HARIGHEL, Bagh, Nov 20 (APP): Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday said the establishment of a Daanish School in the Bagh district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) would help advance Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s vision of providing world-class education to disadvantaged children.
He was addressing a foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Daanish School in Bagh, performed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
He said the Daanish Schools initiative – originally launched by Shehbaz Sharif when he was Chief Minister of Punjab Province – was conceived to ensure that children from low-income households receive the same level of educational opportunity as students enrolled in elite institutions. Despite early criticism, he added, the project has grown into a national model of inclusive and high-quality schooling.
Ahsan Iqbal said the prime minister believed that educational excellence must not be restricted to privileged families alone, adding that if elite institutions such as Aitchison College existed for the country’s affluent segment, poor children were equally entitled to institutions of similar standard so they can compete confidently in life.
He said the expansion of the Daanish School system across the country has strengthened the government’s broader effort to equip youth with knowledge, discipline and opportunity.
The minister also highlighted the Punjab Education Endowment Fund (PEEF) as a landmark initiative that has enabled millions of students from low-income families to study at leading national and international universities purely on merit.
Citing an example, he said he recently met a Pakistani student at the University of Cambridge who completed a PhD through a PEEF scholarship – an achievement that would have been impossible without the program’s support.
Such initiatives, he added, demonstrate how investment in education can transform individual lives and uplift entire communities.
Ahsan Iqbal stressed that the future belonged to knowledge-driven societies, not those relying on physical strength. Pakistan’s long-term progress, he said, will depend on building strong educational institutions whose graduates can lead the country into an era of innovation and economic competitiveness.
Congratulating the people of Bagh, he said the establishment of such schools in AJK reflected the government’s commitment to expanding quality education to remote and underdeveloped regions.
He expressed confidence that students graduating from the institution will emerge as valuable contributors to AJK and Pakistan at large, raising the national flag with pride through their abilities.