LAHORE: Despite problems in the aftermath of the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey, the PakTurk Schools and Colleges have bagged two top positions in the results of the annual intermediate examinations announced by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Lahore, says the administration of the institution.

It also says the chain, comprising 28 branches with enrollment of over 11,000 students across the country, will neither be handed over to any non-government organisation (NGO) nor will it close since all problems/issues have been resolved.

“We are very happy to announce that our students— Usman Khalid (pre-engineering group) and Tauseefur Rehman (pre-medical group) have clinched second and third positions in the exams by getting 1,052 and 1,041 marks out of 1,100, respectively,” Raja Muhammad Asif, principal of the chain’s Lahore main branch, told reporters at a press conference here on Monday.

He said there was initially an immense pressure on the Pakistani government by the Turkish government to close down all PakTurk schools/colleges after the coup bid. The government contacted the chain’s administration and took various decisions in this regard.

“Under the decisions, the Turkish principals of all PakTurk institutions were replaced by the Pakistani staffers and changes were also made in the board of directors of the institution.”

To a question, he said the schools would now be run by the Pakistani principals and there was no chance of getting this organisation run by any NGO backed by the sitting Turkish government.

Mr Asif said last year the school’s student Sannya Nasir had bagged first position throughout the world in A-level exams besides topping in economics subject in Pakistan. The future PakTurk International Schools and Colleges network had plunged into uncertainty a day after Turkey’s ambassador called on the Pakistan government to close down all the institutions backed by the Fethullah Gulen-inspired Hizmet movement.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2016