The iconic Esena Foundation High School for girls has shut down after more than half a century of successful and acclaimed educational prowess.
The first of its kind, Esena Foundation High School was a private all girls school in Pakistan. At Esena, students were taught in both the matriculation and British O level streams of education according to their wishes.
Famous for being an affordable private education institution that took up students completely on merit, the founder of the school was the late Begum Anesa Majid Khan.
It was under her vigilant and famously strict watch that Esena flourished into a premier private school for girls, giving options other than the conventional missionary schools. Considered to be an elite institution, the school strived to become “a private girls institution where the best English educational standard would be developed and maintained, where the Muslim culture and modesty of Pakistani girls could be developed in the right direction.”
A major pioneer for quality girl’s education in Pakistan, the school proved to be the precursor to such projects as the Lahore Grammar School, which also began as a girls only school. In 2008, when the school’s founder was awarded the President’s Pride of Performance Award for her contribution to girl’s education in the country, she had reportedly quite curtly told President Musharraf “Educate every girl and save Pakistan, otherwise it will slide downwards.”
After the passing of Begum Anesa, the reverse of whose name was the inspiration behind the school’s name, her granddaughter tried to run the school. However, the school’s stagnation continued as the top teachers it was famous for left for more lucrative private schools. However, it must be remembered that it was Esena that was the pioneer for such schools, and its closing down marks a sad yet important milestone in the city’s educational history, as well as its landscape.
the staff reporter neglected to mention what city of Pakistan this school was in ….
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