let alone having the opportunity to receive a decent education,” he noted.</p> <p>According to the premier, this vision led his team to establish Danish Schools back in 2010.</p> <p>“[The] concept was introduced in Punjab, not only to match the quality and level of Aitchison College and other grammar schools all over Punjab and other parts of Pakistan, but to excel,” he asserted.</p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media-- media--embed media--uneven media--tweet' data-original-src='https://x.com/PakPMO/status/2111765694790705437'> <div class='media__item media__item--twitter '><span> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <a href="https://twitter.com/PakPMO/status/2111765694790705437"></a> </blockquote> </span></div> </figure> <p>PM Shehbaz stressed that every child deserved equal opportunities, whether they were the son or daughter of the richest man in Pakistan, the prime minister or anyone from the elite class, or a child who has lost both parents,</p> <p>“If these children are left to waste their time in the muddy streets of their villages and cities, then this is not the Pakistan of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. This is certainly not his Pakistan,” he remarked.</p> <p>The premier noted that the richest people in the country, regardless of how they earned their wealth, had the opportunity to send their children to the best schools in Pakistan and even to North America and the south of France.</p> <p>“Imagine the plight of children like this daughter from Bahawalpur, this daughter from KP, and this boy sitting before you, who also became a doctor.”</p> <p>A post by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said, “A new dawn of education and excellence is about to rise in the capital!”</p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media-- media--embed media--uneven media--tweet' data-original-src='https://x.com/PakPMO/status/2111740024748122166'> <div class='media__item media__item--twitter '><span> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <a href="https://twitter.com/PakPMO/status/2111740024748122166"></a> </blockquote> </span></div> </figure> <p>PM Shehbaz also interacted with multiple students at the campus. Education Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui also spoke on the occasion.</p> <p>The <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1826649">foundation of the school</a> in the federal capital was laid in 2024, with 10 acres of land allocated by the Capital Development Authority.</p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media-- media--embed media--uneven media--tweet' data-original-src='https://x.com/PTVNewsOfficial/status/2111734127506657564'> <div class='media__item media__item--twitter '><span> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <a href="https://twitter.com/PTVNewsOfficial/status/2111734127506657564"></a> </blockquote> </span></div> </figure> <p>In March, thousands of students across Pakistan <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1979896">sought admission</a> to the school, which received over 7,000 applications against just 210 seats.</p> <p>The school’s board of governors <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/2017354">had also approved</a> a budget of Rs3.8 billion for the year 2026-27 earlier this year.</p> This development from dawn.com highlights ongoing changes in the sector.