Three Pakistani schools — two in Lahore and one in Quetta — have been shortlisted for the World’s Best School Prizes 2025, according to a press release issued by the award’s founder, T4 Education, on Wednesday.

T4 said in a press release that the five awards are “the world’s most prestigious education prizes” and winners are chosen “by an expert judging academy based on rigorous criteria”. The awards are for Community Collaboration, Environmental Action, Innovation, Overcoming Adversity and Supporting Healthy Lives.

Sanjan Nagar Public Education Trust Higher Secondary School, Nordic International School from Lahore, and the Beaconhouse College Programme’s Juniper Campus in Quetta are the three shortlisted Pakistani institutions.

“All 50 finalist schools across the five prizes will also take part in a public vote, which opened today, to determine the winner of the Community Choice Award,” the press release read. “All six winners will be announced in October.”

According to T4, Sanjan Nagar — a charity-run primary and secondary school — has made it to the final 10 for the World’s Best School Prize for Overcoming Adversity.

The school, based in Lahore’s Glaxo Town, has “trailblazed the adoption of the IB (International Baccalaureate) and PYP (Primary Years Programme) curriculum, an inquiry-based approach based on a sustainable and inclusive model that empowers marginalised children with critical 21st century skills”, the press release stated.

T4 said that the school, which started in an abandoned factory, now has a campus with over 800 students.

The Nordic International School, also based in Lahore, was shortlisted for the World’s Best School Prize for Community Collaboration, according to the statement.

T4 described the school as an “independent kindergarten, primary and secondary school … which is actively involving parents as architects of their children’s academic success, supported by a culture of kindness to create a happy and supportive learning environment where students thrive”.

Meanwhile, Beaconhouse’s Juniper Campus in Quetta has been shortlisted for “breaking the barriers to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education for children in underprivileged rural areas by giving them access to interactive, real-world science education with ‘Science Gaari’, a fully equipped and student-led mobile science lab”, T4 said.

The institution, which was launched in collaboration with Unicef, was also shortlisted for the World’s Best School Prize for Community Collaboration, the press release stated.

T4 said that the winners and finalists will also attend the World Schools Summit in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, from November 15-16, where they will share their best practices and unique expertise and experience with policymakers and leading figures in global education“.

Vika Pota, the founder of T4, was quoted as saying, “In a world being turned upside down by AI, as technology reshapes the way we learn and renders jobs that have existed for centuries obsolete, amid growing challenges of climate change, conflict, poverty and populism, the world our young people are entering has never felt more precarious.”

He emphasised that a good education with humans at its heart has “never been more important”.

Mentioning the three finalists, Pota highlighted that they have demonstrated “innovations and expertise” that give hope for the future and said that the world has “so much to learn” from the three schools.

Despite this achievement, the education sector in Pakistan is struggling.

For fiscal year 2025-26, the federal government earmarked a Rs66.4 billion recurring budget (non-development expenditure including salaries and pensions) for the higher education sector against the demand of Rs84.6 billion put up by the Higher Education Commission.

In January this year, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif lamented that over 22 million children are out of school in Pakistan and emphasised the urgent need for Muslim countries to prioritise girls’ education.

He said millions of young girls will enter the job market over the next decade, emphasising that they “have the potential not just to lift themselves, their families and nations out of poverty but also to enrich the global economy”.